Unlike most other Indian metros, Bengaluru’s nightlife has a reputation that it ends even before Cinderella hour. Or at least that was the case until last year, before the government allowed F&B establishments to stay open till 1am. But for a city that values its sleep dearly and is notorious for not having much of a late-night scene, there seems to be no dearth of places expressly designed for the wee-hour revellers. Mostly utilitarian in design, but serving first-rate meals, these #iykyk shutters roll up by a simple knock if you are looking to continue the revelry.
There are bougie options too. At night, you can chance upon midnight dessert pop-ups by three city favourites if you’re sentient enough to scroll through your social media feed. Lavonne Café’s ‘Late Night Scoops’ is where you can soak up a night of drinking with some citrus ricotta doughnuts, cucumber apple popsicles and cheese and olive oil ice-cream. Mäki Patisserie’s ‘Secret Hour’ has a menu of boozier versions of Black Forest, Hot Chocolate and Tiramisu. And then there is Ulo, which whips up ice-cream flavours ranging from Miso Sneaky, a miso caramel ice-cream with peanut brittle and tamari chocolate ganache, to Lemon on Top, a cream cheese ice-cream with lemon curd and shortbread bits, to Don’t Go Bacon My Heart, a toasted milk powder ice-cream with bacon and caramel swirls, which are just perfect for insomniacs.
But beyond these new-age drunchies (drunk munchies) are scenes that have existed for decades and cater to those who like to be served well past midnight. When the bars close, these are the places that come alive: I’ve witnessed a dive bar buzzing with boozehounds, a crowded standing room that only serves piping-hot biryani, and a round-the-clock chai shop where shot glasses of sweet, milky tea are sipped among drunks discussing politics. At these places, there’s always a risk: a fight could break out, the food could run out, or the police could suddenly arrive and lathi-charge everyone.
Whether it is to stave off a hangover or just let the party go on a little longer, it’s the food at these brinner (breakfast for dinner) eateries that draws a crowd. Curd rice with Andhra-style chilli chicken, crispy dosas with mutton keema, pazham pori with Kerala beef curry, egg appams with pungent prawn curry—these are just some of the dishes that have restored many sozzled denizens. Soothing, spicy, bland, bold, but always comforting, below are some vetted and verified late-night eats as well as the OG establishments, alongside some new kids on the block, that promise to keep one well-fed when it’s way past bedtime.
Chicken kebabs at Hotel Empire
In 1966, this restaurant started on Central Street in Shivaji Nagar and has since expanded across the city with over 15 branches. For generations of Bengaluru residents, it has been the lighthouse in their post-party blur. It’s the kind of place where stragglers forgotten in the swirl of dancing bodies can reunite with their gang later. If anyone has grown up in Bengaluru or earned their stripes through decades of domicile, then your iron belly will be able to devour endless plates of the oil-fry chicken kebabs, plates of dosas filled with mutton keema, sop with butter chicken, and mutton varuval and pepper brain fry with hot Ceylon parathas. Slick, spicy stuff perfect for soaking up the craft cocktail indulgences of the night.
78, Central Street, off Infantry Road, Shivaji Nagar, Bengaluru. Phone: 080-43428080
Mogambo rolls at Hotel Fanoos
Depending on how your night has been, Hotel Fanoos, which opened in 1975 in Johnson Market, off Hosur Road, has a solution. If you can barely stand and need two friends to help, ask for two Mogambo rolls: six sticks of sheekh (beef, chicken or mutton) along with a handful of sliced onions and chopped coriander tightly swaddled in a roomali roti. Need the help of a friend’s shoulder to walk? Just a single Mogambo will do. Generously douse with lime for additional activity and excitement.
Masnaj Complex, 17, Hosur Rd, Richmond Town, Bengaluru. Phone: 9740292049
Beef sandwich with banana split at Lakeview Milk Bar
Overlooking Ulsoor lake, as the name suggests, Lakeview Milk Bar was first started by British ice-cream maker James Meadows in 1930 and then run by Vrajlal Jamnadas in 1947. This late-night institution, which offered a new snackscape to late-night drive-in services, is now being run by Jamnadas’s three children. A long plank slipped through the front-seat windows of the car would weigh heavy with roast beef and lamb sandwiches; glass boats of banana split; single scoops of fig and honey, raspberry or orange; and that one person who had ordered the brownie sizzler. On MG Road since the ’70s, college kids trying to find their inner equilibrium are likely to run into families from the neighbourhoods, so you’ve been warned.
Kannan Building, 89, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Bengaluru. Phone: 9972635636
Mylari dosa with peppery mutton chops at Malgudi Mylari Mane
The latest entrant on the scene, this must-visit midnight spot on the highway also has a Koramangala outlet. They’ve leaned into Bengaluru’s bias for brinner (breakfast for dinner) in their offerings, so you can expect the fluffiest, softest Mylari dosa served with a dollop of white butter, and the larger, thicker cousin of the regular idli, the thatte idli, served with peppery mutton chops, spicy country chicken curry or soothing paya. They’ve also got delicious, gamey country chicken biryani for more heavy lifting, and even an herby buttermilk to settle the murmurs of one’s stomach and cool the system down.
