Eating circles

Hello all, I am back after a long time with a brand new write-up. Today I am reporting about a restaurant which is located in Alwarpet,Chennai.

It was in the month of March, I was recovering from the hairline fracture of my left ankle. I got a phone call from my Close friend Manikandan, who is a hard core Malleswara guy & always loves to have a traditional yet qualitative food.

"Rajanna, what's your plan? Let's meet in Eating Circle. Vishwa is also joining." The third human in this write-up is Vishwanath, a hard-core Chennai guy who was waiting for the D-Day to taste the Bengaluru style dosé & other popular snacks of Karnataka.

Atlast we reached the restaurant, Vishwanath & myself ordered Bengaluru Masale dosé & our Manikandan wanted to taste the Mysore Masale dosé. We waited for nearly 12 minutes, in the mean time we had a great chat.

We got our order, I had Bengaluru Masale dosé along with coconut chutney, another which was groundnut chutney & Bengaluru styled sweet sambar with traces of onions, tomatoes & a sweetening agent called Jaggery. Vishwanath too had same except the sambar, he had the Tamilnadu styled sambar which is comparatively spicier than Bengaluru sambar. 

Manikandan had Mysore Masale dosé along with 2 chutney and Bengaluru sambar. 

Now let me explain how Bengaluru Masale was, words fail to explain the taste & the texture. The colour itself tempts anyone & it is topped with some good amount of butter, which starts melting when the dosé is served. The masalé which is generously spread on the dosé & the generous amount of oil & then comes the Potato curry, which are the key ingredients of Masalé dosé. The first bite was taken with the potato curry, then dunked with the coconut chutney & proceeded towards my mouth. The first bite was way too crunchy the coconut flavour was filling in my mouth, then came the masalé flavour which had some traces of garlic, then the potato curry's flavour.

2nd bite was with The special chutney which was groundnut chutney & the roasted groundnut flavour started dominating over the potato curry. The 3rd bite was with Bengaluru sambar, aha! The sweet & spicy combination just started to hit my taste buds which took me to my childhood where I celebrated eating masalé dosé in the darshinis of Bengaluru. The crispiness of Masalé dosé was maintained till the last bite. In the mean time I ordered an extra cup of Sambar.

                  Bengaluru Masale dosé

Coming to Mysore Masale dosé, mint chutney was spread on the dosé & onion curry was filled instead of Potato curry. According to many this is the speciality of Mysore Masale dosé. Manikandan loved the dosé except the onion curry that was replacing the potato curry. I could see the sadness in him, it was as if he is missing one.

I ordered a plate of Mangalore buns, & they had vada dipped in Sambar. Mangalore buns is a very popular dish which is usually consumed as a breakfast as well as snack. Coconut chutney & sambar usually goes well with Mangalore buns.

I had a very shocking moment when they served with a hot cup of Tovve (Dal), which was totally out of syllabus for me & I dared to eat this latest combination. It did taste well but buns along with chutney is always 😋

Vada sambar was not topped with raw chopped onions, but it was dipped in a bowl of hot Bengaluru sambar. The aroma made me revisit Bengaluru for some time.

Regarding this restaurant, the price seems to be bit high but it's worth paying for the quality of the food & before coming out of this restaurant do try the rose milk, which has traces of rose petals. It is mildly sweet & ah! What a nice way to end your weekend dinner!!

Regarding the price

Masalé dosé costs about ₹130/- per plate

Mangalore buns costs around ₹47/- per plate

Sambar vada costs around ₹43/- per plate 

Rose milk costs around ₹71/-

Time to present a report card to this restaurant

Taste - 8

Ambience- 9

Service - quick so I would award 9.5

Value for money - 8 even though the prices look fancy but you can pay for the quality when you are away from hometown & the restaurant which serves & makes you revisit your hometown through the food they serve.

Overall our weekend dinner was sorted & we sang just like Tom & it's friends in one of the famous Tom and Jerry episodes, "we hate to say goodbye, we hate to say goodbye" & then we had some ice cream.

Ahh! What ice-cream after dosé batting? Ruko zara sabhar karo, that will be in a different episode. I too hate to say goodbye, but I have to upload this write-up now..