ID

ID, a place that I’ve been planning to visit for more than six months now! Each time we are at the mall and decide to have food, invariably we end up in a place that serves chicken  :p

We just couldn’t convince ourselves to go to a place and eat South-Indian stuff when other ‘wonderful’ options are right there! I thought about it today and realized that ID is probably the only restaurant that I haven’t visited in Phoenix Market city. Why would I be so biased against South-Indian stuff? After all, I have loved the food in HSB, Sangeetha and A2B. Why would I be so against this restaurant in particular? I felt so bad for having ignored this place and decided today was THE day! A couple of hours later, right now, I am still wondering why the hell did I visit this place!
After shopping, we decided to eat out and I decided it is going to be ID. Obviously kids weren’t very happy. For them the first choice is always Nando’s. Managed to convince them and entered this place. We were given a table and we settled down. The place was decent, and interiors were modern. We did not come here to try plain dosa, idly, pongal and vada, we wanted to have something different. Their menu had a variety of dosas and few of the names were catchy – Mushroom Masala Dosa, Chilli Paneer Dosa, Paneer Capsicum Dosa, Gobi Manchurian Dosa and so on.
As I started to order, I was quite pissed off that so many items on the menu were not available. Mushroom Masala Dosa – Not available, Paneer Capsicum Dosa – Not Available, Chilli Paneer Dosa – Paneer itself was not available. Ordered a Mysore Masala Dosa, Gobi Manchurian Dosa, Onion Rava Dosa and a Cheese Cashew Appam. The waiter asked me if I wanted a vegetable stew or coconut milk with the aappam and when I asked why not both, he said only one was included in the price 😀 I asked him to bring another one too and agreed to pay for it. There was a vada platter in the menu and that was NOT AVAILABLE! Asked for Medhu vada – NOT AVAILABLE! By now, I was really irritated. Ordered Keerai vadai and Masala Vadai. As we ate, I felt vadas was okay, nothing extraordinary. They were hot though. Mysore Masala Dosa was a let down, flimsy and not even appealing. My son liked Gobi Manchurian Dosa, but I felt the masala was a bit too spicy. Cheese Cashew Aappam was good, my daughter loved it with the coconut milk. Onion Rava Dosa was yet to arrive and we almost finished our dosas. My wife was patiently waiting and when I enquired, the waiters assured me it was on the tawa. It came in about five minutes. It was more like Bombay Dyeing bedsheet, neatly folded. It was hot, but no trace of any crispiness. However, I should mention I liked the Sambhar and that was luckily free 😉 There were three chutneys, all were decent, nothing worth raving about. Ordered one Butter Dosa for myself and this was the best and another Cheese Cashew Aappam as my son wanted to taste that. I was surprised they served a badly burnt aappam ! When I asked the waiter if that is how they serve aappam, he apologised and changed it. Another ten minutes of wait ! My son also liked the Cheese Cashew Aappam. Quite drained out mentally after the dinner, just wanted to try a couple of desserts at least hoping they were ‘really’ good ! Again, same $hit – Kasi Halwa – NOT AVAILABLE, Chakkarai Pongal – NOT AVAILABLE ! Asked him what was available and he said Kesari and Ada Pradhaman. Not that I was very keen to eat it, but I was just curious to see what and how they served it. Kesari was clearly reheated and served, rava was brittle and dry, ada pradhaman was okayish, but I’ve had better stuff elsewhere. A filter coffee to finish off the meal, and it came in a Cup with a spoon and sugar sachets separately by the side. That was to remind me that this was no ordinary restaurant. The coffee was good though.
The bill came to Rs 1120, and I gave him the parking coupon and some 56 rupees was deducted from the bill amount and that was the ONLY consolation ! Right now, I realize that I have been billed for an EXTRA Ghee Dosa that we never had ! I overlooked it thinking they probably wrote GHEE for BUTTER, but there was another Butter Dosa in the bill, so the Parking discount also screwed up ! 😀
Absolutely pathetic dining experience after a long time!!! In the recent past, I have not had such a bad experience anywhere !
Verdict: Does it even require one? If they were so interested to have just two letters in their name, they should be named ‘NA’ for ‘NOT AVAILABLE’, not ID for Idly Dosa !!!!