A Maha meal at Mahamudra

When a celebration calls for a soul-satiating vegetarian meal

Mahamudra, the three-month-old restaurant in the city has nothing to do with the Sanskrit meaning. Apart from being a vegetarian place, the eatery— a part of Isha Life in Hyderabad, isn’t trying to force spirituality down your throat. Once here, the beauty and the calmness of the place and its interiors are sure to do all the magic by itself. This, even before one begins to sip their chia-based welcome drink.

To know more, I met Meena, fondly called ‘Meena akka’ — the mastermind behind every detail — right from the kitchen to the flowers adorning the table. Having tried and been blown over by the veg

thali by the warm tones of Mahamudra’s interiors, I was curious to know what more is there to talk about. When dining at a vegetarian place I usually push a few things away from my plate. The rasam, sambar, curd rice is something I always return to avoid food wastage. But here, the swirling aromas of various dishes which pleased my senses made me eagerly look forward to the order. I overlooked the delay in service assuming it is the management’s way to make us practice patience.

Mahamudra has been one of the most recommended places by many food-lovers (all of them being hardcore non-vegetarian eaters) and each of them said, “the food is different.”

To be honest, I had some presumptions — ‘is it all boiled bland food,’ ‘will they serve raw food,’ ‘is it all about millets,’ and upon hearing these, Meena laughed, asking, “What do you think about it now?”

“The restaurant celebrates south-Indian home cooking. The menu is put together with the help of fellow Isha members. Every dish we serve here is probably being cooked in someone’s kitchen now,” she adds, as she offers vadas made of banana flower with some fresh homemade chutney.

As I bit into the crisp vadas my prejudices further started going bust one bite at a time. Meena clarifies, “Since this is a restaurant, we might be different, but we do not serve diet food unless one requests for it.”

Mahamudra is the second eatery Isha Life has opened in 10 years — the first being in Chennai. No matter what one eats, it is a must to try the thali here just for the signature accompaniments. The black sticky rice kheer and the curd rice is enough to win your heart.

Mahamudra by Isha Life Foundation

• Where Plot 522, road number 27 Jubilee Hills
• USP Simple and homely South Indian vegetarian food
• Call 040-23559955
• Cost for two ₹700 approx

Apart from the thalis, the menu also serves a variety of dosas for lunch. In the evening, the menu changes and ‘tiffin’ items like medu vada , kozhukattai , ulundhu paniyaram , parappu kozhukattai , vazhaipu cutlet take over.

In the main course, the starters and the soups are as homely as one can imagine them to be. Thakkali (tomato), methi and kollu (horse gram) soups are a few to try. Kanjee lovers, do try them here and for those whom a good dosa is a reason to celebrate, it is worth trying it here too.

My suggestion? Go for the tables with short wooden chairs. The wrought iron chairs are tall, stiff and uncomfortable enough to spoil your whole meal experience.