Restaurant Review: Dosa

I have been wanting to go to this restaurant ever since it opened for two reasons - 1) I love South Indian food as it is much lighter and more veggie-heavy than the more creamy and heavy North Indian food that dominates Indian restaurants here and 2) The reviews from other people I know have been raving. So, my good friend Mistress Paulina picked this for our weekend get together last night.

It was a 45 minute wait (WARNING: they do not accept reservations for fewer than 5 people) and we were surrounded by the people I love to hate - invaders from the Marina. The attitude these people throw make Lady Bunny look like an angel! But I digress...

The wine list is great - lots of selections by the glass, and, as you would expect from a restaurant specializing in spicy food, selections leaned primarily on Pinot Grigios, Sauvignon Blancs, dry Rieslings, Gerwurztramminers, and dry-style Chardonnays. I chose a 2005 Selbach-Oster Riesling (from Mosel Valley in Germany) that was just fabulous. Mistress Paulina had a beer... like she always does...

The pappadum they brought out as a snack was very good... some of the best I ever had. For a starter, I ordered these fried lentil dumplings that came with sambal (spicy lentil soup), tomato chutney, and coconut chutney for dipping. They were quite good... like little sourdough donuts... and the sambal was just divine. I ended up eating all of that stuff even when I ran out of the little donuts. Paulina had little lentil cakes that were stuffed with spinach and cauliflower and also served with the same chutneys. She liked them, although she wished they had more taste of the vegetables than of the lentils.

Now, this place is known for their “dosas” - huge crepes made of lentil flour dough and stuffed with various vegetable ingredients. We actually skipped over the stuffed dosas because their curries looked more interesting. I ordered the baby eggplant in a sesame, peanut, ginger, and onion curry with a side of uttapam for dipping (uttapam is similar to the spongy flatbread you get in Ethiopian restaurants... the lentil flour they use makes it taste like sourdough). Mistress Paulina ordered the peppered chicken curry with a plain dosa on the side for dipping. One thing of note - service here is quick once you get seated, but you don’t feel rushed. Our server was wonderful and timed things perfectly to our mood for the evening.

Both entrees were quite tasty - however, I was expecting to be bowled over given all the raves about the place and the fact that is always difficult to get in there, and I just wasn’t. I was disappointed in the portion size of my eggplant dish - it only had like 5 or 6 baby eggplants in the whole dish and a lot of the curry sauce. Mistress Paulina’s chicken dish was more properly sized. And the uttapam was a bit too sour for my tastes - good, but, Paulina’s dosa would have been the better accompaniment to the dish for my tastes. Also, prepare for spice - the dishes here are quite spicy, as they should be for South Indian cuisine, but it’s not overpowering.

Netting it all out it was a very pleasant meal, very pleasant service, but it just didn’t have the “wow” factor that we both were expecting after all we had heard about it. It was tasty and unique, but, admittedly I wouldn’t choose it again for a weekend meal - I’d wait for a weeknight and go back, and next time try the dosas.