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When Google Maps recently revealed their list of Aussie restaurants with the most customer reviews, one name rose above the rest: Dosa Hut in Harris Park. That was all the convincing we needed – off we went, with empty stomachs and high expectations.
We’re in Harris Park, AKA ‘Little India’, on a Sunday and Wigram Street is where the action unfolds. Think chaat vendors, sari-clad women drinking cups of chai, men chatting in Hindi or Urdu as they chew paan, kids eating kulfi, families browsing mithai counters, and the unmistakable scent of spice lingering in the air.
We arrive at Dosa Hut in time for the lunchtime rush. It’s in a white weatherboard cottage-turned-restaurant like many of its neighbours in the area. We’re met with a “there’s a 25-minute wait”, so we plop down on the plastic chairs in the courtyard and watch an endless stream of Uber Eats drivers pick up their spicy parcels.
Just under the restaurant’s name we read the phrase ‘Indian multi-cuisine’ – and that’s exactly what they offer. Unlike Chatkazz just around the corner that serves vegetarian-only street food, Dosa Hut claims to do it all: vegetarian and non-vegetarian, North Indian, South Indian and even Indo-Chinese.
Soon enough, we’re shown to our table and handed the menu. Grabbing our attention is a long list of dosas – I’m talking around 50 dosas ranging from the simple paper dosa to the perplexing ‘purple orange masala dosa’ and everything in between – rava lamb dosa, pav bhaji dosa, butter chicken dosa. After all, it is called Dosa Hut…
The prices at Dosa Hut are very reasonable, with most dishes under $20. Ordering is done via QR code, so we click, tap and confirm – then settle in for a spot of people-watching. The food comes out in no particular order, as and when it’s ready. But first, a warning: quite a few of the dishes are so spicy, you might need a fire extinguisher for your mouth.
Our Indo-Chinese dishes are served first. For the uninitiated, Indo-Chinese (or Indian Chinese) cuisine was born in Kolkata when Hakka Chinese migrants gave their traditional dishes an Indian twist by using whatever ingredients they could find like green chillies and coriander. It’s neither Indian nor Chinese, yet a fusion of both and is relished by Indians. At Dosa Hut, the flavours lean heavily towards the desi side. While the veg fried rice has that unmistakable umami flavour, it’s more like a pulao. The chicken Manchurian gravy has chunks of deep-fried chicken served in a sauce that’s fiery and garlicky.
Luckily, reinforcements arrive in the form of dahi puri and drinks. The dahi puri is pure joy – puffed up puris stuffed with potato, onion, crunchy sev, cooling yoghurt and drizzled with two chutneys – mint and date-tamarind. You’re meant to pop the whole thing in your mouth in one go, and when you do? Boom! It’s a street food flavour explosion.
Our drinks are equally delightful. While there is a well-stocked bar, we opt for non-alcoholic drinks. The mango lassi is creamy, not overly sweet and carries a warm cardamom flavour. We expected the jeera soda to be made fresh in-house, it came to us in bottled form, full of fizz – and nostalgia. Goli Soda is served in a Codd-neck bottle where you have to press the marble down to release the carbonated pressure before you take a satisfying swig. Ours is jeera (cumin) flavoured – refreshing, sweet-savoury and perfect for cooling the fire from the curry that’s about to hit.
And hit it does. From the north of India, Mughlai food is rich, creamy and full of flavour. This Mughlai chicken curry is not for the faint-hearted. We ordered it “medium” in terms of spice, but someone in the kitchen didn’t get the memo. While the chunks of marinated chicken were tender, the curry is intense. Let’s just say the butter roti and the lassi disappeared very quickly to put out the fire in our bellies.
And last but not least, the dosas. If you’re new to dosas, think of them as thin, crisp South Indian crêpes made from a batter of fermented rice and urad dal. We play it safe with a cheese dosa and a Mysore masala dosa. Both are cooked to perfection – golden, with crisp edges and soft centres. The cheese dosa is all melty and gooey and is gone in a flash. The Mysore masala dosa has a mouth-tingling red chilli paste smeared on the inside along with a potato filling. We tear off bits of the dosa to dip into the accompanying sambar (a spiced lentil soup) and coconut chutney. Crunch, chew, repeat.
Just as we’re rubbing our very full tummies, we spy copper pots of biryani being served to neighbouring tables – steaming, aromatic and oh-so-tempting. Chicken 65 biryani, goat dum biryani, paneer biryani… if only we had room for more. Guess we’ll have to order some the next time we’re hankering after an Indian feast. Just as the reviews from repeat customers mention, the food at Dosa Hut is fiery, affordable and full of flavour – we’ll be back for more. And the best bit? There are 25 Dosa Huts across Australia – so next time your craving hits, they’re not hard to find.
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