In a NUtshell:A one of its kind experience of a restaurant feeding almost home cooked food in a traditional home setting – sit on the floor and eat from banana leaf. Servers repeat food till u r hungry.

Address & other details:  Anima madhva

Meal for 2: ₹260 onwards

Cuisine type :  vegetarian

Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. 

YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everything & give a honest account of the same to you.

I rate all the food items & then give a final overall rating which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster

Short description- in case u r in a hurry:

We read about this restaurant on a blog and decided to try it out. The gentleman who drove us to Mysore from Bengaluru had not heard of this place , though he was in general quite knowledgeable about the city.

We checked out reviews on zomato and found a ridiculous rating of 3.4/5. However the blog seemed to convey something that made us think there is something to look forward to.
As we reached here, we saw people sitting on tables as chairs near the entrance. As we walked in, we realized that these were only 2 tables that they have. In the rooms inside, it is sitting on the floor and eating from a banana leaf placed on a low table. We chose to sit on the floor.
B4 we started eating they insisted that we sprinkle water on the banana leaf, wash it ourselves b4 starting to eat. Without that they were not serving food. We liked it.

They have a one page menu card with many items. However it seems the thalis are the most popular here.

The guys serving and managing the place were wearing shirts with veshti (folded dhoti). They were super warm and made us feel like guests at their home, though we cud sense that they initially felt like serving to aliens:) but quickly adapted to us and accepted us the way we were.

While one of them was good at English/Hindi , most others were fluent in local language only. So they would communicate through only one translator.
Once we had the food we realized why people have rated it so low at zomato. Tourists do not know about this place much. Most people who came to eat here looked like locals – families with a higher age group who r probably not zomato generation. Youngsters do not probably like this super traditional food – it is so simple and home like that one might not get the feel of ‘eating our’. Result – this gem has a disaster of a rating.
If u do not have the luxury of being invited to a Brahmin household for dinner, pls visit this place to get a close experience. Most Food items here are made without use of onion and garlic.
The experience was almost as good as being invited as someone’s home.
We super loved the food and the experience
Detailed description- in case u hv the time to njoy reading:

They serve a thali called Oota. In weekdays there is a standard oota for ₹130 per person unlimited. On Sunday lunch there is a special oota ₹170 per person.

Weekday oota has kosambari (salad), Palya (subzi), saagu ( vegetable curry), Huli (sambhar), saaru (rasam), payasam, white rice, puliogare (masala rice), chapati, in addition to accompaniments like curd, buttermilk, papad, pickle, chutney pudi etc.

In the weekend version they serve in addition to above – holige (sweet chapatis), bhajji, gojju.

We went for the normal oota as that was the only option available.

The koshambari was green moong beans with grated coconuts and tadka of sarson and curry leaves. This was crunchy and we loved munching on it. Rate it 4.5/5

For palya we got a dry (non gravy) cabbage dish. It had hardly any masalas but was very good to taste, flavourful (spices). I wondered how they cud pull off this magic . Rate it 4.75/5

Saagu was mix vegetable curry. It had pumpkin with the skin on, along with other vegetables. Loved it. Very satisfying. 4.25/5

Huli was thick and had veggies in its intense and robust taste and flavours. Great balance of salt and sour. Rate it 4.75/5

Saaru was super simple and very good. Not overtly spicy and hot on the face but very very flavourful and tasty. Rate it 4.5/5

Payasa was thick but still liquid. It had not become like chunks. The flavor of camphor was very enjoyable as was the amazing taste. Finished off every drop of it. Rate it 4.75/5

Puliogare- there were spices but those were not on the face. The rice was not oily too. It was super enjoyable. Rate it 4.5/5

Papad was very good. 4.5/5

We also had heritage platter – paddu, nuchununde, akki shavige, gojju avalakki and payasa.

Paddu was a semi fried dish made from parboiled rice, methi (fenugreek seeds) and skin-less black lentils. Flavours of daal were fully there. The fry was soft and moist. Rate it 4/5

nuchununde was steamed dumpling made of greens and lentils served with chutney. It had full blown flavours of daal – slightly moist and lumpy. Loved the taste. Rate 4/5

akki shavige was traditional steam cooked vermicelli. This was one of the best we have had in years. We were in shock (pleasant). Independent strands of vermicelli, super soft, perfect oil in the dish, perfect seasoning, optimum amount of spices. Loved biting on the chana daal. Rate this 4.75/5

gojju avalakki was supposed to be a part of this platter – broken rice steam cooked with peanuts and spices. However they did not have this. So they gave us tarakari uppittu (Upma) instead. This was also one of the best Upma we have had in years. Intense, not lumpy, perfectly seasoned, crunchy veggies and good play of masalas. Too good. Rate it 4.5/5

Overall rating of food at anima madhva bhawan averages out to 4.5/5

Wud not leave any opportunity to revisit.