Udupi,Munirka, New Delhi

Putting up in Vasant Vihar and R.K. Puram since childhood is a blessing in disguise and Udupi has been one of those cherished blessings when it comes to me. I have grown up on their dosas, vadas and idlis. Their piping hot sambhar is to die for and their trademark thin yoghurt with onions is so soothing!

The place can easily seat around 100 people. No, I am not joking. They have four sections – a/c and open roof top and each can easily accommodate 30-40 folks or maybe more than that. They have a hard working staff catering to every table and taking care of extra fillings of sambhar and chutneys. Their kitchen is huge and you can see the paper thin dosas on their big black girdles being made, if you decide to have a peek. There is a kids section as well where tiny tots can play on a slope.

I have tried a host of their dishes but these are the ones I recently savoured :

Rawa Paneer Dosa : I loved their rawa dosa. It was way too crispy and even after 10 minutes, the base of the dosa had not gone soggy. The filling of minced cottage cheese was delightfullu flavourful with the addition of cumin seeds, tomatoes and peas. I wished they had dully minced the cottage cheese as they were some small unminced lumps here and there.

Rawa Masala Dosa : Another wonderful creation by their amazingly talented chefs. The crispy dosa enclosing perfectly mashed spiced up potatoes with extra doses of red chillies in between. This one is also a must try.

Masala Paneer Dosa : Average taste. The dosa is crispy and good to eat but the cottage cheese bhujiya is bland and it feels like a burden to finish this off.

Sambhar : Their sambhars are way too good – thick, spicy, tangy and hot. The addition of pumpkins, drumsticks, carrots and bottlegourd provide a plethora of different flavours.

Coconut Chutney : Usually, their coconut chutneys are good but the one I recently tasted had gone sour. Improvement needed.

Yoghurt Onion Raita : This water raita comes along with the sambhar and chutney package. The texture is watery and the addition of onions and rai seeds gives it a bit salty and pungent flavor. This is very healthy and light for stomach.