On Dosaas...

I have always maintained that the Saravana Bhavan in Parry's Corner makes the best dosaas in the world. I have been there only a couple of times and both times I was so tired and hungry after playing cricket in the hot sun, that you could easily say I am exaggerating. But I get special pleasure in claiming that something is the best in the world, particularly when I have experienced that something.

After my entry into USA, I have visited the Saravana Bhavan in San Francisco a couple of times (it is not exactly SFO, but I get too confused about the places in Bay Area that everything is SFO for me). My expectations were great, and I should say they weren't let down. Food was as usual terrific, mangala isai was playing in the background and the board on the outside read "Uyarthara saiva unavagam". It was perfect!

The Udupi restaurant in Bellevue/Redmond area serves the worst dosaas in the world, atleast the worst I've eaten. They have about 15 to 20 varieties of dosaas and each one has something especially bad about it. But Udupi seems to specialize in murdering each and every variety - be it masala, paper or rava. Dosaas are something even the tiny eateries round the corner in Madras make to a certain standard with bare minimum infrastructure. Udupi here literally has monopoly in this area for south indian restaurants and I am sure makes great business just because of that.

Last week, I had paper roast. It may be a cliche, but I am unable to resist saying that, it literally was a paper roast. No sign of any dosaa there. Lakshmi asked me how I managed to complete about 75% of it. We used to think that Udupi here made the worst chutneys (and sambars) before. I was even sympathetic thinking that they probably didn't get good coconuts around this area. But for making a decent dosa - no such excuses.

Unfortunately, I find it extremely hard to complain then and there. I don't know what it is about me, but I seldom complain straight in the face to restaurant owners or shop keepers about the quality of the stuff they sell. It is probably very easy, but I guess there is something fundamental that I lack in that regard. So, this time too, I registered no complaint. My usual excuse is that my way of handling it is switching to another restaurant. In this case, even that is invalid since Udupi is the only one of its kind.

People who are from this area, when you find time, do visit Udupi and check out what I mean when I say something is the worst dosaa in the world. If you haven't done that already. Also, if you know of other good south indian eateries here, do leave a comment. Thanks!