Sree Krishna Cafe, Mattancherry, Kochi, Kerala, India

Vegetarian Restaurant Review by Jennifer Kumar.

We visited this place on Palace Road in Mattancherry, Kochi, twice on this visit.

It is only on the second (May 21, 2008) visit I got to keep the bill. Usually they take the bill back for their own records, and customers don’t get a copy. We had to specifically ask for it back.

Vada 4 plates with two each (each plate of two is Rs 5) 40
Bathura 2 plates at Rs. 18 each 36
Plain Dosa 2 orders at Rs. 15 each 30
Red onion chutney (chutney is thick and red in color) 1 at 3
Masala Dosa 1 at 17
Onion Utthapam 1 at 20
Tea each Rs. 4 20
Total 166
(This meal for 5 totals a little over US. $5)

This restaurant is a local place and is quite good according to local standards. There is an A/C and non A/C room. When sitting in A/C room there is a premium price, but not sure what that is.

Tourists visiting Mattancherry, Fort Kochi, or Jew Town in Kochi (Cochin), Kerala, India can frequent this shop. I believe they get many tourists as it is on the main (Palace Road) road, so they staff there should be able to converse in English. I always go with my family who speak Malayalam and I have not interacted with staff in English.

Overall I rate this restaurant high in terms of service and cleanliness for Indian local hotels. I am also used to it as we have frequented it quite often during our visits. There are two A/C rooms, one has a wash room and the other does not. I believe the non A/C washroom seemed to be cleaner when we were there, but neither had soap. The fact that there are washrooms without soap is still an enigma to me. Many local eateries we went to on this trip did not have soap in the washrooms. It’s a good idea to carry your own or some handiwipes or antibacterial soap. The tables and cutlery is quite clean, but ask for napkins if you want to wipe wet spoons off. They serve local, bottled and boiled water. I usually have had the boiled water which is still quite warm when it is served. Payments are done only in cash.

Photo by Krishna Kumar, used with permission.

Have you eaten at Sree Krishna Cafe in Mattancherry? If so, please share your thoughts below.

Thank you for reading.

The Palace of Dosas, Amherst, NY

Restaurant Review by Jennifer Kumar.

Whenever we go to Buffalo, New York, we have found our mainstay must have tasty treats at Palace of Dosas. You can read about our last two visits on Dec. 15, 2007 and February 17, 2008.

For appetizer we had the mixed vegetable platter with aloo bonda, vada, idli, onion bajji and other various vegetable fritters along with sambar and coconut chutney. I had the sambar vada (or as listed in their menu Vadai with Sambar). I also took up the idli from the mixed plate and had a meal in the appetizers! The vadas are really big- they are at least 2.5 times the size the ones I make at home! I liked the sambar. Seemed they may use the frozen mixed vegetables (hope I am wrong, but the cut and texture is same as the mixed frozen vegetables) and a few authentic south Indian vegetables. One seemed like a potato but I am forgetting the name of it, as it is not a potato. But, to my surprise there were no curry leaves in the sambar. I was curious about that!

** Regarding the appetiser in our last visit we did have the aloo bonda and remembered we did not like it so much. This time, hubby says they have improved on the taste of the bonda and he enjoyed it very much.

For the main course I had a butter masala dosa. I was somewhat pleased with it. The side of dosa that goes on the grill was finely browned, but the other side did not seem to have been put on the griddle, it was white and also not fully cooked in the thicker parts. I also did not get such a butter or ghee taste. Maybe this comes more with the ghee roast, which is a paper thin dosa? The masala potatoes inside I could not begin to eat as I was stuffed. I did have an additional side of mullagai podi (spice and dhal powder with oil) with the dosai in addition to the sambar and chutney that come with the dosa. The mullagai podi was very tasty as it was spicy but not too hot spicy.

My husband got the aloo poori which is potato curry with puffed deep fried breads. He liked the pooris but did not think the potatoes were tasting as they should. He also could not finish the potatoes. We took the potatoes home and will have them in our upcoming meals. We were interested to see, though the potato curry for the dosa and the poori aloo were two different potatoes, so that is good!

Totalling the bill, for the sambar vada, mixed vegetable platter, aloo poori and ghee masala dosa plus tip it was $30.35 ($3.00 tip). We prefer to drink water with our meal.

Don't miss the complementary rasam that is served with the meal. It's a must have!!

I should also not that now that I have learned to make dosa and idli, it's not as fun for me to go out for dosa or idli. I'd like to see other south Indian stuff out there, but anyhow south Indian restaurants being few and far between I shouldn't complain.

As an added benefit- this is a great place for Indian students on SUNY Buffalo campus to try when tired of the Indian fare found on the commons at "Bollywood Bistro" (which we have yet to try) or those pining for South Indian food in Buffalo. It's a must visit!

To find/contact
Palace of Dosas
656 Millersport Hwy
Amherst, NY 14226
(716) 834-1800
Directions to The Palace of Dosas

Photo Credit: Krishna Kumar

tags: "south indian restaurant buffalo new york"."south indian buffalo",buffalo-new-york, indian, restaurant review, south-indian,"vegetarian buffalo"

The Palace of Dosas, Amherst, NY

Restaurant Review by Jennifer Kumar.

This is our second visit to this South Indian themed restaurant. (First visit here.)

We started with Aloo Boonda and Sambar Vada.

Sambar vada was tasty. Aloo Boonda was also very good, but had too many tastes inside and was a bit spicy for me.

Main meal for me was Palace Thali. This is rice served with dhal, sambar, rasam, cabbage curry, aloo chole (potato - chick pea curry), raita, papard, roti, pickles and halwa. Everything tasted really good, but I was suprised to see the aloo chole as this is more a North Indian dish and never saw this preparation in Chennai especially. In fact, I never saw chole (chick peas) in curries- only in sundal (a fried snack), and especially not mixed with potato The preparation was the only choice in the thali also not including mustard seeds.

My husband had the mysore masala dosa. He thought the potato filling and dosa were tasty but the mysore masala paste smothered on the dosa left the taste buds wanting more. In fact, I need to figure out how to make that paste. If you know a good recipe, please link it in the comments below.

Another good experience at this hotel. In addition to the food, I have to say that the restrooms are very clean and inviting. This is concurrent with our last visit as well.

Another more detailed review of this location is found on the blog, Ahaar.

To find/contact
Palace of Dosas
656 Millersport Hwy
Amherst, NY 14226
(716) 834-1800
Directions to The Palace of Dosas

The Palace of Dosas, Amherst, NY

Restaurant Review by Jennifer Kumar.

We stopped by this pakka vegetarian place on a Friday night about 9pm. We were surprised to find there were only two other tables occupied. Once they left, we were the only ones left. For a Friday night, and in Buffalo, hope this doesn't say they will be on their way out- the food was great.

If any closer to India, they may put a sign out in front of their door upon open in Tamil namesake of this blog- sappard ready- which means food and meals are ready!

Signage inside reminiscent of Chinese fast food take out with photos of South Indian food labeled in transliterated English - including thayyir vadai.

We had bhajjis (fritters), sambar vadai, masalai dosa, and tasty tomato/onion utthapam, all served on steel plates. Price was also nice.

The waitstaff are very friendly and helpful. The bathrooms are also clean and recommended- a sign of a good restaurant in my opinion!

To find/contact
Palace of Dosas
656 Millersport Hwy
Amherst, NY 14226
(716) 834-1800
Get Directions