KOMALA'S -- South Indian Fast Food

Food - 2.25/5.00 (Nearing Average)
Ambience - 2.0/5.00 (Average)
Service - 2.25 (Nearing Average)

Location: KOMALA'S, next to Sai Service, Phoenix Mills (Below PVR and behind Food Bazaar)

Sorry, if that is sounding very harsh. But your mileage may differ! You may actually find all about it good!

Maybe the problem was with my expectations! When a renowned gastronome(heart = fan of!) pointed out this restaurant, I thought it would be one of the posh places. A few weeks back I had been to Jiggs Kalra's Punjab Grill (heart)next door and felt that it was very, very posh! In contrast, Komala's look like ...(chodo...see it for yourself). It turned out to be a fast food restaurant (I think we should stop using the word restaurant with Fast Food.)

It is a self-service place. I hate such places! They have a quaint system -- you pay, give the bill to another counter, which gives you a token on a stand, you go and sit at your table with the token stand on display. After some time, you get the food delivered on your table! WITHOUT WATER! I hate the McDonalidazation of our restaurants! Imagine, for each dish I ordered I had to ask for water! (Guys -- please go to any Udupi restaurant -- you will have a continuous supply of cold water!)

I had a Rasam Vada (Rs60) -- one of my favorite menu items to order in a South Indian restaurant -- something which I invariably order. It came in a biggish plastic container -- I was delighted by the size. Finally, the restaurant had got something right. Vadas floating or swimming in the rasam! The vadas were pretty OK, so was the watered down sambhar, ops, I mean rasam!

Honestly, I don't really know the difference between rasam and a sambhar*. But my suspicion is that this was a watered down sambhar. I did not get that zing or the burn of the pepper at all!

*Google Detour: Here is the answer: more pepper! http://akshayapaatram.blogspot.com/2008/08/rasam-powder.html

But to be fair, the Rasma Vada was pretty OK. (Sorry, but I am one of the khadoos teachers who gives good very sparingly!)

Next, after taking a small walk around the mall, I returned to this place again. Naturally, they were delighted to see a returning customer! I asked for their recommendation. Malabar parotta! Another -- Onion Masala Dosa (OMD).

OMD was pretty average. The triangular dosa was rather on the dryish side and a tad burnt at the top of the triangle. Could see a lot of black burnt spots! The good part about the dosa was the plentiful onions which were semi-fried. I really loved them! The potato bhaji was the pits! Very watery and pasty -- just like the one's you get on the roadside! (BTW, roadside dosas are fantastic!) Tasted pretty average. Dosa was very thin and not crispy -- something interesting, but not to my liking. Most people I think prefer it crispy. Even though I prefer it non-crispy, I did not really enjoy this one!

The dosa was served on a real banana leaf! Chutneys were served on one tiny and one smallish plastic container. The red chutney was average, and so was the white chutney. In any restaurant in Mumbai, this would be the minimal standard!

Like in any McDonald restaurant, here too they were promting "Any drinks, Sir?" So the second time around I opted for Filter coffee Rs25) ! The Coffee was good! (I am being a tad generous!) It was served in a rather large thermocole cup, filled right upto the brim. When I poured in the sugar and the spoon, the coffee spilt out! My mistake -- according to the waiter -- I should have used the stirrer! Indeed, he was right! Yet, I would maintain that any drink should never be served upto the brim (My friend Vasu has a solution! Sip it before serving it to your hubby -- it is a sign of love! Er, try this ONLY at home!)

The coffee was nice and thick, a tad less thick would have been better. It did not have that true zing of freshly ground coffee! BTW, this too was from a coffee machine! Really surprised that you can get decent coffee from a machine!


KOMALA'S apparently is a big name and surprisingly with a big history. So it is all the more disappointing for me. Here is their link: KOMALA'S. My only hope and prayer is that they improve! I feel commercialization has ruined our hotel industry!