Salt Mango Tree, Indiranagar, Bangalore Multi-Cuisine Restaurant

Restaurant Name: Salt Mango Tree Indiranagar
Phone: 080 37971880
Address: 971, 5th Cross, 12th Main, HAL II Stage, Indiranagar, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Time: 8:00 AM – 10:30 AM, 12 Noon – 3:30 PM, 7:00 PM – 11:00 PM
Meals for two: Rs. 1,200
Cuisines: Kerala, Biryani, Seafood
Facilities: Breakfast, Free Parking, Indoor Seating, Table booking recommended, Smoking Area, Group Meal, Outdoor Seating, Free Wifi, Private Dining Area Available, Desserts and Bakes

Salt Mango Tree, Indiranagar, Bangalore: Decor

Salt Mango Tree is a residence off 12th Main, Indiranagar, which has been converted into a restaurant. Laminated top tables and metal folding chairs painted yellow are scattered between the rooms. Malayalam alphabets that make up a hanging mobile and black and white portraits of luminaries from Kerala, including Adoor Gopalakrishnan, PT Usha and KJ Yesudas, pass for decor here.

Salt Mango Tree, Indiranagar, Bangalore: Food

I went here for lunch and ordered the Fish Curry Meal. It was served on a banana leaf. First came the vegetables — ash gourd cooked in yogurt and ground mustard, an excellent avial and a tasty cabbage thoran. The rice was the boiled rice of Kerala. The fish curry came separately and had Mahi Mahi. It was the perfect fish curry, a fine balance of hot and sour, with a simplicity that made it seem like it was cooked in a home kitchen.

Alongside, I ordered a plate of Chemmeen Ularthiyathu. The prawns were fresh, not frozen, and were tossed in a delightful mixture of coconut and spices. I ate all my rice with the fish curry, but had a few mouthfuls with the sambar, thick and packed with vegetables, including shallots. The rice with sambar and vegetables could make a satisfying meal for vegetarians.

My companion had the Beef Fry Meal and declared it excellent — the meat was lean, tender and delicious. We were served small bowls of warm payasam at the end of the meal. Happy diners, we had the well-made Sulaimani Chai afterwards.

It was a lunch that gave me the joy of tasting real food from a real place; it tasted of Kerala and its produce, the shellfish, the coconut oil, the curry leaf. And it ended for me a drought of eating overwrought fake food that ape creations from Master chef.

Salt Mango Tree also serves traditional dishes for breakfast and dinner. I can’t wait to go back for Puttu and Kadalakari and Appams and Stew.

Salt Mango Tree, Indiranagar, Bangalore: Service

The restaurant was full on the Saturday afternoon I was here, but service was brisk and efficient.

Plus & Minus:

This is definitely one of the best places for authentic Kerala food in Bengaluru.

There’s a focus on fish and meat, but also options aplenty for vegetarians. I couldn’t find very much to complain about this gem of a restaurant.

Reviewed Again: 24/12/2021

Here is another of my go-to places when I want the comfort of South Indian food with its robust earthiness. I find there’s a dearth of restaurants serving good regional food here. There are the bar food menus that now include Guntur chilli chicken and Kolkata bhetki fry; some of these dishes are quirky and fun, but don’t always afford the wholesome satisfaction you expect of a meal. So, Salt Mango Tree it is for me, for Kerala food, cooked in coconut oil, redolent of spices, with the creaminess of coconut in one dish and the sharpness of kodampuli in another. This time I tasted some of the new dishes on the menu. Sardines are coming into season and I had the Meen Thullichathu, the fish slathered with a masala that was spicy and sour and most enjoyable. The Chicken Ghee Roast (₹270) was, however, unexceptional.

Another of the new dishes was one titled Ethaanu Meen (₹595).

A slice of pan-grilled seer is placed on a banana leaf lining a small pan and coconut milk seasoned with spices poured in. The fish simmers in this sauce. I loved the flavour of the gravy, but found it thick and custard-like in consistency. More restraint would have made a lighter, more elegant dish.

I loved the Cheerayila Parotta (₹50), the flaky bread enlivened with spinach. I ate this with the Homestyle Casava Curry (₹265). It had balls of cooked and mashed tapioca – and isn’t that a wondrous starch – in a typical Kerala gravy with roasted spices and coconut milk.

It was a hearty meal, but I still had to indulge in some of the Malabar Chicken Biryani (₹345), made of small grain rice, subtly spiced and enriched with ghee. It comes with a sweet chutney, chamanthi and papad and is a meal in itself.

For dessert, have the Payasam of the Day at Salt Mango Tree. And a Sulemani Chai afterwards.

Salt Mango Tree in Indiranagar is a tidy, sparsely decorated space. Chefs work in a see-through kitchen. Go here to eat with few other distractions.