Today, I am at Kasargod and am staying at Deira City, a budget hotel/lodge here at Thayalangadi… The restaurant attached to the hotel is called Mugal Durbar… This is the 4th time I am being here and the name of the restaurant was different every time, even though the management and the staff have been the same 🙂 So, if you are heading there, just go by the Deira City name and look for the restaurant right next to it as shown in the pics below… The restaurant is a low budget one and so, nothing fancy as can be seen from the interior pics below… Even the food is quite straight forward classics…
Me and my Dad arrived today morning to Kasargod and so, stopped by the restaurant for breakfast before heading out to what we came here for… Being the breakfast, we went for something lite and hence got a few Neer Dosas and along with that some Kadala (Brown Lentils) curry to go with it…
Neer Dosas are basically dosas made with just rice flour, salt and water and is a very popular delicacy from Tulu Nadu region and very popular in the Uduppi-Mangalore cuisine… What makes this one different from other variants dosa is the complete absence of the pulses and absolutely no fermentation is done for this… So, it essentially feels like a crepe and can be thought of as a rice flour savoury crepe… 🙂 It came served with a small cup of Coconut Chutney, which is a typical accompaniment for any kind of Dosa made by blending grated Coconut, Green Chillies, Ginger, Shallots and then tempered with Dried Red Chillies and Mustard Seeds…
Neer dosa is something that once used to be there in Trivandrum but no longer so (atleast after that Lavanya restaurant, behind Saphalyam complex closed down years ago) and so its always a delight to have this whenever I come here… The Neer Dosa is the quintessential dosa you get here in Kasargod and if you want the regular one, you have to be specific or else you get the Neer Dosa served to you 🙂
We also went for the Kadala Curry, which is a ground coconut based curry made with Brown Lentils, Onions and Tomatoes and Garlic, tempered with, shallots, Curry Leaves and Dried Red Chillies… Spices used include Chilly Powder, Turmeric Powder, Coriander Powder, Cloves, Fennel Seeds and Cardamom…
Regarding the Neer Dosa that I got, I found it to be cooked well… It has a texture thats very different from the regular, as in its slightly more chewy to eat… But if you soak it in a curry, you can see it pretty much disintegrating… Hence, will literally melt in your mouth 🙂 The Coconut Chutney tasted like any other, but with a higher concentration of Ginger in it… The Kadala curry was simply awesome… Perfectly cooked lentils along with great flavours of the masala with the taste of Garlic cutting thru everything… So, having it with the gingery chutney made a good balance of flavours which worked incredibly well with the Neer Dosa…
To wash it all down, I took a glass of their fresh Mosambi (Sweet Lemon) juice… This was fine… They made it a bit diluted as I asked and the level of sweetness was medium, just the way I like it… When ordering the waiter asks you about your preference of sweetness level and it gets made accordingly…
Now, after breakfast, we both went to do what we came here to do, which is to visit IAD and it was evening by the time we came back after today’s session to our room and after taking some rest, we went downstairs for dinner… The menu is quite limited here and among the choices, we each went for a Chicken Noodles and a portion of their Chicken Masala Curry…
The Chicken Noodles was listed under today’s special… Essentially a stir fried dish consisting of some Plain Noodles, Chicken, Egg, Onions, Carrots, Cabbages, Bell Peppers, Ginger, Garlic and Green Chillies with a touch of Soy Sauce, Green Chilly Sauce and Tomato Sauce and seasoned with Salt and Pepper… It was served with a selection of two sauces namely, the Tomato and the Red Chilly sauces respectively to go as condiments to it…
This is quite frankly, easily one of the best tasting noodle dish so far… The flavours of each ingredient so clearly visible and everything seasoned absolutely perfectly… I felt that it didn’t need any of those given sauces and in fact could be eaten as it is… I really am hoping to get this tomorrow as well 🙂
To go with the noodles, when I asked the waiter for a less spiced option in the Chicken area, he recommended I try their Chicken Masala… This is essentially their classic thick gravy Chicken curry and is usually thick because of the lesser quantity of water added to it… Restaurants usually have their own secret blend of spices and herbs that they use for this and in this case, it looks like its an Onion-ginger-garlic based gravy with pieces of Chicken, the Garam Masala, Celeriac Stems, Coriander leaves and Green Chillies…
Among the various Chicken Masala Curry options that I have had over the years, this one truly stands out as among the best so far… The portion size felt fine for me as it came with essentially 4 pieces of Chicken in a seemingly rich and creamy gravy… The flavour profile was simply mind blowing for me and it worked so perfectly with the noodles that I got… The taste of the ginger-garlic and coriander leaves were pretty much in the forefront and on the overall an incredibly flavourful treat this curry was… I will be having this again tomorrow if available with the noodles… 🙂
Like I said before, this is my 4th visit to the place over the past 2 years and I have never been disappointed… So, if you are heading this way, this place is a must try 🙂
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