The menu · 100% pure vegetarian · Jain on request
We don't serve South Indian food. We serve Karnataka, Andhra and Tamil Nadu, and we tell you which is which. Every dosa and idli is ground on our sixteen-hour batter. Three chutneys, always three.
Prices are on the menu at the counter and include taxes. Dishes can change with the season.
From the Regions
A place name is a fact you can check, which is why we print it instead of claiming to be authentic.
Karnataka
Steamed flat on a plate instead of a mould, so it comes out broader and softer. Ghee-kissed, dusted with podi.
Soft, spongy, honeycombed, never crisp: the military-hotel classic.
Lined with the fiery red chilli-garlic chutney Mysore is known for.
The same chilli-garlic lining, wrapped over potato masala.
Hot lentil rice with vegetables and ghee. Served with applam and pickle.
Andhra
Ground from whole green moong with no rice in the batter at all. Rustic, protein-rich, unmistakably green.
Pesarattu wrapped over potato masala.
Pesarattu heaped with crisp onion and masala.
Tamil Nadu
Decoction dripped slow through a brass filter, poured by the yard between davara and tumbler.
Golden-fried idli batons tossed in podi: a Chennai street favourite.
Coated with the bold pepper-fennel masalas of Chettinad.
Temple-style: tangy, nutty, tempered with sesame and jaggery.
Thin spiced buttermilk with curry leaf, ginger and green chilli.
Strong, milky, boiled the roadside way.
Mangaluru & Udupi
Puffed pooris with Udupi-style potato bhaji.
Mangalore's legendary layered sundae: ice creams, jelly, fruit and nuts.
Toor dal simmered with tiffin-sambar masala roasted in-house, drumstick, shallots and a spoon of ghee. It comes back to the table without being asked. That is the anna paatram.
The Classics
Ground on the same sixteen-hour batter as the regional dishes. Only the name is plainer.
To begin · Thodakkam
A tumbler of pepper-tamarind rasam with crisp applam.
Slow-roasted rava tempered in ghee with curry leaves and cashew.
Crisp lentil wafers, toasted over the flame.
Seasonal vegetables in a spiced gram-flour crust.
Idli kingdom · Mallipoo idli
Soft as jasmine: hand-ground rice and urad dal, fermented overnight.
The classic pairing: one idli, one medu vada.
Steamed idlis glossed with desi ghee or white butter.
Ghee-soaked idlis under a snowfall of podi.
Vadai variety
Urad dal doughnuts with black pepper and curry leaf.
Medu vada soaked in tiffin sambar until it drinks it all in.
Dipped in tangy, peppery rasam.
The chana-dal pakoda of the South.
Chilled curd, sweet and spicy tadka.
Sada dosa · Dosai
The original: thin, golden, crisp at the edges.
Arm-length, tissue-thin, shattering-crisp.
Coated with tawa-fried onions and coriander.
Dusted inside with podi and ghee.
Griddled generous with white butter.
Roasted in ghee until deep gold and crackling.
Ghee roast, podi-dusted: twice blessed.
Masala dosa · Masala dosai
Crisp golden dosa, gently spiced potato masala.
Extra-large, paper-thin, shattering-crisp.
Tawa-fried onions, chillies and coriander.
Butter-griddled, filled with the classic masala.
Soft, thick and spongy with spiced potato masala.
Podi stuffed into the sponge dosa.
Deep-gold ghee roast wrapped over the masala.
Ghee roast with a lining of podi over the masala.
Masala bhaji layered with tawa-fried paneer.
Mysore chutney, grated paneer and potato masala.
Rawa dosa · Rava dosai
Lacy semolina crepe with cumin, pepper and curry leaf.
Fresh-scraped coconut in the lace.
Crisp onion pressed into the net.
Lined with Mysore chilli-garlic chutney.
Dusted through with podi.
The crisp lace, filled with potato masala bhaji.
Coconut lace over the classic masala.
