I caught up with Rehana tonight and she suggested we check out a restaurant which is reportedly one of the best for serving South Indian food. It has proved so successful that there are actually now eight venues spread all over London. In fact in Stoke Newington, the site of the original Rasa, there are two alone – right across from each other!

Rasa N16 in Stoke Newington is a bit of a journey to get to but worth it. Especially when you consider the premium on the prices on the more centrally located venues.

Both Rehana and I were feeling hungry so nearly everything on the menu was looking good to us. We started off with a Masala Dosa which is a thin pancake filled with a spicy potatoes mix and served with sambar and coconut chutney. Along with this we sampled a number of starters (descriptions from the website):
– Bhel Mix. Fresh crispy chickpeas, bhel, sev, peanuts, onions blended in spicy tamarind juice and freshly chopped coriander leaves.
– Medhu Vadai. A spongy dumpling in a crunchy case, made from urad beans and chillies – served with coconut chutney.
– Banana Boli. Plantain slices dipped in a batter of rice and chickpea flour seasoned with black sesame seeds, then crisply fried. Served with our specially prepared peanut and ginger sauce.
– Rasa Idli. Steamed urad dal (black lentils) cakes topped with chef’s speciality mixed vegetable masala. Served with coconut chutney.
– Kathrikka. Finely sliced pieces of aubergines are dipped in a special batter, blended with coriander and chilli, before frying. Served with a fresh tomato chutney.

Hey I said we were hungry.

We were also going to order a curry and rice but our waiter was like, maybe you should eat the dosa and starters first and see how you feel. This was very good advice because we were absolutely stuffed after eating all of the above. That didn’t stop us trying a couple of desserts though – a rice pudding (Pal Payasam) and semolina sweet (Kesari) served with mango ice-cream.

Everything we ate, with the exception of the Rasa Idli which was fairly tasteless and quite dense, was delicious with my favourite savoury dishes being the Dosa and Bhel Mix (good use of tamarind juice.) Service was very friendly and quite efficient and they didn’t hassle you unnecessarily, which makes for a nice change. Its also great for vegetarians – I didn’t even miss my meat tonight! Surprisingly good value for money.