I'm typing this review with fingers still warm and wonderfully greasy from my meal here. It was so good that I couldn't even stop and wash my hands to yelp.
I will warn you - do not, DO NOT change your mind about eating here when you see the faded awning or the old-fashioned felt menu with plastic letters and numbers. Do not walk away when you see the grungy tiled flooring or the cheap laminate seating. And do not let the fact that it's bizarrely placed between a quasi-residential area and a sprawling temple lead you away. This place is the real McCoy, and the delicious smells that surround you upon entrance are only the beginning of what promises to be a great meal.
There's been much mention about the kindness of the man at the counter and I was delighted to find how true it was. I told him I'm a vegan and admitted that what little I know about South Indian cuisine could fit in the eye of a sewing needle. Completely unfazed, he patiently walked through the short menu with me and explained what was in each one. He also gently directed my greedy eyes away from other things that contained non-vegan ingredients (when you see the menu, you'll understand why it feels okay to be greedy here - the prices are more than decent with most of the items hovering at the $4 mark, and a few offerings that tip the scale toward $7 but no higher). In the end, I settled on a mysore masala dosa and an order of samosas. I was sorely tempted to eat it right then and there, but felt awkward enough about being the lone yellow Asian in a sea of brown people that I finally ponied up the 50 cents to get it wrapped to go. Two quarters are a steep price to have it wrapped as shabbily as it was - in little more than aluminum foil and foam cups and plates - but it was strangely endearing and homespun, the way a friend or neighbor might wrap leftovers for me to take home.
Confession - I live about ten minutes away from Dosa Hutt and I fully intended to start eating only when I got home but having those smells wafting around me in the small, enclosed space of my car was driving me wild. So if you caught sight of an Asian girl stuffing her facehole while cruising down Kissena this afternoon, I hope you enjoyed the show as much as I enjoyed eating the samosas. They come two per order, and because I dug in mere minutes after leaving Dosa Hutt, they were still scorchingly hot. Not that that stopped me - I pushed my pain tolerance to new levels as I couldn't help but gobble down bite after bite of pillowy potato and vegetables, swathed with a complex entanglement of spices that I couldn't even begin to identify but HOT DIGGITY DAWG it was good.
I dug into the mysore masala dosa when I got home, only to quickly realize the man wasn't kidding when he warned me about its level of spiciness. I foolishly thought my Korean palate would make quick work of any spices this kitchen had to offer, but the dosa had my tongue tingling with mild terror (in a good way, the way of fast roller coasters and scary movies). Like the samosas, each bite spun my taste buds in such a delightful dance, I couldn't stop eating and instead did as Usher once said - "Gotta' let it burrrrn!"
The menu describes dosas as 'crepes', but I would argue that this is much denser with a toothsome heft, owing to the rice and lentils that they use for the dough, and therefore stands up bravely to the task of containing the hot, hearty filling. The mysore masala calls for spicy potato chunks, smattered with sauteed onions, and it's offered with three dipping sauces. I wish I knew more about them to describe them better, but because I don't, I can only identify them as (1) the sweet one, (2) the dark green one, and (3) the light green smoothie-looking one. I diplomatically dipped bites into each cup and found that all three were equally delicious. Even better was finding that they'd included a free small soup of soup which was (of course) also spicy, but delicious and hearty just the same.
For eight Georgies, I managed to stuff myself silly and might've even done well enough with just one order. Great food, great find, and will most certainly be back again. read more