South Indian Dosa Mahal
1284 Bloor Street West
416-516-7701
Lunch for two with all taxes, tip and drinks: $26

South Indian Dosa Mahal has the ambiance of a fast food joint, in all its formic and linoleum glory. The tables are crowded together and it’s hard to move around them — you really get to know your neighbours, for better or worse (it was a pretty cool crowd on my latest visit, truth be told). The lighting is bright and glaring. They have no liquor license. The Bloor and Landsdowne neighbourhood, aka Bloordale, is the kind of place I usually get asked for change several times in a couple of blocks. But inside South Indian Dosa Masala the clientèle seems to have enough scratch for great food at cheap prices, so discreet gawking and eating became the happy orders of the day.

Southern Indian food is different than the typical Toronto Northern Indian restaurant food. There is no butter chicken, naan, paneer or tandoori chicken here. Instead there are dosas and uthappams. A dosa is a savoury South Indian crepe made from lentils and rice. They are huge, over a foot across, and come in eighteen varieties such as plain ($4.50), with onions cooked into the batter ($4.50), filled with meat ($6.99) or with egg ($5.50). Uthappams are similar but smaller and thicker, like a pancake, and come in nine varieties such as tomato ($4.99) and hot pepper ($5.50). Both dosas and uthappams are served with sambar, a thin soup with vegetables, and delicious grainy coconut chutney. Both outside and inside are large colour photos of the menu items. I don’t think they hired a food stylist and what you see is exactly what you get. It’s very useful (and honest) to be supplied this visual reference.

I’m a creature of habit when it comes to food. Almost every time I come here, I get the same thing: a cheese dosa ($4.99), an order of eggplant curry ($2.50), and a mango lassi ($2.50) to drink. It’s a great combination — salt dosa, subtly spicy curry and creamy tart lassi — primary colours to the eye of my tongue, and, boy, do they mix nice. The crepe of the dosa was lacy and slightly crispy on the edges, soft and sponge-like in the middle. The cheese: white and mild, and though I usually prefer sharp cheeses, the mildness was perfect with the dosa and curry which had an almost smoky tomato eggplant flavour to it. If I had been given this in a blind taste test, I would say it was Sicilian rather than Indian.

This time when they brought my mango lassi, I was disturbed to find my tongue detecting the fluid at room temperature. Ice cubes were in it, for sure, but not enough to cool it off completely yet, and it was a hot day. I nearly sent that lassi back, but decided to risk fate and drank it anyway. No gastric distress ensued, but having a warm yogurt based drink is not good.

My husband got a meat masala dosa with chicken ($6.99) and Samosa Appetizer ($1.00). The samosas were nice and crisp, filled with the potato masala that so many of the items on the menu come with. At one dollar, they were a fantastic bargain. My husband liked his dosa, but his comment on the filling was that the main seasoning used was salt. the chicken was okay to good, and, for the price, that is fair. The saltiness of the food is the main thing that keeps me from eating there every week, though I tend to like my food less salty than many people.

As we ate we watched a wide variety of people stream in and get takeout, leaving with brown bags full of greasy happiness. As most of the appetizers are three for a dollar when purchased to go, you can get a meal’s worth pretty cheaply. They would be great to take to a party or picnic.

Yes, South Indian Dosa Mahal is kind of a dive, but it’s my kind of dive and I’m getting a real craving for it while typing this. If it weren’t ten at night I’d be tempted to walk over there right now.