Kori rotti — dry chicken curry served on crispy paper-thin rice wafers — is the dish most associated with Mangalore, and you need a local place rather than a tourist restaurant to try it properly. Several small, unpretentious restaurants along Balmatta Road serve it as the main event: the curry is dry and intensely flavoured, the rotti soaks it up and softens just enough without going soggy. Order it with neer dosa on the side.
These are working-lunch places, not fine dining — plastic tables, fluorescent lighting, quick service. Lunch is the time to go, typically noon to 2:30pm; many close in the afternoon and reopen for dinner. The price per head is very low, and the quality is consistently high. Ask at your guesthouse which specific place locals recommend — the names change but the food type stays constant.