The main road where the new Bangalore Central Mall is in J P Nagar is suddenly a happening place. Lots of new establishments coming up and it’s tough to keep up.

One such eatery which seemed to pop up out of nowhere is Up South diagonally opposite the mall. What they’ve tried to do here is to create a MacDonald’s like environment with the ‘Darshini’ type of food. For those who aren’t aware of what Darshinis are – they’re just roadside self service joints serving wholesome South Indian vegetarian food. Okay, I’m not a big fan of vegetarian food but my cousin doesn’t eat anything else so I made a big sacrifice.

What they have in Up South is a variety of combos (like any fast food restaurant) at pretty reasonable rates (under 100 rupees). We tried the parotta and poori combo which comes with one layered parotta, one poori and an assortment of side dishes including coconut chutney, onion chutney, vegetable kurma and sambar. In addition, the combo also has a Medhu vada dipped in sambar and a dahi vada. While not outstanding, everything was moderately good and the clean and well lighted place is great if you’re in a hurry and don’t feel like standing at one of the Darshinis out in the open air.  The food is served pretty quickly and served hot. Quite a few combos are available with batooras, dosas, idlis, mixed rices etc. For drinks they have a choice of baadam milk, buttermilk or coffee. 

They also have home delivery and take-out J