Cafe Madras London, Reading

Right, let's get this blog back on topic. What you northerners really want to read about is a South Indian restaurant in Reading, yes? Reading in Berkshire you say? That's the one.

Not interested you say? Oh well never mind. Should you ever have the good fortune to find yourself in Reading, and in need of sustenance, you could do a lot worse than a visit to Cafe Madras London. Which is nowhere near London, being in Reading. I can only assume they named it that to get further up google search listings or something.

Anyhow it's a basic South Indian canteen sort of place, in exactly the same mould of countless others dotted around the country. There are wipe clean menus and tables, stainless steel beakers and jugs, slightly grubby facilities, and the usual range of spicy delights: dosai, idli, kottu, vadai and some very good curries.

The plain dosa was on the limp and flabby side, a bit of a let down really, but the liveliness of the chutneys and a particularly good sambar (sour and earthy all at once) on the side meant I ploughed through the lot anyway.

Chicken chettinad was a blinder of a curry; hot pungent and peppery, the kind of thing I could mop up with rice or bread indefinitely, forgetting my full up mechanism. Which is what I did, with some excellent coconut rice and a greasy in a good way, multi-layered parotta (these remind me a little of how a croissant might end up if you fried one rather than baked one). Only dry chicken breast meat disappointed, but it was largely incidental to the dish anyway (veg or mutton would be better bets).

With a cup of salt lassi and a tip, the bill was still less than fifteen quid. Cheap, quick and in parts outstanding food. Next time you find yourself with a couple of hours to kill in Reading (happens all the time I know) you know where to go.

7/10

73 Whitley Street
Reading
Berkshire
RG2 0EG

http://cafemadras.co.uk/

Curry Leaf, Leeds

When I first spotted Curry Leaf a few weeks ago my interest was piqued immediately. South Indian and Sri Lankan food isn't something that's had much representation in Leeds so this opening is long overdue.

My own experience of this cuisine is largely from basic canteen style places like the Chennai Dosa chain. There are loads of them in London (but very few in the north), all of which stick to a familiar template. Think aggressively spiced, intensely flavoured dishes big on lentils, vegetables, fish, and where meat is concerned, mutton, all served up at rock bottom prices on tin trays.

I wasn't sure whether Curry Leaf would fit the canteen mould or would be aiming a little more upmarket. It's certainly the latter, place mats, proper crockery and a booze license are all the evidence you need. Correspondingly prices aren't rock bottom but are keen enough.

Before we get onto the food I ought to point out that the service was a bit haphazard, some of the waiting staff giving the impression of never having worked in a restaurant before (the guy who sort of lobbed cutlery at us from a distance, as if he didn't fancy getting too close being the best example). I spotted other tables complaining about the length of their waits, and while we weren't exactly served quickly it wasn't that bad.

Both starters were a cut above the cheaper canteen alternatives. Vadai, a sort of lentil doughnut, were freshly fried which they really need to be, as the reheated ones tend to take on the texture of golf balls.

Mutton cutlets were ace, big fat greaseless crumbed balls of tender mutton and soft potato spiced with curry leaves and cloves. I could put away a dozen of these. The only downside to both starters were the little pots of sauce, both of which were nice but not very saucy. There was a fiery sweet onion chutney and a fresher version with chickpeas and coriander, nice as I said but the deep fried goodies were crying out for something more dunkable (standard yoghurt and chilli sauces or a little bowl of sambar would do the job admirably).

Sticking with the mutton, because we don't eat enough mutton and it's lovely, we ordered a mutton kottu which arrived next. A kottu, or kottu roti, is essentially a big stir-fry of meat, bread, spice and veggies. This one arrived with a little bonus dish of mutton curry, as well as the kottu itself being packed with the stuff. The flavour profile was similar to the cutlets, earthy curry leaves and mustard seeds, a hit of chilli heat and the strong taste of the meat (extra lamby lamb!) coming to the fore. It's not subtle but it's very good.

Taking a break from the meat, I did say that vegetables feature strongly in this cuisine didn't I, we also had an aubergine and paneer curry and a bowl of coriander rice. I'm aware that paneer is cheese and therefore not a vegetable by the way, but we'd had a few pints by this point so it seemed like a wise choice. We weren't disappointed, the curry itself had a sweet-sour tomato base that was a good foil to the mild cheese and soft, almost bland aubergine.

