I was back at the Lulu Mall, Trivandrum with my friend and this time, we got to try the food at the only “Pure Vegetarian” counter at the cafeteria called Vaiga’s Oottupura… My parents had recently tried their food and had given positive reviews about them and lately, I have been getting some feedbacks here suggesting that I cover more vegetarian food… In addition to that, it was my friend who suggested we try the food from this place this time cause turns out she decided to become a vegetarian temporarily and hence, here we are 🙂
The menu basically consisted of a bunch of varieties of Dosa, some snacks and what seemed to be the best seller especially since it was lunch time, the Vegetable Meals… So, my friend got the Vegetable Meals and I got one of the Dosa options, namely the Paneer Mysore Dosa… They were as can be seen in the pics below…
So, lets first talk about the meals… First of all, though I could take all these pics of the meals, I couldn’t taste much cause I ended up having the Dosa and so, before going home, I ordered and took a takeaway of the Vegetable Meals and had it later in the evening… Thats how I am able to write about it now…
The Vegetable Meals as can be seen from the pics below came served on a Banana Leaf and consisted of the following:
- Rice (Red or White as per choice)
- Pappadam
- Parippu / Pulissery (they seemed to be giving Parippu with Red Rice and Pulissery with White Rice for some reason)
- Theeyal
- Koottu Curry
- Cabbage Thoran
- Beetroot Pachadi
- Chammanthy
- Pickle
- Salt
- Sweet Rava Kesari (it was placed underneath the Pappadam)
First of all, the rice was cooked perfectly… Pappadam was of-course just like any other… The Theeyal made up of Shallots and Tomato, though was rich due to use of the Coconut, was quite spicy and had sourness from the Tomato used… Normally the Theeyal is supposed to have a subtle level of sweetness as well, but this particular one was just spicy and sour all the way… The Koottu Curry was spicy too but not as spicy as the Theeyal… It felt like the kind of Koottu Curry we see in Travancore areas which is made of Potatoes and Garam Masala… The Cabbage Thoran also was on the spicy side with the use of Chilly Powder… The Beetroot Pachadi and Chammanthy were on the other hand were not as spicy and instead had much milder flavours… The Lime Pickle again, was just like any other ie, Hot and Sour… 🙂
The Parippu was just like any other than we see in the Travancore areas thats made with Green Gram and Coconut… In the takeaway I got, it was the Pulissery and I felt that to be just like any other… The Sambar was on the spicy side but at the same time, it was one of the most flavourful Sambars I have ever had, especially thanks to a strong presence of Asafoetida… Curd was of-course just like any other… Lastly, the dessert was a piece of Rava Kesari… Though made with Pineapple flavour, I felt it to be just average as I have had much better versions of this sweet before…
Next up is the Dosa I got to have, called the Paneer Mysore Dosa… When I ordered it, I thought it might be something similar to the Mysore Masala Dosa that I have had many times when I used to visit Bengaluru… But instead as can be seen in the pics below it seemed to have been made in the Mumbai Street style where the masala is prepared on the dosa itself and then served at the side and then accompanied by some Sambar and Chutney…
Coming to the taste, first of all, the Sambar was same as the Sambar we got with the Vegetable Meals… The Chutney made of Coconut had a nice flavour of Green Chillies but unfortunately ended up being too salty for my taste… I found myself in a bit of a weird situation with this dosa cause when I opened it up, there was more than enough masala already in it as can be seen in the pics below… So, I ended up discarded the excess that was given to the side… As for the taste of the masala, it was slightly spicy but the dominating taste was of Coriander Leaves and Tomato… Clearly there was the mashed potato base in it but the major problem was that the Paneer was grated so finely that when I ate this Dosa along with the masala, I was not able to detect the taste of the Paneer even in the slightest levels… Of-course when I picked up and ate the Paneer shreds individually I could taste them and thats why I think if the Paneer was added as larger chunks, the experience would’ve been better as being named as Paneer Mysore Dosa, the Paneer was supposed to be the one shining… The taste of the masala, I mean about the spices used, essentially reminded me of the kind of masala we get as part of the Pav Bhaji, and left me wondering if they used the same recipe and added Paneer and Coriander Leaves to it… Overall, I felt the Dosa was well made, though I wish they masala was done better…
That’s it for now… Overall, everything I got seemed to be on the spicier side compared to my comfort levels but its ok… There are still more Dosas in their menu that I maybe inclined to try when I decide to try their food again… Also, I would like to try something from their snacks menu as well… Hopefully soon… 🙂
