Coimbatore’s iconic coconut bun: Why late actor Murali loved Red Rose bakery

Red Rose in Avarampalayam looks like any other bakery on fight sight. Glass counters lined with trays of butter biscuits, puffs, rolls, cutlets, cakes, and bread fill the front end of the space. Inside, there are two rows of tables surrounded by chairs in which men and women are seated sipping their mid-morning coffee and tea. But everything changes when we order a slice of their thenga bun. Coconut buns at Red Rose Bakery. | Photo Credit: PERIASAMY M The wedge-shaped bun is filled with thin tufts of scraped coconut, black sesame seeds, raisins, and tutti frutti, flavoured mildly of cardamom and held together by a sweetness that is just right. The perfect coconut bun does exist, and at Red Rose, it carries a history that dates back almost 60 years. The bakery has been functioning from the same spot since 1968 and in its heyday, was frequented by people from the Tamil film industry. “The late actor Murali loved our thenga bun,” says co-founder KP Venugopal, brother of the founder, the late KP Rajagopal, settling down over a strong cup of coffee and onion puffs. K P Venugopal (left), the founder with NT Karthikeyan, a family friend, at Red Rose Bakery in Avarampalayam in Coimbatore | Photo Credit: PERIASAMY M Murali used to stop by for the sweet and soft coconut buns during his trips to the city for film shoots. “In the late 1980s and 1990s, when the crews of films such as Adharmam, Conductor Mappillai, and Porkkaalam were shooting in Pollachi, Ooty and Gobichettipalayam, we served coconut buns for them on the set,” recalls NT Karthikeyan, a friend of the founders. The family has carefully preserved photos and videos of these interactions, and Karthikeyan shows us several albums in which Murali is seen in the bakery back when it had a red hand-painted nameboard. In video footage from the bakery’s archives, Murali smiles into the camera and says, ‘Thenga bun! This was the first thing I ate in Gobi when I came for the shoot of Ilankandru. I always have it during my visits to Coimbatore.’ Actor Venniradai Moorthy adds jokingly that he ate two buns, ‘one with everyone’s knowledge and another when no one was watching.’ The late actor-director Manivannan was also a fan of Red Rose’s coconut buns. The coconut buns come with a sweet filling of coconut shavings, sesame seeds and raisins | Photo Credit: PERIASAMY M Red Rose, in its erstwhile avatar, was a grocery store. This was in the 1800s, when Aravampalayam was a quaint village with just 20 houses. Rangammal, Venugopal’s grandmother ran the store singlehandedly. “She would walk all the way to Town Hall to buy groceries to sell,” says Kavitha Rajagopal, who helps run the bakery with her uncle.“She lived up to a 103 and was a steely woman; her determination saw her through a deadly plague that wiped out scores of people in the neighbourhood in the 1920s,” recalls Karthikeyan. Rangammal’s daughter-in-law Ranganayaki took over the shop in the 1920s, turning it into a small eatery that served tiffin. Once her sons were old enough to run the place, they spruced it up into a bakery. Actor Murali during a visit to Red Rose Bakery in Avarampalayam in Coimbatore. He used to be a regular visitor and was fond of their coconut buns. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRAGEMENT “When we started out in 1968, we wanted to offer something different from other bakeries in town,” says Venugopal. He recalls how coconut balls were all the rage back then, with a bakery in Ganapathy popularising it. “We decided to attempt a coconut bun that was circular, one that could be cut into triangles,” he says. They first made a batch of six circles in their wood-fired oven, that quickly sold out. That was when Venugopal and his brother realised they had arrived at a winning recipe. “We sold a piece for 60 paisa back then,” he remembers, adding that today, it is priced at ₹24.Red Rose has been following the same recipe the brothers perfected. “We source coconut from our farms in Pollachi,” says Venugopal, “For the filling, the coconut should be left to age a few days and shouldn’t be too tender.” The coconut buns have a two-day shelf-life and on an average, the bakery has 1,000 walk-ins a day, that doubles on weekends. Cakes and buns at Red Rose Bakery in Avarampalayam in Coimbatore | Photo Credit: PERIASAMY M Inside their kitchen, the tea master is whipping up innumerable cups of tea, that he passes to waiters through a window in a wall adjoining the kitchen. Fresh loaves of bread are being taken out from the oven even as preparations are on for the next batch.Venugopal points to a soft circle of coconut bun that will be sliced into wedges and packed for customers. “This one has just arrived from the oven,” he says. He cuts it with a knife as coconut drizzles from the sides. “We’ve not altered the original recipe, not even a little bit,” he adds. The bakery has seen several rounds of renovations over the past few decades, but its core remains.Located at 3 A-B, Murugan Kovil Street, Avarampalayam, Illango Nagar, Coimbatore. Call 7200335336