Tooting is wasted on me. If I weren't such an armchair foodie then I'd probably do more of my food shopping in this part of town. There's so much vitality here and its infinitely more interesting than the sanitised homogeneity of the average British high street.
For example, when was the last time you saw such large watermelons at the your local Sainsbury's ? And where else, does every other shop seem to be selling Pakistani honey mangoes ? I was also well chuffed when I picked up a 5kg bag of basmati rice for £7.99 – half the price of what I'd usually pay.
After finishing my shopping, I decided to stop off for a quick bite before going home. Dosa 'N' Chutny seemed to be attracting loads of South Asian customers so I followed the crowds to this South Indian and Sri Lankan joint. I only intended to pop in for a dosa but seeing how cheap everything was, I went a bit mad and ordered two starters and a main. Oh come on, the samosas only cost £1 and they were homemade.
My second starter was the weekend special of tandoori quail (£2.95) and this was a superstar of a dish. Charred on the outside, juicy and succulent inside, and infused with spices throughout, this quail had been marinated properly and cooked to perfection. I'd forgotten that dishes from the tandoor could taste this good. I don't know why they gave me cutlery, as this was definitely a job for hands. Quite possibly, one of the best dishes I've eaten in my time as a blogger.
For my main, I decided against a dosa and instead went for kothu, a Tamil dish that isn't all that common in London. I went for the chicken kothu partotha (£4.25), which consists of chopped parotha (aka paratha) with chicken, egg, vegetables and spices cooked on a tawa, a kind of griddle.
When asked about the spice level, I mistook the question as a challenge to my masculinity so I demanded hot. With hindsight, this was a mistake as it was slightly too spicy for my liking. It was tasty though and I liked the contrasting textures but it did get samey after a while. This was probably due to the generous portion size and I couldn't finish it off. Next time, I think I'll go for the tandoori quail, followed by a dosa.
Well I'm going to make a mid-year resolution and that's to rely less on the supermarket. That means I'll be returning to Tooting to do more of my food shopping and it'd be remiss of me not to pop into Dosa 'N' Chutny although the vegetarian restaurant next door looks pretty good too......
