Growing up with one health freak and one culture freak for parents, hitting that particular hut was strictly verboten. It therefore followed that as a child, it was all I ever wanted. I remember on maybe my 12th birthday my dad saying I could go anywhere I liked for lunch - anywhere at all! I know he wanted me to say Mask of China or wherever else was the "it" place in the early 90's. I said - you guessed it - Pizza Hut. He was horrified!
Something must have rubbed off, though, as I now have zero interest in unlimited quantities of bad chocolate mousse and every interest in this particular hut, which I recommend you hit with vigour. Meet Dosa Hut.
Dosa Hut has been in Barkly Street for at least as long as I've lived in the area (9+ years). Over that time they have expanded into the place next door, and continued to expand their menu into a greatest hits of South Indian cuisine.
One of the best-known South Indian staples is dosa - very light, impressively huge pancakes made from a lightly fermented (like sourdough) rice and lentil batter. They have crisp, burnished bottoms and are unflipped, making their top layer capable of soaking up all manner of delicious juices. This was a nontraditional but particularly awesome dosa "filled" with Chicken 65...
...which are battered chicken pieces in a sticky red sauce spiked with curry leaves. It's an Indian spin on Chinese food, but instead of being dumbed down, it's amped up. Spicy, rich, tangy - awesome.
If that all sounds a bit much, start with the classic masala dosa. This one is filled with a dry-ish potato dish made with peeled potatoes fried with spices.
It's a classic and deservedly so. The dosa come with a zesty, runny pickle, amazing coconut chutney and sambar. If you like it a bit hotter, get the Mysore version, which has special chilli powder added.
Sambar is a South Indian soup of sorts made with onion and other vegies (here, carrots), lentils, spices and tomato. You spoon mouthfuls in between bites of dosa.
Mango lassi are awesome.
Dosa Hut's menu is voluminous. If you don't know what things are, just ask - the staff are very friendly. A few things I can tell you is rava dosa is a dosa made from semolina; uttapham is like a very thick pancake with toppings cooked into the top (kind of like a pan-fried pizza); the spring roll dosa is rolled up tight, almost like a burrito! I have not partaken of the "Lindt chocolate dosa", but that sounds like a particularly worthwhile ordering experiment - and just as good as an all-you-can-eat dessert bar!
Dosa Hut
604b Barkly Street, West Footscray
Check out the menu here (Tarneit store, but as far as I can tell, the same as the WeFo one)
Dosa Hut's menu is voluminous. If you don't know what things are, just ask - the staff are very friendly. A few things I can tell you is rava dosa is a dosa made from semolina; uttapham is like a very thick pancake with toppings cooked into the top (kind of like a pan-fried pizza); the spring roll dosa is rolled up tight, almost like a burrito! I have not partaken of the "Lindt chocolate dosa", but that sounds like a particularly worthwhile ordering experiment - and just as good as an all-you-can-eat dessert bar!
Dosa Hut
604b Barkly Street, West Footscray
Check out the menu here (Tarneit store, but as far as I can tell, the same as the WeFo one)
