Brahmin's Coffee Bar in Basavanagudi has been serving the same breakfast since 1943: idli, vada, and filter coffee, and nothing else. The coffee arrives in a steel tumbler and davara, frothy and strong, and the idlis are as light as they should be but rarely are. No menu, no Wi-Fi, no music, no concessions to modernity of any kind. The place is tiny — a few tables in a narrow room with bare walls — and opens only in the morning until the food runs out, which it always does before noon.
The location in Shankarapuram, a short walk from Gandhi Bazaar, makes it a natural starting point for a morning in Basavanagudi. The neighbourhood is at its best early — the temples are open, the market is busy, and the streets have a quietness that disappears later in the day. A cup of coffee and a plate of idlis here, and then a walk to Vidyarthi Bhavan for dosa, is as good a South Indian morning as Bangalore offers.