We only learned at the end of the meal that they'd been open less than a week, the signage have been up ages in advance, so it's probably fair to put the service issues down to teething problems. They were certainly eager to please, one of the chefs coming over to ask how we found the kottu and hoping it wasn't too spicy. We assured her we'd enjoyed it and would be back. If anything the spice levels were a little too cautious, I'd like to see them ramp it up a bit as I think a good whack of chilli is a fair reflection of the type of food, but I guess others may disagree. The bill came to about £36 including a couple of pints of lager.

All in all a very welcome addition to the Leeds dining scene. I think they've got a few things to iron out but this one could turn out to be a real winner.

7/10

Curry Leaf
2 Eastgate
Leeds
LS2 7JL

Mint and Mustard, Cardiff

I really ought to have given the website for Mint and Mustard, an upmarket Indian restaurant in the Cardiff suburbs, more than a cursory glance before dining there. Had I done so, I'd have realised that they specialise in Keralan food, and wouldn't have ordered a whole load of North Indian stuff.

Being a bit hungover I was in the mood for a lamb-based feast, when seafood, vegetables and even pork or beef could have been a better plan. Or would have been a better plan, as most of what the others in our group of six ate was better than what I did.

After some poppadums and pickles, complimentary after we had to wait a few minutes for our table, seekh kebabs and onion vadai (in this case the same thing as what most curry houses would call a bhaji) to start. These were just ok, being a good demonstration of the pitfalls of 'posh Indian' restaurant food, in that they looked pretty but tasted dull.

The kebabs were nicely spiced but needed salt and seemed to have been cooked without resort to anything very hot. Surely the whole point to Indian grilled meat is the generous application of fire, spice and salt? Other starters of lamb,venison and prawns in various guises were all declared a great success.

Saag gosht and chicken makhani were both competent, flavour packed dishes. The lamb had a slow-burning, building warmth, and the makhani was smooth, rich and sweet with fenugreek. They weren't half as exciting as what was going on elsewhere on the table though, I got to sample the lot and first mouthfuls suggested there might be some genuinely great food on offer here.

The sauce (pollichathu?) on what I think was a fat hunk of swordfish had an intense flavour that belied it's thin texture, dense with the savoury funk of curry leaves. I'd have drunk it in pints given the opportunity. Another fish dish, sea bass with a tart, bright moilee sauce was almost as good. I wasn't quite so enamoured of a dum pukht biryani, although it tasted great I thought the rice was a bit wet.

There are a whole host of European styled dishes on the menu too, European in the plating sense: large slab of protein, mound of carbs and some veggies on the side. I was suspicious of these, with their various Indian-spiced riffs on the mash theme, but a mouthful of the most succulent, precisely cooked piece of pork, the best bit of meat I've eaten in a while, convinced me they could be worth a shot. Sadly I didn't try the accompanying cassava mash, so whether that was an inspired or daft idea I'm not sure.

Sides of pilau rice and a very light, crisp naan were exemplary, as was service throughout the meal. Including a bottle of wine and six or so beers the bill came to around twenty seven quid each before tip, which seemed reasonable for the quality of the food. Well worth a visit, just remember to head South when making your menu choices. My rating could well have been a couple of points higher had I done so.

7/10


134 Whitchurch Road
Cardiff
CF14 3LZ

http://www.mintandmustard.com/

Chennai Dosa, Stretford, Manchester

Chennai Dosa, a small chain of cheap and cheerful South Indian restaurants has opened a branch in the Stretford Mall in Manchester.

I’ve eaten at Chennai Dosa before a few times, most memorably in the Wembley branch before a match up the road. It’s a funny sort of place Wembley, the stadium itself situated in a sort of no-mans land of retail parks, roads and other detritus, apart from the rest of the area.

Most people heading to the stadium arrive at Wembley Park station to the East, and walk straight up the pedestrian precinct of Wembley Way and into the ground without any interaction with the surrounding suburb, but a few fans always end up at Wembley Central on the High Road in the middle of town. 

It’s a fairly typical London high street, bustling with commerce, most of the businesses independent and apparently thriving, and in Wembley’s case, mostly run by British Indians.

You can usually spot those who are stadium-bound but travelled there by mistake. There are often a few small groups of them, first time visitors down from the shires, wandering around in replica shirts, looking a little confused and unsure of themselves. The real Wembley; - scruffy, lively, independent, Indian, is somehow at odds with the corporate bastion of flag-waving Englishness up the road, and has come as a shock to the system.

