I am usually quite sceptical when a chain opens up in Cardiff and generally I am inclined to steer well clear. It is not that all chains are bad, it is just a good proportion are (particularly when the corporate bean counters descend to load up the debt to breaking point and then cut every corner imaginable to service said debt) and thus, generally, why risk it.

My last forage into a chain was a while back with Chennai Dosa in Canton and is was an extremely mediocre experience.

Crispy Dosa (an entirely different chain to Chennai Dosa – thank the Lord) on St. Mary Street, however, came with a sort of endorsement (as in actually it is OK, rather than “It is Itsaamaaaaaazing! It is free, right?”) from someone whose opinion on food and drink I tend to highly regard in the form of Andy Hayler (a man who admirably dines right across the price spectrum, from this sort of place to the likes of Gordon Ramsay’s flagship restaurant and the Ritz and generally pay his way in doing so).

If Mr. Hayler thinks it is OK, it is fair bet I will probably like it and the same goes for Cardiff based Gourmet Gorro (whose taste in food and drink sees to broadly align with mine, bar from him inexplicably seeming to like orange wine which is invariably vile) who reviewed the place not so long ago (and pretty much affirmed Andy Hayler’s fairly positive review). 

On this basis, I went with some hope as to having a rare positive chain reaction.

The Crispy Dosa chain seems to be in the throes of a fairly aggressive expansion  phase with new outlets opening up in and around London as well as spreading their wings wider to the likes of Nottingham, Southampton and Birmingham, as well as Cardiff.

The central Cardiff skyline by Canton Bridge does seem to have changed a lot since I was last in town and the new Nottingham one looks very palatial indeed😂.

Always being on the look out for (cheapish) lunch options in town, I put it on the list and (on a guanciale, only sensible option for a carbonara, run to Wally’s – disappointingly they didn’t have any 🙄) a meet up with a mate in town seemed the perfect opportunity to give it a go.

The menu is all veggie, which tends to set my internal alarm bells ringing and get my rantometer working, and differs in a number of respects (price and number of items) to that on their website.

Whilst veggie menus are not generally my thing, I think southern Indian food (where dosas orginated from) is where my eating would centre if I couldn’t (god forbid, go to hell and this would be your punishment – must be good, must be good, must be good) eat meat (and I mean proper meat not the bioreactor abomination).

Starters aren’t really anything of the sort with no real mains versus starter on the menu. This point is extenuated by the “starters, not starters” prices being on a par with pretty much everything else.

I didn’t really fancy any of the my usual (because I am a tight arse) go to “Lunch Specials” although the Quick Lunch Combo (£9.99) did somewhat appeal before I discounted it. Also, I assume the place is called Crispy Dosa for a reason (I mean you don’t generally decide to go to a fish restaurant and then think oh I bet the meat is great here it being a fish restaurant and all, so lets all order the chicken), so a dosa it was. The question then was which one? I knew most (and have had them to various degrees of agreeableness), but the “podi” one (enriched with ghee) were new to me so I gravitated to that.

Despite being a chilli wuss, the podi in the ghee podi masala rather intrigued me with it being a powder made of ground lentils, black gram, sesame seeds, curry leaves, chilli, black pepper, and cumin. I mean it sounds great, doesn’t it! The miser in me rather grated at it being one of the more expensive item on the menu, but these day £10.99 isn’t bad for a sit down main at lunch time so the ghee podi masala dosa it was.

The chap who took our order did ask me if I liked spicy food, explaining podi translated to “gunpowder.” This slightly alarmed me, but on further interrogation he said he wouldn’t find it too hot so my “Johnny Cash” concerns were somewhat assauged.

What arrived was a behemoth,

with liberal overspill on both sides of the  tray. Based on the size of this, I can’t imagine how enormous the 4ft family dosa must be.

Lovely light crispness to the dosa,  sogginess being the bane of many an inferior dosa, with that being amped up by the use of the ghee.

The interior side of the dosa was coated with the podi and it encased a good sized blob of the masala mash.

The podi had spice rather than heat to it (I do wonder if they toned it down for Western tastes), but had a really nice flavour to it. It also added a further rather pleasing crunch to the crispiness of the dosa. I do think, on the basis of the lack of such heat, the “gunpowder” moniker our server warned us about seemed a bit misplaced/overegged.

The mash was nice, but I felt a little underpowered on the spice front. I would regard it as mild rather than medium spiced, which along with the unnecessary warning re the podi (being also pretty mild) rather surprised me. Could have done with being pepped up a bit with more green chilli, to my mind.

The slightly underpowered theme continued with the chutneys and sambar.

Of the chutneys, the pick of the bunch was the green (coriander I think) one which had a nice earthy herbal hit and touch of warming heat, followed by the orange (tomato) one, which had a nice balance of sweet and heat.  The white one (coconut) was disappointingly bland for my taste. Didn’t taste of much at all, to be honest.

The sambar had a good flavour to it, with a touch of warming heat and a back note of sourness, but was a bit thin and lacking on the  veggie front.

My mate had the Mysore masala dosa (£10.49), further lewd Johnny Cash jokes ensued,

which seemed a tad smaller than my behemoth with less masala mash inside (initially he complained to me there wasn’t any mash, which turned out to be incorrect but it did emphasised the smaller portion size compared to mine). It was only 50p cheaper than my dosa and I felt I got the better deal.

He enjoyed it, but echoed my wish for a tad more spice/heat in the mix.

On the drinks front, there were a few things on the menu I had to look up. Had  no idea, for instance, what Trevani juice was (and on goggling it still don’t really).

With it being a moderately warm day (or as the Met Office call it, armaggedon/the fury of hell has been unleashed, hide under the bed in a lead lined box), the lime juice would have been a good option and I toyed with the idea of the falooda (drink and a dessert all in one), but the £6.99 price tag put me off a bit).

We both decided on the mango lassi (£3.99).

Really enjoyed this, with a nice creaminess to it and a good thwack of fragrant mango in the mix. Decent size too and nicely refreshing. Just the ticket for washing down my dosa.

The verdict

Good value and good portion sizes made this a pretty decent and cheap option if in town and it certainly seemed popular on a late Friday lunchtime.

The dosas themselves where excellent, with my only real quibble with the food being that the spicing could have been amped up a bit. It all felt just a little bit underpowered on that front to my palate and I am far from a chilli fiend.

The only other quibble was they appear (by the sound of it) to have four Airbus A380 jet engines as hand dryers in the toilet (with me bagging my top “influenza” seat at the back by the bog). The noise of these jet engines regularly drowned out any attempt at conversation, which was a tad annoying (at least for me, possibly a blessing for my mate).

Regardless of these relativity minor quibbles, what Crispy Dosa is is a vast improvement on the dismay effort from Chennai Dosa. Some chains are definitely better than others and I would put this one on the better side of the chain good or bad reaction equation.

It is located next to probably the most famous and successful chain in the world and I would eat in this place over that one any day of the week.

The detail

Website: https://www.crispydosa.com/

Address: 30 St. Mary Street, Cardiff, CF10 1AB