Podi & Poriyal

After a loooong day on calls and emails, I had a craving for Indian vegetarian food for dinner, but not Gokul style or the noisy ambience. I wanted something else. The man never minded Indian food of any type. When it comes to vegetarian food, he only really loves Indian vegetarian or something Lebanese/Mediterranean. We went to Podi & Poriyal. We got there at 8.30pm, and easily scored a curb-side parking lot next to the restaurant.  

Since podi is in the restaurant's name, their dishes hold plenty of it. Podi is pretty much a powder made from roasting pepper and lentils (urad dal, Chena dal, coriander seeds) and mixed in with tamarind, chilies and salt. We ordered a serving of tiny podi idli to start. They were SO CUTE. They came served with chutneys of coconut, tomato and capsicum. 

We took rather heavy mains of Madras pulao with korma, and the man's favorite dosai done in ghee roast and served with sambar. The pulao korma was decent and filling. Order that if you need carbs. Tonight, I did, so it was really comforting. This restaurant's sambar was fabulous — it was full of flavors, thick and chunky. I don't like thin sambar. Those suck.

While we're not unfamiliar with Indian food, we don't know all the names of the dishes or their ingredients. So when the servers took the trouble to explain each dish to us, we appreciate it. The restaurant's menu was fun tonight, and it changes items around to refresh the menu. They also offer super decent lunch sets. We're definitely coming back at lunch to eat its other dishes. 

Podi & Poriyal surprisingly has an interesting cocktail menu. I'm not too into cocktails or spiced alcohol. Opted for a lemonade. Then the server piqued my interest with their Hapusa Himalayan dry gin. Juniper is known as 'hapusa' in sanskrit. Produced in India by Nao Spirits, the balance of turmeric, mango, ginger, cardamom, coriander seeds, gondhoraj limes and almonds stayed true to the spirit of a dry. 

I like the Hapusa gin on its own, but I don't want it in a cocktail with bitters and such. I decided not to offend the bartender by requesting for a cocktail of my choice. I had earlier ordered a non-alcoholic homemade lemonade. It came nicely shaken. Very lovely. So I requested for a second glass to go easy on the sugar, and ordered a shot of gin. I simply poured the gin into the lemonade. Very Alcoholic. ✌🏻