We stumbled upon a new South Indian eatery in Koregoan Park, where they literally have no refrigerator! When we asked how they manage the batter without refrigeration; owners said that they make their own fresh batter. Not just that, they make fresh batter two times a day. This ensures the customers get dosas made with the freshest batter. Unlike the current trend of ghee drenched dosas & idlis, Café Dosa uses just the right amount of ghee! Just as you’d cook in your home!
Café Dosa also takes pride in the premium ingredients and recipes which they serve. Let’s start with the coffee, they get their custom filter coffee blend from Aaraku Coffee. The ghee they use is Jivika Organic Ghee where each bottle is lab tested so that any customer can scan the QR code on the bottle to check the lab report of each ghee bottle. They are serving 3 types of Podis which have distinct taste offering a unique offering parallelled to none other. These podis are named Nalla Karam Podi, Curry Leaf Podi and Molgapodi.
The owner himself being brought up in Southern India pours his heart into each and every detail of this joint. Café Dosa is a very small kitchen in lane number 6 of Koregoan Park with rather no seating but you can stand in front of the place to eat. This setup is similar to Darshinis of Bengaluru serving Andhra recipes. The kitchen starts at 5 in the morning and that is when they make the batter, chutneys and sambar, fresh! At 6am, once the Idlis are steamed, they are open to serve!
What We Tried
Karam Dosa
Karam means Hot or spicy in Telugu language. First bite of Karam Dosa and we realised that it stands true to its name. The red karam paste lathered inside the dosa is packed with the hotness and is spicy to taste. Pair this dosa with the creamy red chutney and the coconut chutney served along and it balances the bold taste of dosa. The Sambar is one of those rare home style which we have tasted so far. The sambar recipe feels like it has been stolen straight from the grandmother’s secret book! The amount of ghee they used was a welcome delight. After a couple of bites, the fingers didn’t seem to have dipped in ghee. Unlike other places where the new craze is to drench the dosas in ghee, here just the right quantity of ghee is used. Not too much and not too little. After eating here, you don’t feel bloated.
Gud Vada
This is an Andhra Specialty where they make Medu vadas and then they are soaked in a jaggery syrup. The result is that the top layer of the medu vada becomes sweet while the rest of the inside in not that much affected by the jaggery sweetness. Overall, the Gud vada is not overly sweet but gives just a hint of jaggery sweetness in every bite. They serve hefty 3 such vadas in each plate making it a nice little side dish to be shared with someone.
Ghee Podi Mini Idlis
Mini idlis are plated and the idlis are topped with a spoonful of ghee and sprinkled with ample amount of podi. The idlis are super soft and served steaming hot. Their homely podi is unlike any the commercial ones we find otherwise. Jivika Ghee does its magic here as well. It’s so tasty that you tend to just gobble all of the mini idlis. The podi is not super spicy but rather have a small crunch to it which ideally podi should have.
Address: Cafe Dosa, Sanas Residency, Lane 6, Koregoan Park, Pune.
Contact: 8793439742