It’s here that you’ll find a Chennai Dosa outlet, and I love it. The food doesn’t amaze, but it’s assertively spiced, tasty, filling and ridiculously cheap. There’s also the added fun to be had in watching Gladys from Mansfield, who just wants some food before the England game, perusing the menu and wondering what the hell idiyappams and kottu parotta and rasam vadai are.

So Chennai Dosa are expanding northwards, which is a very good thing. More people should know what the hell idiyappams and kottu parotta and rasam vadai are.

There’s still a dearth of Indian food in the North that doesn’t fit the typical British curry house Pakistani/Punjabi mould, particularly at the cheap and cheerful end of the market. There are posher places in West Yorkshire (Prashad, Hansa’s) and a few more mid-range restaurants scattered about (in Sheffield, Liverpool and Ashton-under-Lyne that I’m aware of, there are probably more) but only Dosa Express in Manchester is really a budget caff.

In terms of service, Chennai Dosa is a restaurant, but everything else is canteen style. Stainless steel jugs of water, beakers and school dinner plates; no frills wipe clean surfaces; and the fact that nothing on the menu costs more than five quid, or £4.99 to be precise.

The food at the Stretford branch is exactly the same as in Wembley; spicy, cheap and filling. Rasam vadai (£2.10), lentil doughnuts in a soupy lentil curry weren’t too heavy (sometimes eating vadai can be like ploughing through dark matter mixed with clay) and turned to a pleasing mush in the hot, sour tamarind laced rasam.

Sticking with the lentils (there are a lot of lentils involved at Chennai Dosa) I had a paneer masala dosa (£3.50) next. That’s a rice and lentil flour pancake stuffed with curried potatoes and cheese, served with sambar and chutney’s. 

Crispy pancake scooped up in hot, fresh chutney with the added bonus of cheese. What more could a vegetarian wish for? The potatoes were a bit bland though. Non-vegetarian options are also available by the way, anything with mutton in it will be worth a try.

I drank the tap water that was already on my table, so the bill was just £5.60 plus tip for a two course lunch in a restaurant with actual table service. They’re licensed too, and beer costs £2.99 a pint. Hopefully the expansion plans include Yorkshire.

7/10

Unit 119 Chester Road
Stretford Mall
Stretford
Manchester
M32 9BH

www.chennaidosa.com 

Banana Leaf, Glasgow

Glasgow's West End is a great place to eat Indian food. There are several restaurants and cafes all within walking distance of one another (and also all owned by the same people) that have served me some really fantastic food over the last few years. This meal at the Wee Curry Shop was wonderful, and prior to starting the blog I dined well at two of the Mother India places.

Banana Leaf, a budget South Indian cafe and takeaway in the same part of town (but not under the same ownership), has had loads of great press so I was hoping it would live up to the high expectations.

First thing to note: go elsewhere if you want a nice restaurant. This is very much a caff and takeaway, and a bit on the grotty side at that. Don't let that put you off though, budget South Indian places always seem to be a bit scruffy and none of them have poisoned me yet (and they did have hygiene certificates on the wall).

The food is cheap, and the menu predictable for anyone familiar with cheap and cheerful South Indian food. There are dosai, vadai, idly's, sambar, loads of curries and dry-fried dishes.

Being greedy and having not had one in ages I ordered a plain dosa (£4) as well as a non-veg set meal (£7.50).

I couldn't fault the dosa, it was thin and light without being so thin it crumbled to nothing. Just the right texture for scooping up the chutney's and sambar which were all good. Fresh, bright tomato and coconut chutney's and a deeply savoury sambar tempered with loads of mustard seeds and curry leaves.

The set meal included (clockwise from top right) more sambar, raita, mixed veg curry, chicken curry, chapattis and rice. I could have eaten the chicken gravy, sambar and rice all day, lovely stuff. The chicken curry gravy matched the sambar for savoury deliciousness, having a stock base built up from bone-in chicken. The rice was fluffy loveliness.

The veg curry was a little too sweet and watery and the chapattis were rubbish (thick, doughy). Forget the breads here and stick to rice or pancakes.

I enjoyed this, the only thing missing was a bit of a chilli hit. Everything was very mild for South Indian food. I'm sure the Glaswegians can handle a bit of spice so I'm not sure why it was all so toned down. Having said that if I had somewhere like this anywhere near my house I'd be in there once a week.

Pretty good for £13 including a soft drink and tip. It's also handily positioned just round the corner for pre- or post-curry beers at Brewdog Glasgow. Worth a visit.

