Sabudana vada and stagecraft: Anju’s Cafe in Ranga Shankara turns 20

A serendipitous gathering betwixt Anju Sudharshan and Ranga Shankara theatre’s laminitis Arundhati Nag led to the instauration of Anju’s Cafe. “We met astatine a communal friend’s house. She was going retired the doorway and I was coming in. She called maine aboriginal and asked maine to instrumentality the abstraction and commencement the cafe,” says Anju who had been cooking for friends and household successful her location room then.

This year, the cafe is celebrating its 20th anniversary. At immoderate afternoon, a premix of theatre folks, casual visitors and newbies to municipality who are watching a play for the archetypal time, tin beryllium spotted astatine Anju’s. It has evolved into an integral abstraction for the theatre assemblage of Bengaluru, and loved for its sabudana vada, akki roti, and yearly onam sadyas.

Anju moved to Bengaluru successful 1987, aft being calved and brought up successful Mumbai. “I travel from a household of foodies, truthful I ever utilized to navigator for bureau parties and schoolhouse events. My brag yet told me, ‘I privation to occurrence you, truthful that you spell and commencement your ain nutrient business. That is wherever your bosom lies.’ He helped maine acceptable up a room 24 years ago, and we started supplying lunches to bureau employees.”

In June 2006, she took up Arundhati connected her connection and opened up the cafe successful the theatre. It served dishes similar parathas, akki roti, pastas and sandwiches, and caller juices (nothing aerated here). “The spot truly spoke to me, and I felt a link to it. People from the hospitality manufacture ever told me, you cannot marque a paper similar this, a premix of everything. For immoderate accepted items similar akki roti, they said ‘no mode you tin marque this, it takes 20 minutes it make!’” We spoke to a fig of people, and they each mentioned the sabudana vada, oregon arsenic a precise young diner called it, the bubble vada. These assemblage favourites are crispy extracurricular and chewy inside, these are made successful the emblematic Maharashtrian style, arsenic Anju grew up successful Mumbai. The millet khichdi is besides a fashionable prime if you privation thing comforting. The kheema pav and the chickenhearted salami sandwich are accelerated moving dishes. In times similar these, vadas priced astatine ₹60 marque the spot affordable.

Arundhati Nag says, “We had galore antithetic radical moving the cafe initially erstwhile we opened. It did not gel. When Anju came in, it conscionable clicked. It was similar the Prithvi Cafe wrong the Prithvi Theater successful Mumbai. Twenty years is simply a agelong time, and she has go portion of institution. She is simply a precise peculiar person.”

Celeb favourite

Anju reminisces erstwhile they started, immoderate assemblage kids utilized to premix their beverage and java and named it tea-fee. In 1 of the earlier festivals, Rajat Kapoor fell successful emotion with this tea-fee. “I volition ne'er hide erstwhile Ila Arun saw the akki roti, she said, ohio my deity it is truthful sexy. And whenever Naseeruddin and Ratna Pathak Shah come, they person their day repast here.”

City-based histrion and manager property Vinay Shastry has been going to Ranga Shankara for astir 18 years now. “The cafe truly reflects the transportation betwixt civilization and theatre. I emotion the ambiance, determination is nary integrative and it is truly rooted successful nature,” says Vinay who’s go-to is the jaljeera and of course, the sabudana vada.

In an property of large concatenation cafes oregon spaces that are designed for Instagram, Anju’s remains a abstraction with a unsocial individuality that does not buckle to trends. Anju broke each the manufacture rules erstwhile it came to moving a cafe. “Not coming from the manufacture worked successful my favour. I ne'er did immoderate fig crunching; I conscionable wanted to enactment nutrient connected the table. I look astatine the cafe astatine the hold of my eating room.”