Mano's Dosa

London’s Best South Indian Restaurants Serve Kerala and Hyderabadi Food | Eater London

"Idli and dosa are the two main ‘tiffin’ snacks in South India, sold in small casual joints where people drop by on their way to work, often eating quickly while standing up. While dosas have been heartily embraced in the west, idlis have been somewhat slow to catch on outside Indian communities. Part of a 25-year old chain, this small Tamil tiffin joint is unusual, then, as it specialises in idli rather than dosa. The simple, neat café is a newcomer to East Ham, having opened only a few months ago. There’s a relatively short menu of plain idlis that are soft and squishy, and ones wearing a feisty red cloak of podi — ‘powder chutney’ made from dried red chillies, lentils, peanuts, sesame seeds, and spices mixed with ghee. Other items of note are kara paniyaram — mini pancakes that are South India’s answer to Dutch poffertjes — and sweet pongal made from split yellow moong beans, rice, jaggery and cashew nuts, here deeply musky with camphor, cooked Iyengar style in a version that’s served in temples." - Sejal Sukhadwala