Her visiting card says “Countess of Cuisine and Jollificaton”. I met up with Susmitha Subbaraju to talk about Bangalore’s first vegan restaurant-Carrots, and found that she held this title in all its might.
Krishna Shastry, the Managing Director of this venture, comes from a corporate background. Krishna, a vegan himself for about 15 years, started Carrots with an aim to provide options for people following a vegan diet, and to give healthy eaters something delicious to look forward to. Susmitha has also been following a vegan diet for more than 12 years. She started a food blog called Veganosaurus, to document all her experiments with vegan cooking and finding new ingredients. It is through this shared interest of hers that she joined the creative team on Carrots about a year ago. She helps with the menu planning and events at Carrots, and conducts cooking classes. Along with Ram Khatiwada – Head Chef and the entire team at Carrots, they are trying to give Bangaloreans a place to find delicious and healthy vegan food to indulge their taste buds in. As their website aptly puts the reason behind the name, “Carrots represents optimism for a sweet future, creativity and vitality. We are the first 100% vegan restaurant in Bangalore with a focus on promoting healthy eating and sustainable living.”
Carrots began about two years ago, and has being growing steadily ever since. As much as it is the restaurant of choice for vegans, the minimal processing of food here and the natural flavours attract vegetarians and non-vegetarians equally. Their menu has expanded vastly since they first began, and a lot of changes were made based on the feedback they got from their customers. Carrots constantly aims at balancing the healthy part with taste on their menu, which initially was a big challenge for them. As Susmitha elaborates, they wanted to get the true flavours out, and over a period of time, with experience they have managed to achieve this goal.
One of the most striking aspects of their menu is the designation of each item as a ‘H1’, ‘H2’ or ‘H3’. This is Carrots way of telling you that what you are eating is ultra healthy (H1), or a balance between indulgence and healthy (H2), or comfort food (H3). Susmitha points out their H3 are still aimed at being healthier than the fast foods available outside.
Some of the stars of this interesting menu are their Tiramasu, hot starter platter, pesto grilled tofu and their salads. Definitely got you interested now didn’t we? They try and make everything in house like their breads and dips, so that they have control over all the ingredients that go in. You can also attend cooking classes conducted by the Veganosaurus herself.
Carrots’ mission is to create a chain of health food restaurants and not just a place to eat. They have had their share of ups and down, especially in the initial stage when they were trying to set up this venture. Based on their journey Susmitha’s advice to future food entrepreneurs is, “get the right experience and work in a place which resonates with your principles, before venturing out on your own.” Carrots have plans of expanding further and providing home delivery/ catering options for people across Bangalore.
We at Yellow Turmeric wish them good luck for their future plans and hope we get to see a lot more of “Carrots” around Bangalore.
Carrots is located at No. 607, First Floor,80 Feet Road, Koramangala 6th Block,
Bengaluru 560095. They are open between 11am to 10:30pm (Tuesday: Holiday).
You can call them up at +91 80 41172812.
Do visit their facebook page and the Veganosaurus blog to stay updated with the events at Carrots and for delicious recipes.
Images courtesy of: Carrots