This was my first trip to Delhi with the family on which we did not eat a single meal at Cafe Lota. This is not because there’s been a decline in quality at Cafe Lota since I ate there in March. It’s because parental complications on the day we met the friend I/we always eat lunch at Cafe Lota with meant that we had to be back home not too late in the afternoon. And so rather than drive all the way to Pragati Maidan from Gurgaon, we shaved 40-60 minutes off the round-trip by driving to Green Park. Our destination? The first Delhi outlet of Sangeetha, a Chennai-based South Indian chain with a very strong reputation.

We did meet said friend at Sangeetha, and indeed it was chosen by her as the location for lunch. I note this because people who know her—she who is the source of this recipe—know that she is an unrepentant Tamil fundamentalist, especially when it comes to food. So the fact that she said that Sangeetha is now considered the top chain in Chennai for dishes from the extended idli-dosa-vada family carried quite a lot of weight. It’s another matter that throughout lunch she kept up a steady stream of slurs and slanders against the versions of these dishes made in other South Indian states. But let’s not talk about such unpleasant matters.

Sangeetha’s first (and, so far, only Delhi outlet—unless another has opened since July) opened in Green Park Market not so very long ago. Indeed, when we visited they were not yet serving everything on the menu: thalis were not available. This upset our fundamentalist who had her heart set on eating one, as she “cannot eat tiffin for lunch”. Luckily, we were able to avert violence by convincing her to get their Executive Rice platter instead.

We were eating very early by Delhi standards. We arrived at noon and got a table in the downstairs dining room. The fancier upstairs dining room was not even open—apparently, it opens at 1 pm, which is also on the early side for lunch in Delhi. Small complimentary glasses of very nice rasam showed up as we sat down and perused the menu. The menu is very large but that’s mostly because a) it’s not laid out very succinctly and b) contains quite a bit of narrative about the histories of popular South Indian dishes. I don’t know if anyone is reading these closely but if so there must be consternation about the fact that the Uthappam section just reprints the history of idly. The menu, by the way, also includes North Indian and Indian Chinese sections as is more or less required by law in India. At least, I assume this is the case at Sangeetha in the South as well and is not just a concession to the expectations of Delhi’ites.

Anyway, what did we get? As the rest of us have no compunctions about eating tiffin for lunch—or for dinner for that matter—we ordered happily from that end of the menu. We started with a plate of plain idly, a plate of ghee podi idly (which sees the plain idlys smeared with ghee and powdered spices), a plate of medhu vadai and a plate of the day’s special masala vadai, which on Thursdays is mixed vegetable vadai. The last were three to an order; all the others comprised two pieces. All of these plates came with sambar and a trio of chutneys. All were also uniformly very good. To follow, two large dosas, both of which were served with the same sambar-chutney combo. We got the ghee podi masala dosa and the Mysore masala dosa. The latter was very good, the former was excellent. The fundamentalist, as I said, got the Executive Rice platter and against all odds enjoyed it. This platter comprises servings of sambar rice, curd rice and the day’s special rice (which involves brinjal/eggplant on Thursdays). It’s also served with a couple of other veg dishes, roti, pickle etc. I was tempted to point out that this was effectively a thali but I did not want to be attacked and so held my tongue.

To round out the meal, some fruit juices at the start and some ice cream and filter coffee at the end.

For a closer look at the menu and everything we ate and drank, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see how much it all cost and to see what’s coming next.

As we were the first table to be seated—and were the only diners for a good portion of our meal—we bore the full brunt of the excessive staffing which is the norm at most Indian restaurants at this price level, i.e catering to middle class diners. But if there was a bit too much service, it was all pleasant and friendly. How much did it all cost? The total before tip was Rs. 2890 or just over $32. You don’t need me to tell you that that is very good value for five people in American terms; but it’s also not bad at all in Delhi.

Alright, I only have two restaurant reports left to come from Delhi. I will try my best to knock them both out next week. Before that I’ll have one or two reports from Seoul and a Twin Cities report next Wednesday.