Restaurant Review : Idli House, King Circle

 

For the last couple of Saturdays, Agent J and I have been following a set pattern - leave work on time at 1 sharp (no more working till 4 or 6 or 8 on Saturdays!), catch a quick bite at one of Matunga/King Circle's numerous South Indian eateries and then head to our respective homes. I reach home just in time for a relaxed siesta - full to the gills with yummy food, but without that bloated queasy feeling that often follows a big lunch. Can there be a better start to the weekend? :)

Yesterday was our first visit to Idli House, just a bit ahead of King Circle, towards Sion. A. Rama Nayak's Udipi Idli House is the only restaurant I know which speacialises in idlis and only idlis. For the uninitiated, idli is a steamed rice-and-urad dumpling. Now, urad is generally considered 'heavy' to digest, but the idli batter is fermented before steaming, which makes idlis very light, and easy to digest. It also is apparently is one of the lowest-cal foods, in terms of calories/gm.

Idli House does 32 variants of Idlis - from the unadorned simple, steamed idli through the usual suspects of Kanchipuram Idli, Rasam Idli and Butter Idli all the way to the never-seen-before Jackfruit Idli, Cucumber Idli and Pepper Idli.

The specials board

And has a line up of SEVEN chutneys as accompaniments. Plus, the menu matches specific chutneys with specific idlis - kind of like how la-di-da restaurants pair a different wine with every dish. Needless to say, rasam and sambhar are present too.

:) :) :)

As we grabbed the last of the 3 (!!) tables in the tiny eatery, Agent J tossed me the laminated A4 menu and gave me cartle blanche to order - "Order any 2 or 3 to start with" To start with!!! A guy after my own heart! :P

We started our food fiesta by asking for a Mysore Rava Idli, a Vegetable Idli and a Masala Idli. The Mysore Rava Idli was a disconcerting sunny-yellow, and soft and crumbly. Maybe I had expected an adaptation of the Rawa Dosa aor Mysore Dosa - crispy, crunchy, golden brown, onion-strewn, and so, found the soft yellow, mild idli startling. :)

The Vegetable Idli was the usual white idli speckled with some greens. Truth be told, I couldn't make out much difference in the taste of these 2 types of idli.

 

 The Masala Idli, though was a whole different beast - steamed in a leaf, soft, dense, moist and fragrant with spices.

Masala Idli

Each Idli was paired with a different chutney - green coconut chutney with green chillies and garlic, red coconut chutney with red chillies and the traditional white coconut chutney. Plus little bowls of sambhar, too. The sambhar and white chutney were refilled for free, without our having to ask for it.

The solitary waiter also brought us a trio of sidekick accompaniments - Limda (dry powdered chutney made with curry leaves), Mulgapodi (dry powdered chutney also called 'gunpwder) and mixed vegetable pickle.

 

Along with these came a tray carrying two squeezy bottles of oil - coconut oil to be mixed into the Limda and normal peanut oil with the Mulgapodi. It was a little - confronting - to pour coconut oil straight from the trademark blue plastic bottle - which is generally used for oiling one's hair - but it did add a depth of flavour to the Limda.

Next up was the Rasam Idli - the rasam was flavourful and not too spicy, but the idlis had been dunked into the rasam for a tad too long, and were ready to disintegrate into soggy crumbs at the touch of a fork. Rasam Wada is a far more successful dish, methinks.

Rasam Idli

To round up our meal, we ordered Filter Coffee and the Seasonal Special - the Butter Jackfruit Idli. Oh my, such gooey goodness! Served with a dollop of white unsalted butter, the 'idli' was more like halwa - soft, squidgy and gleaming with melted butter that ran in tiny rivulets down the cracks and crevices in the idli.

Phonsa Muddho - Butter Jackfruit Idli

 The sweet nectar-like aroma of jackfruit, combined with the unbeatbale taste of melted butter pushed this idli to the top of the charts for me.

What's even more amazing than the sheer variety of idlis and their tantalising taste, is the prices on the menu. Idlis start from 20 Rs all the way till - wait for it - 25 Rs.The Seasonal Special dessert idli is the only aberration at a royal Rs 28. Agent J and I ate till we couldnt eat a bite more - for a grand total of Rs 143.

Fast, Tasty, Healthy AND Cheap food. What not to love? The crowds in the photo below will concur! :)