7/10

76 Old Dumbarton Road
Glasgow
G3 8RE

http://home.btconnect.com/glasgowproperty/bananaleaf/banana.html

South Indian Fish Fry

Back to the food this evening. That's enough serious discourse about markets for the time being. I'm on a bit of a South Indian food kick at the moment, having discovered a week or two ago that Morrisons in Hunslet are now stocking fresh curry leaves. Nothing else is really an adequate substitute for the unique, deeply savoury flavour of curry leaves. It's very hard to describe how they taste, they're very savoury and sort of earthy with a slightly bitter back note, and give extraordinary depth to any dish you cook with them. If you haven't used them before they look a bit like mini bay leaves.

Tonight I wanted something a bit lighter than a curry, but with the same tastes. I often cook a simple fish curry which is delicious but very rich, as it involves a bucketload of coconut milk. This recipe is really a starter, but will work as a light main course with a couple of chapattis on the side. The fish is fried until just cooked through, so you get tender, moist flesh with deeply savoury, spicy flavours, served with a sweet, tangy coconut chutney. This recipe is enough for two people.

For the fish fry you will need:
300-400g chunky filleted fish (I used hake, and practiced what I've been preaching by buying it on Leeds market!)
2 spring onions
2 cloves garlic
thumb-sized piece of ginger
10-15 curry leaves
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 small, hot chillies
salt and freshly ground black pepper
flour for dusting the fish

For the coconut chutney you will need:
fresh coconut (about 100g)
1 lime
1 tsp mustard seeds
7-10 black peppercorns
1 tsp jaggery (palm sugar)
1 tsp chopped onion

What to do:

1) First prepare the chutney. Chop the coconut flesh into very small pieces, and put it into a pestle and mortar with the jaggery, the juice of one lime and the onion. Add about 1 tbsp of water and bash to a pulp. Coconut is quite sturdy stuff so you might get bored with this and resort to a food processor. I did. Process to a very coarse pulp.

2) Heat up some vegetable oil in a frying pan, then add the peppercorns and mustard seeds. Temper them in the pan until they sizzle and pop, but don't let them burn, then tip them straight into the coconut mixture. Finish the chutney off by bashing it up in the mortar, adding another tablespoon or two of water to loosen it up. You want it to be moist, but not runny.

3) Finely chop the garlic, ginger, chillies and spring onions, and roughly tear up the curry leaves.

4) Cut your fish into 1-2 inch chunks, all roughly the same size, then dust it with a light coating of flour and a generous grind of salt and pepper.

5) Get the same frying pan as before back on the heat with some more oil (about 1 tbsp). When it's hot add 1 tsp of mustard seeds.

6) When they start to sizzle add the garlic, ginger, chillies and spring onions and fry for a minute or so.

7) Add the curry leaves and fry for another few seconds.

8) Add the fish, then fry until the fish is just cooked through. This will only take two or three minutes depending on the size of your chunks.

9) Serve immediately with the coconut chutney, and maybe some chapattis.

Taste of Lewisham, Lewisham, London

I've just returned from a long weekend in Croatia (of which to follow), and I can't go home for another couple of days because of work related matters in Kent. And so I find myself at the Swanley Premier Inn with a craving for something spicy. The options are thus: head Kent-bound; head-London bound; chance a takeaway in Swanley itself; or last but least dine at the Beefeater Grill adjoining the hotel. I weigh up the options and have a little think to myself before hopping in the car.

London-bound it is then. Fifteen minutes up the A20 and here I am. Lewisham, lovely Lewisham. I like to think of Lewisham as the Stratford of South London (transport hub, large-ish non-descript town centre etc), but Stratford will soon have a Westfield mega-shopping centre and the Olympics and Lewisham won't. Such is the lot of South London.
 
As I waffle on you may have noticed that I seem to know London well for a Northerner. Before my year in Manchester I lived in South-East London for three years, Woolwich to be precise. Woolwich is hardly a foodie mecca (there are supposed to be a couple of good Nigerian/Ghanaian restaurants, but I never got round to trying them), and Lewisham was the nearest suburb to boast a fairly good selection of Asian food places.

One of my favourites in the early days of my time in the capital was a scruffy Sri Lankan and South Indian café called Aru Suvai. It was probably the cheapest restaurant that I have ever dined at in the UK. I recall a particular feast a friend and I had that cost £12 in total. Not each, in total including starters, several curries, rice, breads and drinks. I never knew how they made any money, and it became apparent one day that they probably didn't as I turned up to find the place had been spruced up and renamed Taste of Lewisham. So it has remained ever since, doing the same sort of food but for about 50% more expensive. Which is still dirt cheap. So for old times sake, and to blow my head off with some chilli heat I headed there this evening.

