mtr 1924

"This is a perfect example of Personal Preference"

Raised in the blue mountains of Tamil Nadu, my love affair with the humble dosa dates back to the 80's. My idea of the perfect breakfast is either a plain dosa or a masala dosa with a glorious bowl of sambar, some coconut chutney and a tomato one thrown in for good measure. I personally am a believer in the crispy, thin dosa but with enough white flesh underneath so it's not like eating a sheet of glass.

As I had three months to spend in Malaysia -two of them staying in the heart of Brickfields- I made it a point to visit as many dosa places as possible in order to save my friends who had limited time the indignity of eating an inferior version.

In the journey of such nobility, one must encounter bumps in the road, and today's bump was in the shape of MTR.

Always topping the lists of "Best Dosa KL", MTR is a Karnataka style dosa. I failed to read that before heading there and sat in the AC cool of this rather trendy looking place expecting some Tamil Nadu nostalgia. 

On first glance it looked promising. Slightly darker than dosa's i'm used to, but never one to fall prey to immediate judgements (I lie), I decided to take my necessary photographs of occult shapes and dig in. What started as a visual marvel quickly dissolved into annoyance. My fingers were immediately coated in ghee. The small bowl of it on the dosa was not used, but the entire "crepe" had been coated and was off-puttingly greasy. The texture of the dosa was also heavier and thicker, more like a wholeweat version. The potato masala inside gave little in terms of justification for it's inclusion.

Even the sambar and chutneys were forgettable, making a bad situation even worse. For once I actually asked for the bill, much to the look of dismay on the waiters face, as I left my money and exited into the strong glare of infinite orbs, with barely a handful torn off the plate. 

Meals are sacred in Kuala Lumpur, and you want to make sure they count.

These recommendations are just personal opinions based on my palate, things change, chefs get fired or replaced, places open-close, relocate, so take it all with a pinch of MSG and discover your own gems too. But please do try a few of these, they have been researched exhaustively.