Oh what a delicious thread, I have eaten all kind of Thalis starting from Kerala, Goan, Gujrati, Udupi, Hydrabadi, Marwari (Rajsthani), Punjabi, Bihari and Bengali besides also served in different states of the country. By the way, I am not a foodie but I live in an area where all kind of Thalis are available easily. If you search Rajauri Garden area of Delhi alone it has more than thousand place to eat on one single road and all of them are unique in their own way serving all kind of Indian, continental and specialties from every country of the world. Besides Delhi almost every thali listed in this thread is available in my city too.  

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

usha manohar wrote:

Bangalore probably has the maximum number of restaurants from all over India and abroad.There are Thalis available from all south Indian states - besides Bengali, Gujrati, Punjabi,Kashmiri and the north eastern states...

Most metro and cosmo cities now have places where you food from around the world. Pune too has very good quality restaurants and eateries where you get food from all the states of the country as well as continental, Chinese, Italian, Spanish etc. Current trend here now is thalis served in sterling silver utensils! Quite an in thing now.

It is nice to keep to certain traditions otherwise they phase out in a matter of few years....In fact many old recipes that were considered too rustic and not fit to be served in elegant restaurants are now finding favor. I was reading a news report about Delhi at the Hotel Ashoka ,when they had a food festival authentic Mangalorean dishes like Kori rotti, Pathrode and a few more dishes were loved by many who probably had never heard  of it.So, people would like to try out new dishes now whether Indian, Vietnamese or Mexican..

I too love the taste of various Indian thalis. But I have couple of reservations. One is that even before you have taken your seat the service starts. A large variety of items are put in your thali one after another in small measures. Soon you end up eating only two or three items and are stuffed out to enjoy the unlimited food on offer. The charges are therefore working out to very high compared what quantity one ends up eating.Recently I ate a Gujarati Marwari mix thali in Mumbai and it cost Rs 550/-  Too costly. Also in most restaurants the moment you finish you have to vacate because people are waiting. So you end up feeling you had an assembly line like lunch. However filled thalis are very attractive to look at and are appeatising. @Kalyani wrote about Kashmiri Thali in Pune. I am hearing about it first time. Can she elaborate pl.

I too love the taste of various Indian thalis. But I have couple of reservations. One is that even before you have taken your seat the service starts. A large variety of items are put in your thali one after another in small measures. Soon you end up eating only two or three items and are stuffed out to enjoy the unlimited food on offer. The charges are therefore working out to very high compared what quantity one ends up eating.Recently I ate a Gujarati Marwari mix thali in Mumbai and it cost Rs 550/-  Too costly. Also in most restaurants the moment you finish you have to vacate because people are waiting. So you end up feeling you had an assembly line like lunch. However filled thalis are very attractive to look at and are appeatising. @Kalyani wrote about Kashmiri Thali in Pune. I am hearing about it first time. Can she elaborate pl.

Regional delicacies are expensive because of less patronization. They are much more expensive in Metros.

Indian delicacies are not to blame for that but it depend s where you eat them. One can eat the same thali for Rs 30 or Rs 600 or even more dependin upon the standard of the restro.

Yes. I found food stuff less expensive in remote places because they need not add extra  show cases and uniformed severs. This paraphernalia makes the food expensive.

On a lighter note our MPs and ministers  get to eat the best of stuff for less than 20 rupees ..Here in Mangalore , in a restaurant they have a special Thali with 500 items costing Rs 1000 . I wonder whether it is possible to even taste each dish once...

Definitely not possible for a commoner. Whereas our representatives enjoy such almost free food for a pittance.

The Udupi Rice plate I used to eat for Re 1 (Way Back in South India, limited Rice but rasam and sambhar to demand) was available for Rs 5 in North India then. I remember having eaten 5 Idalies for Re1 during my training period in Bangalore way side restaurant. That plate is available for Rs 40 in Bangalore at same standard restaurant and Rs 100 for three pieces of Idly in better ones.