This is a Lamb kottu roti. Kottu roti is a stir fried dish made by chopping up roti (flatbread) and frying it with egg, vegetables, meat and spices. I suppose it's what Sri Lankans would call comfort food, as it's good solid, hearty stuff but packed with flavour from the aggressive spicing (plenty of chilli, curry leaves and a very hot curry powder) typical of the cuisine.

I hadn't eaten for a long time, so rather overdid it with the carbs. This is a bowl of lentil curry and a couple of parottas. The lentils were fine, but a bit stodgy as they were bulked out with potatoes for some reason. The parottas were excellent. They're a sort of layered, fried flatbread. These were crisp, greaseless and very moreish.

This lot cost me a total of £10 with a couple of mutton rolls and a can of Sprite. Cheap, filling and very spicy. Just what I needed.


7/10


Taste of Lewisham
19 Lee High Road
Lewisham
London
SE13 5LD

Dosa Express, Withington, Manchester (revisited)

I had a dosa craving on the way back to Manchester this afternoon so decided to pay Dosa Express another visit. After a rather substantial, pork filled breakfast (cheers Chris!) I opted to stay veggie and had a madras masala dosa.

The dosa was crisp and light and the spiced potato filling was soft and warming. The three chutney's on the side (coconut, coriander, tomato) were all fresh and tasty, and the sambar was better than on my last visit (less salty, more veggies in the portion). My only criticism is that it was a bit small for a dosa, they usually turn up hanging off the edges of the plate.

I didn't quite manage to stay vegetarian though, as I ordered these on the side. Oops. Two mutton rolls were fantastic, greaseless and crispy with a heavily spiced mutton and potato filling. I could eat these all day.

The bill came to £6.50 including a bottle of water. Definitely worth a visit.

19 Copson Street
Withington
Manchester
M20 3HE

They also have another branch in Derby.

http://www.dosaexpress.co.uk/

My last visit.

Dosa Express, Withington, Manchester

A new place in my quest for South Indian food in the North. Dosa Express wasn't on my radar when I posted on this subject a few weeks ago, and I can't recall how I discovered it earlier this week (must have been from obsessively googling 'south indian food dosa Manchester' during a bored moment). But discover it I did, and I was immediately tempted as it seemed to be the kind of casual place you could pop in for a cheap bite on your own, rather than a more full on dinner with wine and mates or a date kind of place. Exactly what I was after this evening, so I headed on over for an early tea.

As I suspected it's a very no frills type of place, certainly not one for a first date. A couple of other tables were occupied despite the early hour. I ordered a portion of Medhu Vada and the chicken meal special, with a can of 7-up and a bottle of water to wash it down. Yes, a bottle of water. The first thing I do in pretty much any restaurant is ask for a glass or jug of finest corporation pop, fresh from the tap, but I had already spotted a sign on the wall saying 'No tap water for hygiene reasons, bottled water 50p' and couldn't be bothered arguing. Weird. I normally get a bee in my bonnet about the whole refusal to serve tap water thing that some restaurants still do, as it's often an excuse to sell you the bottled stuff at a ridiculous mark-up. At 50p they're hardly going to be raking it in though. Perhaps there really is a 'hygiene reason'. What are they getting from the taps? Is it unusually filthy in this part of Manchester? Are they importing it from Chennai for authenticity? What about the food then? Have they washed the salad in bottled water? I certainly hope so if I can't drink the stuff from the tap for 'hygiene reasons'.

Sorry, rant over. Here's the food:

Vada, chutney's and sambar

Vada are spiced, doughnut shaped fritters made from lentil flour. When freshly fried they can be very nice, and when pre-fried, left to cool then warmed up in a microwave they can be stodgy and horrid. Fortunately these were in the former group, nice crispy edges and a soft centre. They were a bit underspiced (chilli, mustard seeds, curry leaves, black pepper, onions are the usual suspects) but pleasant to eat with the accompanying chutney's (coconut, coriander, not sure about the orange one) and sambar.

Chicken gravy, rice, poppadum, salad

Chicken curry/gravy close-up

The highlight of the meal was the chicken curry (or gravy as it's sometimes known at South Indian places). The other components of the meal special (poppadum, salad, rice) were ok but the curry itself was excellent. It had a real depth of flavour, with cardamom and cloves being particularly prominent, and a slow building background chilli heat that had me shovelling in rice to cool the fire. Really good stuff.

