Restaurant Review: Chennai Dosa

Stretford doesn’t have much to show off about – having lived there so long I think I can say that with honesty and without fear of being ostracised. It’s true. We have the Mall, Victoria Park (which is rather lovely actually),  the end of a stand named after us at Old Trafford and a seemingly abandoned 1930s cinema that everyone travels past on Chester Road.

Aside from an abundance of takeaways, there’s a lack of restaurants. For those, you have to head to the Trafford Centre, Urmston or Chorlton – effectively anywhere surrounding us, but not actually in Stretford. I had hoped when the old Post Office moved that that building might  be used for something…. but sadly it’s just another clothes shop.

But there is a little bit of light on the horizon. We now have Chennai Dosa. Yes, it’s a chain – but believe me when I say it’s one worth visiting.

When you arrive at a restaurant and there’s a queue outside the door, I tend to take that as a very good sign. When it’s full of people of all ages, shapes and sizes, then I take it as a very very good sign.

Chennai Dosa straddles that bridge between takeaway and restaurant. Food is cheap, fast, and very good – looking a bit like a canteen, we walked into a packed restaurant on a Sunday afternoon at 3pm – mums, dads, kids, grandparents – everyone was in here. The whole place smelt incredible – the scent of coriander and cumin mingled with cloves and my tummy started rumbling immediately.

The menu is huge – as the name would suggest, there are lots of dosas on offer, but there are so many additional choices – gravy, curry, starters, poori, rice, noodles – the choice seems endless, but for the sake of research and because we were starving, Mr GFB and I set about the making a decision.

Settling on a poori masala and chicken lollipops to share, Mr GFB then opted for the special mutton curry with chapatis, whereas I went for a personal favourite, palak paneer and opted for the chilli coriander dosa with it – knowing full well we’d share it all anyway.

The poori were exactly as I expected, crisp on top, soft on the underside, perfect for scooping up the surprisingly  light potato masala and almond chutney on the plate. The lollipop chicken were spicy with a gorgeous sourness – the sauce very rich and deep – you know that it has cooked down for a long, long time.

And the mutton curry – Mr GFB shared one forkful with me and that was all. What I did taste was again rich in flavour, meaty and spicy. I don’t blame him for not sharing if I’m honest, I didn’t want to share my palak paneer either, because it was absolutely perfect. Rich and creamy, with a nice warming at the back of the throat and cubes of deep fried salty cheese. Heavenly.

With a paper cup full of sweet rose flavoured milk to drink, it was a great alternative to a Sunday roast. It’s easy to see why this place was so popular, in addition to the food being tasty, quick and filling, our meal cost just over £20 and we were stuffed. Where else can you get great service and great food  so cheap?

No other chain I know…