the second night my father was in bangalore, he and i took shonali, reena aunty, and prakash to mangalore pearl for dinner. i had been there once before and liked it, and i knew my father would enjoy the seafood options. additionally, reena aunty is from mangalore, and having never been to mangalore myself i was curious to know what her opinion was on the authenticity of their fare.

located on coles road in frazer town, mangalore pearl sits in an unassuming building next to watson’s pub, but don’t let the exterior send you away. once inside, you can entertain yourself – as shonali and i did – with the funny drawings on the wall depicting street scenes in mangalore. i particularly love the one of the police officer yelling at the cow who is sleeping in the middle of the road and causing a disruption to the traffic. and the mangalorean music will have you tapping your foot all through dinner. [bonus: if you go with reena aunty, she will likely sing along to many of the instrumentals]

we took our time ordering and enjoyed the food and the setting. the overwhelming favourite starter was the prawns fry: they were so fresh and delicious that we ended up ordering a second helping. i really liked the seer fry as well, as it is a favourite fish of mine. shonali and reena aunty enjoyed the rava silverfish fry, but i’m not so keen on fish with such small bones. the bombay duck was also very well done, if you like it.

the hit of the main course were the sannas and neer dosa and fish curry for sure. the fish curry had a great spice level, flavourful without being overpowering, and the sannas and neer dosa went with it perfectly. my father and i loved the chicken ghee roast, but we were assured by the mangaloreans that it wasn’t “proper” ghee roast masala. and reena aunty was adamant that the chicken kori roti was not executed properly. the chicken was alright, but i think it would taste much different when made at home.

we somehow managed to order properly and only had a very little bit leftover at the end of the night. considering that prakash is a chronic over-orderer, we were pretty proud of ourselves. our food was great on the whole, and we had ourselves an enjoyable little dinner.

the nitty-gritty:

location: 3, wheelers road, coles cross road, cleveland town [frazer town], bangalore.

landmark: close to tom’s bakery; next door to watson’s pub.

serves non-veg: yes.

serves drinks: no.

wifi available? no.

what we ordered: fresh lime soda x 2; cocum juice x 2 [drinks]. prawn fry x 2; seer fry x 2; rava seer fry; rava silverfish fry; bombay duck fry [starters]. sanna x 2; neer dosa x 3; chicken ghee roast; chicken kori roti; silverfish curry [main course].

our bill: rs 2600 for 5 people.

my zomato rating: 4 / 5. average rating is 4.3.

to keep in mind: closed on tuesdays. stop by on the weekends for special dishes.

will i go back? maybe not for a while since i want to explore some new places, but definitely at some point in the future.

anyone out there tried mangalore pearl before? what are your thoughts?

xx

[ps — sorry for the lack of pictures. i was distracted by the people and the food to worry about photos as well]