There are food streets, and then there is VV Puram. A strip so tiny you could walk it in three minutes flat, yet so legendary that entire generations of Bengalureans swear it raised them. This is one of the few
food streets in the country that has stayed truly and stubbornly vegetarian, and still manages to pull crowds until one in the morning.
In a city that often goes to sleep early, VV Puram stands like a warm, glowing exception. A place where the old Bangalore spirit sits comfortably with the new, where the smell of ghee hangs heavy in the air, and where stall owners have served the same recipes long enough to predict your order before you speak.
A Street Built on Fire, Smoke and Stories
Walk into the lane after sunset and the soundscape changes. Dosas hitting a hot tawa. Oil cracking under a fresh bajji. Steam rising from a kulfi cart. A vendor shouting the day’s special. Laughter from college kids who have no intention of going home early. A family waiting near a holige counter because aunty wants extra ghee and uncle swears by the thatte idly.
No neon branding. No designer plating. No pretence. Just pure, old-school, stick-to-your-ribs vegetarian food.
The Famous Stops That Define the Street
VV Puram is not one big street; it is a collection of tiny landmarks that locals talk about like they are old cousins.
The dosa stalls are always the loudest, always the busiest. You will find butter masala dosas that drip with indulgence, ghee podi dosas so fragrant they make strangers turn around, and set dosas so soft they almost feel emotional.
Then there is the pav bhaji corner that has been here longer than half the buildings around it. Thick, spicy, old-style bhaji that never tried to be modern. The Bombay Vada Pav counter next to it queues faster than the metro on a Monday morning.
And of course, the famous potato twisters and akki rottis. Everyone swears by a different stall, and everyone believes their stall is the oldest, but that debate is part of the street’s charm.
The highlight for dessert lovers is the never-ending line for fresh jalebis and hot badam milk. At midnight, when the weather in Bengaluru decides to get romantic, people stand around with steaming tumblers, sipping sweet milk like the world has stopped rushing for a minute.
Open Till One. Alive Till the Last Plate.
Most cities don’t give you many vegetarian options after eleven at night. VV Puram proudly breaks that rule. Many stalls serve right up to one in the morning, and even then, you’ll see people pleading for “last plate, anna please”.
The late hours bring a different crowd. Night shift workers, students who study best at midnight. Young couples who want something simple but comforting. People who have been out driving aimlessly, only to land here like it was destiny.
And in those late hours, you realise something. VV Puram is less a food street and more a living room for the city. A place where people meet without planning, where a plate of hot tawa pulav or mosaru kodbale can solve an entire day, and where the vendors treat strangers with a warmth you rarely find in fast food chains.
Tradition Survives Because People Want It To
In a city filled with artisanal cafes, cloud kitchens and modern dining spaces, VV Puram stays untouched. Not because it cannot change, but because it does not need to. It is one of the last reminders of what old Bengaluru food culture felt like before everything went premium and digital.
Its charm is in the routine. The familiarity. The fact that every item tastes the same year after year because the vendors have no interest in reinventing anything that already works.
The Street That Never Lost Its Heart
VV Puram isn’t trying to be fancy. It is just trying to feed the city, the way it always has. With warmth. With excess ghee. With honest flavours. With a kind of innocence that makes the entire place feel like home.
If you want Bengaluru in one bite, you don’t need a guide. Just follow the smell of roasted ghee and sizzling dosa. It will lead you straight to VV Puram.
