Crispy Dosa Hounslow

Crispy Dosa is a small but growing chain of south Indian vegetarian restaurants, established in 2000. There were thirteen branches at the time of writing, stretching from Bristol to Leicester. Branches around London include this one, Greenford, Harrow and Wood Green. The Hounslow branch is on the busy high street in this area, which has a large Asian population. It has bright décor and lighting, booth seating and a large mural along one wall. The lengthy menu features a wide selection of vegetarian snacks, dosas and curries. As well as the a la carte, there were set lunch options at £11.49. There were no wines on offer but Cobra beer was £6.99 a pint, with soft drinks and whisky also available. A sweet lassi was £4.49 and was nicely made, a suitably refreshing drink to have with spicy food. 

Bhel puri (£4.99) is a street food dish from Mumbai. The version here had crisp puffed rice, onions, sev (crunchy noodles made from chickpea flour and seasoned with salt, pepper and turmeric), tamarind chutney and coriander chutney. This was enjoyable though for me a little dry and was saltier than some versions. I didn’t mind the salinity but some more tamarind chutney would have improved it (12/20).

Aloo tikki (£4.99) with channa masala had a spicy fried potato cutlet topped with chickpea curry, chopped onion and tamarind sauce. This was pleasant, the potato warm and the tamarind providing some sweet and sour flavour notes to enliven the potato. The dish also had a decent amount of chilli kick. I prefer the version at The Brilliant but this was a nice dish (12/20).

Mysore bonda (£6.25) is a dish from Karnataka. It is a dumpling of maida flour (Indian wheat flour), buttermilk, yoghurt, onions and spices. On the side were some chutneys to dip: coriander, peanut and spicy tomato. There was also a sambar, the classic south Indian sour soup/stew made with vegetables, spices and lentils. An ideal Mysore bonda should be crisp on the outside and this was not, instead the outside being limp and a little greasy. The inside was fine and the chutneys with it were good, but this was a dish that could be improved (just about 11/20).

Dosas are a south Indian pancake that may have been made as long ago as the 5^th century AD. Its exact origins are lost in time, but the crispy version that is served here was traditionally from Karmataka (a Tamil dosa is thicker and softer). I have eaten it mostly at breakfast in India. The batter is made from rice and white gram flour, ladled onto a hot griddle greased with oil and then rolled up into a cylinder. Our masala dosa (£6.99) had at its centre of mildly spiced potato inside a crisp dosa cylinder. The dosa itself was really excellent, light and crisp. The potato filling was a little bland to my taste but the dosa itself was as good as a high quality dosa in India (14/20). 

Uthappam (£8.25) is a variant on a dosa, thicker and with toppings, popular in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The menu offered several versions, and we tried a modern pizza version, with a cheese topping. This was probably not the optimal choice, but the uthappam itself had good texture. Again, there were chutneys served on the side as well as a sambar (12/20). 

Gajar halwa (£3.99) is a Punjabi dessert that uses carrots, which made their way to India from Afghanistan and were then grown in Punjab. Halwa itself is a Persian dish originally made with date paste and milk, and made its way to India sometime after the 13^th century. It is served warm and is made with carrots, pistachios, ghee, almonds and sultanas. This was a nicely made halwa, not overly sweet as some can be (13/20). There was quite a lot of ghee, just to clarify (sorry, I couldn't resist). Pistachio kulfi (£3.49) arrived in a plastic wrapper on a stick, and I presume was bought in. It was however, served at exactly the right temperature and had good texture and plenty of pistachio flavour. 

The bill came to just £31 per person with beer and lassi to drink. Portions were generous and these prices seem very reasonable if you are used to central London. Service was fairly basic but was swift and friendly enough. The clientele was entirely Asian except for us, and when we arrived in the early evening the place was packed out, even on a Sunday. I enjoyed Crispy Dosa, with its bright and breezy, relaxed feel and its genuinely excellent dosas.