Tawa-fried onion and masala inside the net.
Mysore chutney and potato masala in the lace.
Podi-dusted lace, masala within.
Paneer, onion and masala.
Uttapam · Uthappam
Thick, soft-centred, crisp at the rim.
Tomato, coriander and green chilli.
Heaped with onion and slit green chillies.
Fresh-scraped coconut pressed into the crumb.
The classic double topping.
Onion, tomato, capsicum and carrot.
Topped and filled with potato masala bhaji.
Crushed paneer, gently spiced.
Rice paatram · Saadam
Tempered with mustard, peanut and fresh lemon.
Cooling thayir saadam with pomegranate and tadka.
Rice mashed into hot tiffin sambar with ghee.
Thakkali saadam: tangy tomato and whole spices.
Pepper-tamarind rasam over steamed rice.
Sambar rice enriched with a ladle of ghee.
Meals & combos · Virundhu
The Madras breakfast, complete.
Mini idli, vada, mini dosa, sweet of the day, sambar and chutneys.
Masala dosa, beverage and sweet of the day.
Rawa masala dosa, beverage and sweet of the day.
On banana leaf: tomato, sambar or curd rice with papad, achar, rasam and sambar.
Rawa dosas cannot be hurried. Each lace is ladled thin and set slowly on the tawa. Allow us 15–20 minutes.
Our Kitchen's Own
They have no hometown and we do not give them one.
Mini idli · Fourteen buttons
Pillow-soft button idlis with sambar and chutneys.
Drowned in piping tiffin sambar. Eat with a spoon.
Rolled warm in podi and ghee.
Tossed in a curry-leaf masala tadka.
Tossed in peri-peri spice. Our own idea, and a good one.
Drumstick-leaf podi: iron-rich and earthy.
Crushed roasted peanuts, chillies and a sesame tadka.
Pan-tossed in white butter and golden garlic.
Cubed idlis, crisped and tossed chaat-style with curd and chutneys.
Royal dosas · Made for sharing
The house pride: extra-crisp cone with triple podi, butter and masala.
Tight-rolled dosa stuffed with spiced paneer bhurji.
Crisp dosa, garden vegetables and creamy dressing.
Cheese-cream layered dosa, mild and rich.
Tomato, capsicum, onion and cheese, baked on the tawa.
Garden vegetables under molten cheese.
Fiery Schezwan paneer rolled in a crisp dosa.
Crunchy vegetable spring-roll filling in a dosa jacket.
Tossed vegetables in hot garlic sauce, wrapped crisp.
The Jumbo · Four feet
Four feet of crackling dosa on a banana leaf. Bring the whole table.
The four-footer, podi-and-ghee edition.
The four-footer with a fiery Schezwan lining.
Our uttapams & rice
Tomato, molten cheese and basil-tulsi on the soft crumb.
Five mini uttapams: onion, capsicum, tomato, corn and crushed paneer.
South-style: mint, fried onion and short-grain rice.
Four feet of crackling dosa laid out on a banana leaf. Finish it between four of you and dessert is on us. 15 minutes · feeds 4–6.
Sweets, Thanda & Extras
Sweets · Madhuram
Temple-style semiya or paruppu payasam.
Saffron-tinted semolina halwa with cashew and raisin.
Soft khoya dumplings in warm rose syrup.
Warm jamuns over cold vanilla.
Slow-roasted moong dal, heavy with ghee.
Gram flour, sugar and a river of ghee.
Dense malai kulfi, set the old way.
Garam & thanda
Saffron milk thick with ground almonds.
Thick lassi with a malai crown.
Filter decoction shaken over ice and milk.
Sweet, salted or mixed.
Extras
Coconut, the mild one, with roasted gram. Tomato, the tangy one, with garlic. Coriander, the fresh one, ground green. Podi is a dry powder served alongside: roasted lentil and chilli, eaten with ghee. It is not a chutney.