I have often thought the original premise behind the phrase “Mutton dressed as lamb“ hasn’t aged that well, as mutton these days is harder to get hold of than lamb and to my mind mutton (cooked properly) doesn’t need to pretend to be anything else as it is uber trendy and often has a superior flavour to lamb (just needs a lot longer cook time). 

Mutton was, therefore, on my mind when contemplating a lunch out last week and mutton is what I got (in more ways than ine).

After last week’s foray into Riverside and a visit to a grand dame of the Cardiff Indian food scene, I thought a compare and contrast (with meat added to the equation) trip to a relative newbie in the form of Chennai Dosa would be interesting.

Chennai Dosa is a chain, with branches ranging from the North West to the South East, with it starting out in East London.

Chains get a bad rap, in a lot of cases with good reason, but I don’t think it is fair to say just because a place is a chain it is automatically bad (much as being an indy doesn’t automatically mean it is good). I mean you could argue, based on the strict definition, that Bar 44 is a chain (although nobody I know would recognise it as such) and they are very good.

Chennai Dosa operates (much like many chains) on the basis of a franchise model (so outlets are likely locally owned for the most part), which underpins a lot of food chains. I use to draft franchise agreements way back in my legal career and they always tended to be highly skewed in favour of the franchisor (basically “Do it our way or it is the highway”, with more fundamental breach provisions than you could shake a stick at). 

The one in Cardiff is somewhat tucked away on the far from main drag of Cowbridge Road East on the bit between the Clive Road junction and Victoria Park.

Not sure of the logic of this location to be honest, as not the easiest to park and it is on the bit of Cowbridge Road East, which (bar from Rees Butchers) is (to my mind) of least interest before it picks up by Victoria Park. 

I would say that Western end of Cowbridge Road East desperately needs a decent boozer, with something along the lines of the Rhiwbina Tap being ideal (shame plans for one by Victoria Park fell through) as somewhere to go before or after grub (at the likes of the soon to open Hireath).

Back to Chennai Dosa, the menu is a Lord of the Rings-esque tomb, covering a plethora of Indian and Indo- Chinese dishes.

Menus of this scale tend to ring alarm bells to me, with the phrase “Jack of all trades, master of none” springing to mind.

The size and breadth of the menu did somewhat surprise me, as the places name sort of suggests a focus on one dish rather than 6 bazillion. 

With a name like Chennai Dosa, I thought (despite the breadth of the menu) that it would be sensible (at least on an initial visit) to try what would seem to be their  signature dish in the form of a dosa.

I, therefore, defaulted to that section of the menu

and there is certainly a wide (and, on the faced of it, a seemingly interesting) selection of this specific dish on offer.

Whilst tempted to replicate the meal I had at Maruti, I wanted a meat based meal to compare the relative merits of veggie and meat ones and am mad for mutton (when it is actual mutton, rather than hogget – can’t sell it as lamb and few have heard of hogget, so bet a few call it the more trendy mutton) and therefore was drawn to both the mutton rolls (£3.25) on the starters page of the menu

and the mutton masala dosa (£8.99).

When they are good, mutton rolls (originally, I believe, from Jaffna in the northern tip of Sri Lanka, a mere 30 thirty odd miles from the Tamil Nadu coast, with Chennai the capital of Tamil Nadu and thus there being significant cultural and ethnic connections between the two) are really good (see Tuk Tukka). A super crisp outer shell encasing a full on spicy filling made from a mix of tender mutton and potato, with a plethora of spices (including chilli, cardamom, cinnimon, clove, fenugreek and fennel seeds). When they are bad, they are limp dick, oily and flavourless, batons of despair and despondency.

Here the shell was suitably crisp, if a bit on the thick side,

and, thankfully, not oily at all.

The issue was more the interior,

which was very potato heavy and the mutton that was in there was in quite chewy chunks. I do wonder if these were bought in frozen rather than house made.

OK spicing to it, but the interior potato and mutton felt like they both needed a longer cook. I would have liked a tamarind chutney or a lunumiris to go with it, but got a rather sickly sweet chilli dipping sauce (reminiscent of a supermarket one).

The appearance of these mutton rolls promised much and I do applaud the lack of an unnecessary garnish on the plate, but it was let down by an indifferent interior.

Next up was the mutton masala dosa

whose appearance was slightly dispoiled by having rather shattered at the top right hand corner. Oddly it was presented in a somewhat haphazard triangular form, rather than the traditional cigar roll and  looked like it had been unceremoniously dropped on there from a height, as opposed to having been delicately plated.

I suspect its brittleness precluded any attempted at making it into its more usual cigar presentation form that the menu had alluded to.

Good bit was the mutton, which was nicely spiced and cooked to a satisfying tenderness (why the same mutton was not used in the mutton rolls remains a mystery, but perhaps gives credence to my shop bought frozen number theory). The amount of it was rather miserly mind.

The good bits rather ended there, with the dosa dry and brittle in bits and the masala mash (despite decent spicing to it) being interspersed with bullet hard yellow split pulses which were unpleasantly chalky

I did point these out when asked how the dosa was, but nothing came of it.

The accompanying chutney and sambar were disappointingly bland

Top one was definitely coconut (all it tasted of, with no real spicing), but I really couldn’t tell you what the other two chutneys (bottom right) were as they tasted of discernably very little. The bottom left (the sambar) concoction had some heat to it, but little else in terms of flavour or substance.

I left quite a lot as, if I am honest, I got bored eating it. I suppose if you are hungry this would fill you up, but you would derive little else by way of enjoyment. Food for fuel rather than something to savour.

Drinks wise there is a selection of booze (actually not expensive – wine at £14.50 bottle, dread to think what it would be mind)

and soft/hot drinks.

With another glorious August day of drizzle hot drink it was, in the form of a masala chai (£2.99)

This was actually quite nice, creamy with a decent level of spice. Best bit of the meal I would say.

I paid £15.23 for my meal, which is about 20% more than my veggie meal the other week at Maruti. One was very good value and it wasn’t the mutton based one.

The verdict

The place is surprisingly big on the inside

and was empty on my Thursday lunchtime visit (less surprising, with the odd location and distinctly average food).

There are lots of good Indian sub continent restaurants in Cardiff, particularly Southern Indian, and on this showing this ain’t one of them.

In this instance, the “Mutton dressed as lamb ” idiom is rather warranted. A plushly decorated interior

didn’t in any way compensate for what was (at least on the basis of my visit and I am not alone ) a pretty mediocre food offering.

It may be no frills, but veggie Maruti wins by a country mile when I compare the relative merits of the two.

This place could have been a nice addition to what is a particularly desolate section of Cowbridge Road East, but hey-ho.

Details

Address: 348 – 352 Cowbridge Road East, Canton, Cardiff, CF5 1HE.

Website: https://chennaidosacardiff.com/