Mangaluru: ‘Kane’ Ravi Shetty of Ghee Roast fame dead

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, February 13, 2018 : K. Ravindranath Shetty, restaurateur and a key member of the founding family of famous Mangalore Ghee Roast is no more. He passed away this evening (13 Feb. 2018) at Yenepoya Hospital following illness. He is said to have been suffering from renal failure. He was aged 56 and is survived by his wife Kiran, a son and a daughter.

His cremation is on Friday at 10:30 am and last respects may be paid at ‘Abhiman Gardens’, Kadri  (Opp. City Hospital), Mangalore, according sources close to his family.

Ravindranath Shetty was better known as ‘Kane Ravi’ due to his passionate association with Mangalorean Lady Fish Masala Fry. He was also one among the handful of family members who were privy to the secret recipe of ‘Mangalore Ghee Roast’, a dish invented by his mother Prabhavathi and popularized at restaurants run by his family. Mangalore Ghee Roast has since then become a generic dish synonymous with Mangalore cuisine.

Born into a reputed Bunt family of Kundapur on 19 April, 1962, Ravindranath Shetty was the youngest son of Tejappa Shetty, founder of Shetty Lunch Home in Kundapur and Anupama Restaurant in Mangalore. His elder brother K. Mohandas Shetty too had succumbed to renal ailment three years back (09 Aug. 2015) at the age of 61 years.

His father Tejappa Shetty had started the first outlet ‘Shetty Lunch Home’ at Kundapur in 1958. Once the sons grew up, they opened Anupama restaurant at Hotel Usha in 1973. Their delicious fish masala fries soon became the rage and the restaurant had people queuing up for a bite.

During those days, young Ravi was charged with the task of ensuring continuous supply of fresh fish. Hence his habit of visiting the market every morning and lifting the entire day’s catch of Kane (lady fish) earned him the nickname ’Kane Ravi’.

Ravi moved to Bengaluru after an eight-year stint in the Middle East in shipping business. There he opened ‘Coast to Coast’, a popular chain of restaurants in Bangalore offering the same famous cuisine. The original Shetty Lunch Home at Kundapur and at Usha Hotel, Mangalore are presently being run by his relatives.