Ground Floor, SRS Tower, 21, KHB Colony, 5th Block, Koramangala, Bengaluru. Phone: 9731362277
Magic Dosa at Nagaraj’s Dosa Cart in Nagarathpete
This little neighbourhood in the Pete area, or the Old City Market part of Bengaluru, is named after the Nagareshwar Swami temple dedicated to Shiva and his consort Annapurna—seen in this temple’s statue holding a ladle and a pot in her hands. Along the road leading up to this temple are carts serving idli, dosa and rice bhaath on pull-ups that rise (and are open till the wee hours of the morning) every night once the commercial establishments shut shop for the day. The crowd-puller is always Nagaraj’s Cart outside Neela Complex, where you can get a taste of the Magic Dosa—a ghee-roasted paper dosa stuffed with tangy chittranna (lemon rice) and pungent-peanutty podi. There’s also Annapoorna Sweets and Chats for your fried cravings (their bhajji and bonda are bestsellers) and other carts serving up warm or cold badam milk that can be the ultimate nightcap.
Nagaraj Dosa Cart, Pete, Bengaluru
Paya soup with idiyappam at New Hilal Restaurant
The smoke-stained walls of this Shivaji Nagar joint hamper the exercise of dating its establishment and also make it seem like it’s been around forever. Want to get the pep back in one’s step after a long night of damage? Get a bowl of the paya, or goat trotters’ soup, with a side of stringy idiyappam. On a Keto diet? Tear into a plate of their charcoal-charred mutton chops—smoky, succulent and satisfying. Pro-tip: If the shutters are down, one firm knock and they will be rolled up in time. Don’t ever knock repeatedly or frantically; you aren’t the police on patrol.
11, HKP Road, Shivaji Nagar, Bengaluru. Phone: 9880762029
Suleimani chai and coconut naan at Savera Tea Centre
Even the cops stop at this tubelight-lit beacon in the middle of Shivaji Nagar (there’s also a branch on MM Road in Frazer Town) for their hit of tea. Here, the kettle is always on the boil—day and night—and their idea of closing is retreating to the bare minimum staff of just having the cashier on call. Here, over endless cups of sweet, milky tea or lemony, sweet Suleimani chai, you can eavesdrop on the law enforcement officers or simply focus on sobering up enough to book a taxi home. Need a sugar rush to hurry the process? Get the coconut naan—a crunchy crumble of coconut, tutti-frutti cubes and sugar jacketed by the flakiest, messiest puff pastry. The crunch on the first bite is a good wake-up call.
75/1, Noah Street, Shivaji Nagar, Bengaluru. Phone: 8861994660
Beef sheekh with idiyappam at Siddiq Kabab Center
A relatively new player on the city’s midnight snack trail, Siddiq’s in Johnson Market has outplayed some of the big boys since it opened in 1999. Eponymously named after Siddiq (who is affectionately called Sethu), it’s the butcher-turned-master-marinade-maker’s sheekh and the phal that you must order. Served with lacy idiyappam, the beef sheekh literally submits to the first nudge of one’s fingers. It’s soft, pungent, punchy and piping hot. Then, there’s the phal—thin slices of beef loin marinated in house-special masala and grilled over charcoal. Order the phal tucked into a roomali roti or simply a plate of these squares of meaty pleasure drizzled with lemony raw onions as tonic.
7, Curley Street, Richmond Town, Bengaluru. Phone: 9880445576
Shaadi biryani at Taj Hotel
One can dine out every night on a wedding feast without the fuss of finery by dropping into the Taj Hotel in Shivaji Nagar, which opened in 1935. Here, the famous Bengaluru shaadi biryani, or wedding-style staple—long-grained basmati swapped for the short-grained, aromatic seeraga samba, the par-boiled rice cooked in the yakhni or broth of the meat preparation—gets served every day of the year. And if one has really got the munchies, add on a serving of Sallu ki Butter Chicken, chunks of chicken cooked in a tandoor and dunked in a bath of butter and cream.
383, Jumma Masjid Road, Shivaji Nagar, Bengaluru. Phone: 080-25592006
Chicken pulav at SGS Non Veg Gundu Pulav
If one is still up and has resigned to sleeping with the arrival of the newspaper delivery man at 6 am, then head to Pete, or the Old City Market area. You have to weave through the tiny lanes of this neighbourhood backed up with trucks brimming with fresh produce and flowers headed into Asia’s largest flower market. Just make sure you avoid knocking down the workers unloading these trucks, and stop gawking at the luxury sedans and SUVs haphazardly parked, to arrive at SGS Non Veg Gundu Pulav. This Kannadiga home-style chicken pulav is herby, fragrant and spicy, cooked in a paste of coriander, mint and chillies besides other whole spices. It is served steaming hot, parcelled in dhone, or areca-nut leaves.
21, KV Temple Street, 2nd Cross, Sowrastra Pet Road, near Balepet Circle, Bengaluru. Phone: 9341246466
Ragi mudde at NV Naidu Hotel
Partying all night is hard work too, so if one does need true sustenance, head to NV Naidu Hotel. Here, order ragi mudde—a farmer’s feast that allows you to dunk mudde chunks into their delicious, juicy mutton masala—and swallow. Don’t miss a bowl of their bestselling, all-healing paya too.
Kalasipalyam Main Road, opposite Parimala Theatre, Bengaluru. Phone: 080-42120720
Missed making it to any of these spots? Look out for the transient chai-sutta cyclewallah—most likely to haunt busy intersections under Bengaluru’s flyovers. Here you’ll get a hot tea but also a hit of nostalgia with options of Ravalgaon’s boiled sweets, home-made chaklis, and of course, Fusen gum with those pink-purple temporary tattoos.
