A dosa, when it's at home, is a hot crisp piece of southern Indian deliciousness: a thin lacy-edged pancake made from a fermented batter of ground rice and lentils often stuffed with the likes of potato curry. They've been flying off of Indian hawker carts since forever, and now they're flying out of a Fitzroy shed.
Overdosa is the puntastic pop-up stall operating out of the same garage where the friendly, earth-loving Mottainai Cycles team breathe new life into old bikes. It reminds us of the diners run out of artist squats in Amsterdam. You walk in through the open garage door, and between the bike carcases, everyone is lounging around on bright, fabric-draped couches and shin-height chairs, all reading, eating and shooting the breeze. We could totally see a drum circle kicking off, but for now the beats and sitar tracks are provided via iPod.
The dosa here are North-South Indian mash-ups. We try the version filled with a spicy, smoky Mumbai-style eggplant and pea curry. It's hot and crisp and surprisingly light which we're attributing to the whole shebang being vegan and gluten free. The boys were going to do some kangaroo and lamb dosa but the owners of the space don't do food with faces, so they opted for pumpkin made tangy with tamarind and traditional potato fillings instead. Each dosa is cooked on a hotplate (properly prepped by being rubbed down with a cut raw onion) and served with a little handful of limey grated carrot, and the pickle of your choice. We go for the mild, milky dish of dessicated coconut, and get the fresh coriander, mint and peanut version with some deep fried hoppers as a side – sort of bready dumping nuggets made from another ground lentil and black rice batter.
We love the drinks too. They've got a bunch of Indian imports including a cola and a really fresh mango pulp drink (owned, strangely, by Coke) that comes in heavy, classic Coca Cola bottles which must have been getting returned and refilled since some time in the '50s.
Overdosa is only open from noon till sunset on the weekends at the moment, and in three months they'll have to move when the building they're occupying becomes an apartment block (damn it, developers, stop killing our vibes), but they've got big plans for festivals, and plenty more pop ups in the future. Stay tuned.