About us

A house, a hill, and a kitchen that takes its time

Stone Hill Resto Cafe 1959 sits on Stuart Hill, a few minutes above Raja Seat in Madikeri. It is a café and a restaurant in the same building, and most of what is worth knowing about it is visible from the courtyard.

The building at dusk with the blue and white bus parked alongside it. — The house at dusk

The house

Tiled roof, red plinth, white walls

A single-storey house set behind a paved courtyard, with a long tiled roof and lamps under the eaves that come on before the light goes. The name is carved into the dry stone wall at the entrance, which is as close to an explanation as the place offers.

"Stone Hill Cafe 1959" carved into a dry stone wall, framed by greenery. — The wall at the entrance

Inside

Rosewood, brass and red oxide

Long rosewood tables and benches, arched windows with dark wooden shutters, brass lamps and vessels on carved stands, and red-oxide floors. Nothing has been styled for a photograph; it is a room people eat in.

An arched window with dark wooden shutters, brass vessels stacked on a carved stand against a red-oxide floor. — An arched window and the brass

A wooden table on the terrace under flowering bougainvillea, looking out over the rooftops of Madikeri. — Looking out over Madikeri

Madikeri, below

The town falls away

Stuart Hill sits above the town, near Raja Seat. From the terrace Madikeri drops away below the bougainvillea and the ridges of Kodagu run to the horizon. There are tables out there for it.

From the kitchen

Cooked here, in this house

Everything is made to order on the hill, which is why some of it takes a while. The board on the wall says so plainly, and it is the reason the kitchen gives when a dish is slow.

Filter coffee and cardamom tea, pakodas and fries, soups, paneer and chicken from the tandoor and the pan, akki rotti and neer dosa, Coorg chicken curry, and a short list of desserts.

See the full menu

Two brass tumblers of filter coffee held up against the green hills. — Filter coffee, against the hills

The building with its long tiled roof, a vehicle parked on the courtyard in front.

In the courtyard

The bus, and the jeep

A retired TATA bus stands on the property, still lettered Shri Thalakauveri. An orange Mahindra is parked alongside with the Stone Hill name across its windscreen. Neither is going anywhere, and both are how people describe the place to each other.

An orange Mahindra jeep parked on the property, "Stone Hill Cafe" lettered across its windscreen. — The Mahindra, with the name across its windscreen

In brief

What it is: A café and restaurant, listed under both.
Where: No. 14, Stuart Hill — near Raja Seat, above Madikeri.
The kitchen: No artificial colours, no tasting powders, no reused oil. Everything freshly prepared.
The year in the name: We do not know what 1959 refers to, so this page does not say.

Come up to Stuart Hill

The road climbs past Raja Seat and the house sits near the top. The kitchen cooks to order, so call ahead if you are coming a long way.

Get directions Call +91 90199 01990