The bill came to £7.26 including a 20% discount on food. I think the discount was because it was before 6pm, this was only mentioned at the till and didn't seem to be advertised anywhere in the restaurant. Service was efficient but dour until I was about to leave when the waitress came over all smiley. Must have been glad to see the back of me.

Overall I liked Dosa Express. The food is good and I'll be going back to try the dosai and the mutton curries. The no tap water thing is a little strange, but they're hardly profiteering on the bottled stuff so I can live with that.


7/10

19 Copson Street
Withington
Manchester
M20 3HE

They also have another branch in Derby.

http://www.dosaexpress.co.uk/

Lotus Restaurant, Northenden (Takeaway review)

Dosa mission part 1 accomplished. I worked late tonight so wanted to grab a takeaway on the way home. As Northenden is only about 10 mins drive away I thought I'd give Lotus a try from the list on my previous post.

Hopefully they do better trade on the weekends, as the restaurant was deserted at about 8pm on a Thursday night. The staff seemed pleased to see me, and eager to know how I'd found out about them. Apparently their weekend buffets and banana leaf meals draw in the punters.

I ordered a chicken masala dosa (£5.30 I think) to go. A dosa is probably not the best choice for takeaway as the pancake goes a bit floppy in transit. Thirty seconds under a hot grill crisped it up nicely though.

The results: not bad at all. It was certainly much more appetising than my crap photo suggests! Crisp, thin dosa, nearly as long as your arm. Spiced potato and chicken curry fillings, generous with the chicken. Classic accompaniments - sambhar and two chutney's. The spicing was fairly decent throughout, with plenty of curry leaves and mustard seeds in evidence, but not really enough heat. South Indian food usually purges you with a full-on chilli blast. This was a bit tame in comparison with my past experiences, but I guess this could just be them catering to the market. Most of the South Indian spots in London are canteens catering to the local Tamil populations, not a particularly big market in Northenden I suppose. The locals here might not have such high spice tolerance levels.

In summary, definitely worth further investigation. I'll be back to try out the curries. They also have a Malaysian menu to check out.

7/10

289 Palatine Road

Northenden

Manchester

M22 4ET

http://lotusrestaurantuk.com/ 

Where to find South Indian food in the North

I discovered the joys of food from the South of India whilst living in London for a while. Southern Indian food tends to involve lots of:

coconut, curry leaves, vegetables, chilli, mustard seeds, fish, tamarind, quickly cooked stir fried dishes

as opposed to food from Northern India which tends to include lots of:

ghee, meat, bread, dairy products, cumin, garam masala, slow cooked stewed dishes

This is a fairly rough generalisation, and students of Indian cuisine will probably say it's nonsense and point out that there are dozens of distinct regional cuisines in India. True, but I think I've got the basics at least sort of right (hopefully).

Most of what's commonly found in Northern England is firmly in the Northern India camp in spirit at least. Ever since I returned from the smoke I've been trying to compile a list of places to get a South Indian fix starting with Leeds and Manchester (where I'm most likely to be found). This wholly unscientific survey is based around googling the word dosa.

Photo credit: (© alasam / Flickr)

For the uninitiated a dosa is a thin crispy pancake made with lentil flour. The classic version, the masala dosa is stuffed with spiced potatoes and served with sambhar (a sort of thin veg curry) and chutneys (usually including coconut). A good dosa is as long as your arm and bloody lovely (see photo!).

If it's got a dosa on the menu it's on the list. So far I've got the following six:

Manchester
Lily's Vegetarian Indian Cuisine, Ashton-under-Lyne (actually Gujurati I think, which is NW rather than S India. Dosai apparently available though so it gets in)
http://bit.ly/eNLj0q

Lotus, Northenden (seems to be Malaysian & Indian)
http://lotusrestaurantuk.com/

Sindhoor, Burnage (looks the part)
http://www.sindhoor.co.uk/


Leeds
Arti, Roundhay Road (website is a bit wafflesome)
http://www.artirestaurant.com/

Hansa's, Leeds (also Gujurati so not technically South Indian. Dosai present and correct. Bit of a Leeds institution by all accounts)
http://www.hansasrestaurant.com/

Spice Quarter, Leeds (one of those all you can eat wok station joints, so probably terrible. Dosai listed though!)
http://www.spicequarter.co.uk/leeds-home/


Any comments on the above?
Any other hidden gems?
I'm going to head off to one of the Mancunian offerings in the next few days........