A tasty dosa in the city
The South Indian dish is a gift to the world, and a new version at Aroma is deeply satisfying.
There are certain lessons a person ought to have mastered. One is not to quarrel with South Indian home cooks about the tastiness of a particular dosa. So I stand corrected. The masala dosa at the new Aroma Indian Cuisine is better than the versions served by the old stalwarts.
Dosas appear on nearly every Indian menu in town, much as butter chicken does, because they are popular, approachable and, when handled properly, deeply satisfying. They also possess a touch of ceremony. Long, crisp and delicately bronzed, they arrive looking far grander than a fermented crepe stuffed with potatoes has any need to look.
The masala dosa is a fermented rice-and-urad-dal crepe stuffed with spiced potatoes and typically served with sambar - a soup - and chutneys, usually tomato and coconut. It is one of South India’s great gifts to the world.
Aroma’s arrives beautifully browned and properly crisp, with that slight tang from fermentation that tells you someone in the kitchen gets what this dish is supposed to be. The potatoes are there, doing their potato work. The real distinction at Aroma is in the crepe and the chutneys. The tomato chutney has spice, heat and acid. The coconut chutney is the best I have had in town, thinner than most, which makes it better for dipping, and far easier to balance on a torn piece of dosa with just the right amount of filling.
Aroma is located on Lee Drive, near Highland Road. Another new restaurant, Gunpowder Indian Cuisine, is on Highland, across from LSU Avenue. The owners of both restaurants are taking a chance that Indian food will find a place in the city proper, as it has in suburban St. George. We hope they are right.
—Mukul Verma
