Udupi Palace.. Dosa delights!

If you haven't eaten a dosa, you must head over to Little India and look for Udupi Palace. It may not resemble much of a royal palace with it's basement location that more reminds you of a bare bones banquet hall but seriously, no one comes for the decor!  They know their dosas with a variety of 15  to choose from on their menu alone!  This is even the home of the annual "Spicy Dosa eating contest" where every summer, dosa connoisseurs alike gather to gorge on these delicate Indian crepes. 
Honestly, this visit to Udupi Palace was an education in Southern Indian vegetarian cuisine!  Now carnivores, there's really no meat on this menu but trust me, once you have tried the different dishes on this menu, you will start to crave them like I do.
Being that it was our first visit, we left the ordering up to the server just quoting that we can manage spice and we tend to like paneer (Indian style fresh cheese).  He was friendly and helped us order our meal.
We started with 'chaat', which I have learned is a plate savoury snacks, typically served at road-side tracks from stalls or carts - we started with the samosas chaat.  They were what i would describe as Indian deep fried dumplings mashed with chana masala, onions, tomatoes and served with mint chutney and tamarind sauce.  They were very soft and felt apart easily and not my favourite.
Then came a plate of chilli paneer - which was amazing, insanely amazing! It was spicy but not crazy spicy where you would lose your taste sensations but it definitely made our temples start to sweat however kept our tummy from turning!
Our next dish was one of their specialties called the 'poori bhaji'.  This was another highlight and has been something that I have been salivating for! Poori/Puri is a deep fried indian flat bread that puffs out like a round ball and served golden brown.   It was accompanied by a side dish of deliciously mild potato, pea and onion masala.  We tore off the poori and dipped it in the massala - it was so good!  The texture is somewhat like a beaver tail and it's no wonder that I loved it!

Then the piece de resistance was the masala dosa.  This ubiquitous Indian dish originates in the town of Udupi and comes out like a thin, crepe that was bigger than my head stuffed with a filling of potatoes, fried onions and spices.  It was a little sweeter than our spicy and savory dishes that we had before but it was brilliant.

My dining companion Ben had some left over dosa and didn't realize it on his mouth as we ate our way into Indian heaven!  Namaste!
I need to desperately come back and try more dishes on this menu!!

**** stars
Udupi Palace udupipalace.ca

1460 Gerrard St E
Greenwood-Coxwell, Little India
(416) 405-8138 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (416) 405-8138      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Hours:

Mon-Thu, Sun 12 pm - 10 pm

Fri-Sat 12 pm - 11 pm