Carby Nostalgia /MadrasWoodlands

Y (May '23)

SCORE: Tell yo' friends

ORDER: Appams! Onion Rawa Dosa, Pongal

VALUE: Usually about 10-12 SGD each

I'm sure most of us have nostalgic triggers from certain places, things or aromas. For me that extends to restaurants too, and this is one such place that I've been coming to since I could barely see over the table. Coming back here reminds me of a time when it was an all day affair trekking out with my parents to Little India, where we would do breakfast, then groceries, then lunch, then head back and pass out from food coma. Back then there was also a friendly paan vendor right outside the shop, but I believe it's been decades since that chap was priced out (or licensed out) of Singapore.

On this occasion, I was craving a good dosa, and so decided to go first thing in the morning when the condiments are piping hot fresh from being tempered. They open at 0730, so I usually try to get there at the time when they open their doors. This will give you the freshest condiments, the freshest vadai, and staff that are not yet overwhelmed by post-temple crowds that they keep burning the appams.

Their appams are just delightfully sweet and fluffy with that slight tang from being allowed to raise overnight. Now, call me weird, but the way I eat my appams is I dip them into the red (onion) chutney - and just utterly enjoy the sweet-savory combo. My usual pick for a dosa is a bit non-traditional, but it is always delightfully crispy, and spicy with onions, black pepper and chillis in it. Pro-tip: tell them to add a bit of ghee to it, to give it this yummy nuttiness that you can thank me for later. The other big advantage of showing up at 0730 is the staff walk around with trays full of piping hot vadai right as they come out of the fryer. You won't get this any other time of the day, as by about 930 am, they usually have a pile of them prepped and they just serve you one from the pile.

Aside from the simple yet delicious food, this place brings me back to old times because on the past 5 visits, I've always run into someone that I've since lost touch with. A friend of my dads from when I was 10, a neighbour from where I used to live before, etc. and I love it and am so grateful that such old school places still exist in a city that would otherwise gladly have converted it to another ironic gastropub or 5th wave coffee shop.

PS: I'm not the best with photos, and that's just not with quality, but consistency too. This was the first occassion that I'm writing on this blog where I completely spaced on taking photos - and I'm sure you'll experience more of these as we go along.