Koshy's — Indian Hospitality Magazine
Cafe Edition

Koshy's

St. Mark's Road's 80-year institution — where Bangalore's intellectual elite has always gathered

K

Koshy family (Kerala-origin)

Founder · Est. 1940 · St. Mark's Road, Bangalore

Koshy's has occupied its corner of St. Mark's Road since 1940, when the Koshy family from Kerala opened a small restaurant in what was then a quiet cantonment town. Over eighty-four years, the city has transformed from a pensioners' paradise to India's technology capital, but Koshy's has not transformed with it. The wooden chairs, the long tables, the Continental menu, and the unhurried service pace remain exactly as they were.

The café became the default gathering place for Bangalore's writers, journalists, academics, and the particular species of retired civil servant that the city has always produced in abundance. The long tables accommodate strangers next to regulars — a seating arrangement that is social policy rather than space constraint. Politicians, filmmakers, and software billionaires have all occupied the same chairs as the Morning Herald reader who has been coming since 1970.

The kitchen maintains a Continental menu that is a living archive of mid-century Indian café culture: chicken steak, cutlets, fried fish, and a category of preparations that existed before the concept of fusion was invented. The bar opens in the evening and serves the establishment's second daily crowd.

Koshy's — additional image

“We have been on St. Mark's Road since 1940. The road has changed. We have not. That is not stubbornness — it is consistency.”

What Defines Koshy's

Appam with Stew— The Kerala breakfast preparation that connects the café to the Koshy family's origins. Served in the morning and ordered by those who know to arrive before 10 AM.
Chicken Steak— The Continental preparation that has been on the menu since the early decades. Unchanged in preparation, unchanged in portion.
Fish Fry— The batter-fried fish preparation that regulars order without specification — the kitchen knows the standard.
Draught Beer— Available from lunchtime. The afternoon beer at Koshy's is a Bangalore institution within the institution.
Bread Pudding— The dessert holdover from the café's colonial-era menu. Served warm and without contemporary revision.

The Experience

The interior is large, fluorescent-lit in some sections and naturally lit in others. The noise level is the noise of conversation across long tables where strangers sit beside regulars. The service is unhurried — not slow, but operating on a clock that was set before the city decided it was in a hurry.

Rated & Reviewed By

Condé Nast Traveller India · Times Food Heritage · Zomato 4.1★ · BBC Travel

Editorial Notes

  • The café's proximity to the erstwhile Press Club made it the default watering hole for Bangalore's print journalists for decades.
  • The Continental menu is a living archive — the preparations reflect a period of Indian café culture that has largely disappeared elsewhere.
  • The evening bar service attracts a different crowd than the daytime café — studying both reveals the establishment's full cultural range.
  • Mandatory curriculum reference for hospitality students studying multi-generational café operations in a rapidly changing urban context.

Getting There

Nearest Metro: MG Road (Purple Line, 8-minute walk south). The café is at 39, St. Mark's Road — visible from the main road, identifiable by the signage that has not been updated in decades.