Pounding Stone

The menu

The table, and the tins to take home.

The table

• Mutton biryani, with raita

  ₹400

  Rice cooked the slow way, the meat in the grain. A cool raita beside it, to put the fire out.

• Chicken leg, purée, pickled onion, mint

  ₹300

  One leg, roasted dark. A soft mash. Onion sharpened in vinegar. Mint, torn at the last.

• Chicken hot dog

  ₹175

  Our chicken, spiced and grilled, in a soft bun. Mustard if you ask. Kachampuli if you know.

• Mutton sheek kebab

  ₹250

  Mince pressed along a skewer. Charcoal, a little fat, and the clean heat of bird-eye.

• Mutton mince with pav

  ₹250

  The same mince, loose on the plate, with a pav torn open. Eat it with your hands.

• Bella kaapi

  ₹50

  ಬೆಲ್ಲ ಕಾಪಿ

  Estate coffee, sweetened only with jaggery. No milk.

• Cream bun

  ₹75

  A soft bun, split, with a thick layer of cream.

From the land of Coorg

To take home

• Coorg meat masala

  ₹275

  Susheela Appaji, Madikeri. The dark roast behind every meat on this board.

• Kachampuli

  ₹290

  Subbi of Kutta. A black vinegar from monsoon fruit. A teaspoon finishes a pot.

• Bird-eye chilli powder

  ₹180

  Poovamma, Madikeri. Small chillies, dried in the courtyard and pounded. A pinch is enough.

Masalas from the women who still handmake them.