when the gal gets gold

All that glitters is gold.. YES!!.. you read it right… including dosa in india. Indians are celebrated worldwide for their fetish for the flashy metal. Long gone are the days when we were like “AAAAHHH….WOOW” when gold plated jugs, mugs, plates and water closets found their way into palatial  bungalows and imperial palaces of the affluent. Today, every Indian, irrespective of his income tax statement (whether he has it or not) boasts of his chunk of glistening gold. 

Till now, the metal is adorned on the body but now, it is into the belly. That’s possible with a dosa gilded with a gold foil of 0.1mg gold content. I hail from a family where gravy is drunk like water. Being the foodie I am, wanted to coat my tongue with this gold plated dosa, the brainchild of Rajbhog restaurant in Malleswaram, Bangalore. 

The restaurant is not so flamboyant that you actually doubt whether this is the abode of gold dosas. It is snugly placed at an unassuming locale on the bustling Margosa Road of Bangalore. The ground floor at the restaurant is “quick-eat-go styled” where one signs off after savouring a dosa and sipping coffee. The first floor is fashioned with gold and brown hued furniture, a few portraits and bathed in gold hued illumination where there is waiter service and you are in for a PARTY. If you are picturizing a 3 star hotel ambience, well don’t go for it. It is the place you should visit just if you are on a mission to see the gold dosa at least once in your life. Well the owner of the restaurant boasts of several other varieties of dosas – silver plated dosa, chocolate dosa, paneer dosa, etc. As many as 101 variety dosas are born and served here. No vegetable or spice is ineligible for becoming a dosa I guess. 

Where am I? Yes, my tongue and gold coat. I took my brother and dad along on a surprise visit. We stepped in having a myriad doubts about the restaurant and its minimal grandeur. I suspiciously uttered “GOLD DOSA”.  A waiter ushered us towards the staircase and eventually a hall, i.e., the first floor. We ordered for one gold dosa. Well I don’t like to part with gandhiji’s impressions… I mean money here… so… 1 dosa will suffice for three starving stomachs. 

The gold dosa took more than a woman getting ready for a party to arrive. We were almost emptying the somph on the table. The dosa was brought in a silver plate accompanied with coconut water in silver tumbler.  She is embellished neck to toe. A petite burning candle was placed inside a green capsicum carved in the form of a lamp hood. The gold dosa, next to the candle was going green in the flame. The dosa rested on a banana leaf which was cut to fit the dosa cozily. Shredded cabbage, carrot and beetroot bordered the dosa. A  patch of gold cushioned triumphantly on the dosa stealing the show. We were to attack her pride with coconut and tamarind chutney and sambhar. 

regal rejoice - gold dosa

my dad, surendra nath inaugurating the gold dosa

 

It is time we  set our mouths to motion. Crisp and subtle it was and oily too. I later discovered that it is a dash of olive oil lest I should curse my calories. As we explored, we found a mound of potato curry in the stomach of the dosa. There was utter silence and each of us tried to stash each speck of gold found on the plate. It didn’t fill our  three stomachs but definitely our desire. This is the best gift i could give my mouth till now. An experience worth cherishing and blogging. In the end, we did justice to the salads also.

When you party, you pay also. The bill displayed 1070(Indian rupees incl. taxes). What if non-Indians read my blog, that Is why I mentioned Indian rupees  :-) . Just when were about to depart, the restaurant owner, Chandan met us personally, expressed gratitude to savour the gold dosa and elaborated how he bumped on the idea of gold dosa. A personal and thankful touch by the owner concluded the glittering gold dosa experience. A shimmering evening to remember.

Caution: A dazzling dosa a day keeps all currency away. (Unless you have  a currency printing machine at home)