I didn't know that there were so many branches of this Chennai Dosa in the same area. I started reviewing another branch thinking that was the one I went to. Then I realized maybe I should search for the right branch to make my review accurate. But as it wasn't on yelp already. I'm adding it now with this review.
First of all, this is not really a restaurant. It is more of a fast food branch. I don't know if all their branches are like this. But it was not what I expected.
Secondly not all Chennai Dosa branches are 'pure vegetarian'. So that was another surprise for me and my vegetarian mate. I am not pure vegetarian so I don't have a problem with that.
Actually I just cleared all my assumptions by telling all that. So if you were to assume something like I did, I hope it helped clear your assumptions as well.
This is probably the branch closest to East Ham underground station. Just walking about a 100 feet to the right after exiting the station, you'd find this on the other side of the road.
There weren't many people in the restaurant at the time we visited the place so the waiters were free and waiting for our orders. Looking at the menu, everything was on the very cheap side. Very affordable. If I were a student with no income I would love these prices and might even have food from there everyday. After scanning the menu for about 10 minutes, we ordered Chettinadu Dosa and Dosa with Kara Kozhambu and started the long wait. Not too long, really.
While waiting for the order I noticed that they were not too careful about cleaning. Being a bit OCD about my cleanliness and being notorious for shouting at my room mates for not keeping the house clean, I felt awkward when I saw a guy licking all his fingers and then using the same finger to help himself with the curries kept on display. It was a buffet type of arrangement. I just felt grateful that I didn't choose to have the buffet. I wouldn't dare touch those spoons.
But that was kind of forgivable. Being an Indian restaurant you shouldn't really expect too much cleanliness. Ever been to a small restaurant in Chennai or any part of India? People clean the table with a cloth and hang that cloth on their shoulder and bring you steel tumblers filled with water with their fingers sticking into it (those fingers just cleaned the table). So this was much better. I don't mean to be rude or anything to the restaurant owners, but to start with, if things don't look clean around you, how do expect to eat from that place? I wouldn't.
I was too hungry on that day so I turned a blind eye to the bad part and focused more on dreaming about what might arrive soon. Both the dosas arrived in about 7 minutes.
By the way for folks who don't know what dosa is, it is sort of a pancake. They tasted good. I stole a little bit of my friend's dosa and she stole some of mine too. We felt the taste was really good for the sort of way they maintained the restaurant. We felt we should get something more. This is very unusual of me. But I actually got adventurous and ordered a Channa Batura. That took another 5 minutes and I already started having it. It was almost 2 years since I last had a Channa Batura. I avoid fried food, but on that day, I just wanted to taste it from there (for reasons I don't even know).
And that was tasty too. Apart from the oil bit. You can't make Batura without deep frying it. So now you know why I hadn't had it for long.
And to finish our meal we had south Indian filter coffee served in little steel tumblers placed in steel saucers. Very South Indian indeed. Tasted good too.
Over all I felt the restaurant has a great Chef or team of Chefs. But I wish they were a little more on the cleaner side though. But maybe their primary target is not OCDs like me. And maybe even OCDs when hungry, just eat from anywhere. So I still felt the place should get 3 stars. read more