Mutton and beef seekh neatly arranged, barbecue grills lit and ready to grill, and pathar being prepared for making pathar ghost. That’s Koramangala’s Iftar scene preparation in a nutshell at 5 pm for you. Come 7 pm, the peak hour, the mini stretch between Empire Hotel and McDonald’s and all the way up to Popsies, the Chinese restaurant, comes alive. There’s smoke in the air with all the grills working in overdrive to prepare anything from seekh kebabs to tikkas. There are cutlets of all kinds being fried and served hot to patrons and the quintessential Iftar staple, onion samosas are sold in the bulk. It’s madness, but hey, it adds to the Iftar buzz that Koramangala has come to experience over the past few years.

There’s really no guide to eating here. You just pick a stall at random and start your stuffing your face with all kinds of Iftar goodness. There’s mutton and beef chops cooked in a rich, greasy gravy and sold by the bowl with a side of onions and lime to start with. Or you could make a beeline to the numerous stalls that do fried skewers of seafood and chicken. Biryani and haleem make their appearance at a few stalls with the first batch of haleem getting sold out almost within minutes. Pathar ghost is present at every other stall with a few places doing camel meat too. Empire’s own Ramadan fair is something that you need to try. Seafood and chicken take dominance here in the form of fries, kebabs, and grills. Arabic seekh kebabs and brain fry are for the carnivorous kind. Wrap up you Iftar scene with custard, jamun, or sahi thukda.