Twisted tale of South Indian cuisine - Dosa Twist, Kolkata

In this highly competitive world people are always aiming to excel in every field and this competition is no less in the food industry. In fact at present, in Kolkata the gastronomic scenarios are changing pretty rapidly and changing almost everyday with new restaurants opening up, while several others are closing down. There are several initiatives being undertaken, food walks taking place, new portals or food delivery apps coming up, new bloggers deciding to come up with their unique blog posts, food festivals going on, etc. In these times, to stay ahead in the competition there is only one weapon that can give you the acceleration, and that is ‘innovation’. And yes, my latest visit to an eatery only reminded me of this innovation factor. Many of us are familiar with the name, it is Dosa Twist at Desapriya park (beside Zeeshan).



LOCATION - - - - - The location is pretty prominent since it is on the main road and very close to the proper Desapriya Park crossing. Though the entrance can be missed easily since the sign board is not very attractive, flashy or prominent. It is right on the left hand side of the ever crowded Zeeshan. It’s in between Zeeshan and Royal Lebanese. You need to walk in through that little entrance, and after few steps you’ll find a glass door on your right which you need to push open to explore a humble eatery eagerly waiting for some real open-minded foodies with loads of appetite and the eagerness to explore awesome fusion foods! Parking can be tricky in this part of the city though you can get some space in the nearby alleys if you try.

AMBIANCE - - - - - This is a no-frill eating joint with minimum required décor and ambiance enough for you to enjoy a lovely time with your friends or family. The place has got two rooms or sections where you can dine in. We were seated in the outer section where you will find the walls adorned with printed paintings of Leonardo da Vinci. Also the room has a round mirror awkwardly placed in the middle of one wall. The chairs are simple wrought iron chairs with cushion on it. But I quite liked the wooden texture of the black colored table top which was one plus I guess. The other room had paintings of Lord Buddha framed in brownish frames. The place is quite clean and so that is one positive in spite of the simplistic décor and ambiance. The cutlery used can be improved since now simple plastic cutleries are being used that you’ll easily find in megastores like Spencers, etc.    

FOOD - - - - - True to its name, the place offers some amazing twisted flavors of ordinary south Indian food items that you can probably only dream of, it has got chicken and mutton stuffing in the regular dosas or idlis, and more. Food and its flavor along with the innovation quotient is the biggest plus for this place and the sole reason why I am rating this place close to 4 out of 5. Let us discuss about the food a bit and derive the final rating from there. This was an invitation from my friend Tanwyee Ray and I had ordered most of the items which she had already tried beforehand and found them to be pretty good. Though I wanted to try something in mutton but sadly mutton preparations were unavailable on that day. Here are the items tried:

a) Button Idly in Chicken Curry – This dish was served in a medium sized bowl with 15 pieces of button idlis submerged in a spicy flavorful chicken curry. The curry has generous amount of tender chicken pieces which goes well when you take them in your mouth along with some button idlis and curry leaves. The broth was not at all thick and was tad oily though with a typical kick of spiciness that is common in non-veg south Indian dishes. This dish was really nice and appetizing, if not great. I will rate it 3.6 out of 5.

Button Idly in Chicken Curry

b) Chicken Cheese Masala Dosa – I am an ardent lover of cheese masala dosa in general and finding this dish in the menu along with some addition of chicken in it drove me crazy until I placed an order for one. The dish was generously stuffed with chicken and mashed potato fillings along with minced onion, carrot, curry leaves, etc and an optimum quantity of cheese was provided in there that reminded me of having a pizza. Found that it was overwhelmingly cheesy in the end. The overall basic flavor was nice and known to us, but the addition of chicken and cheese added some extra aroma and flavor to this dish. Infact together this chicken and dosa goes extremely well and kudos to the person who conceptualized these dishes for the first time. Will rate it 4 out of 5.

Chicken Cheese Masala Dosa

c) Egg Mushroom Cheese Butter Masala Dosa – This was even better than the chicken cheese masala dosa. It had the goodness of egg in there and amazingly fresh well tossed mushrooms which added some great subtle flavors to the dish. The proportion of cheese in this dosa was again on the higher side and that was a pure delight for foodies like us. The dosa was then fried in butter that made it more aromatic. Also you get lovely dips along with this like in the Chicken cheese masala dosa which are amazing and a small bowl of sambar. The net result was predictable – we devoured the dish in less than five minutes maybe and still kept longing for more. Will rate it 4.2 out of 5.

In the end I washed down the idlis and dosas with some chilled Thumps Up, and yes that was some moment of bliss that I would surely like to treasure :) The mind blowing innovative dishes just left me flabbergasted. Such a small and humble eatery producing such high quality innovative food items! This place surely needs some more publicity. Many do not know about this place and they can’t still believe that you can get dosas with chicken and mutton stuffing right here in Kolkata. Also you should mark another positive - the prices are very reasonable and pocket pleasing at this place.

SERVICE - - - - - I would love the service to be a bit more warm and informative but still I would say that it was prompt. The owner or manager can ask the guests about the food and their overall experience, that would add to the feel-good factor of the guests, managing a place with a young order taking boy doesn’t often earn you brownie points. Since the food is so innovative, well thought and amazing I believe it should be backed up by some great service and a tad better ambiance.

But otherwise this was one wonderful experience and I will surely be back to this place with my family and friends to try out more food items from that vast menu. I would urge everyone to try out this place if you really wanna try some amazing experimental fusion food sitting right here in Kolkata.

Cheers!