Dosa Plaza

i like der menu… lot of variety dosas… service was good… paneer dosa is must to be tasted

Fast Food Indian style but with a very Western disguise. Sometimes cheap is NOT the best option, the evening meal I had here was not good at all, cheap and plain. My side salad was limp lettuce, a piece of tomato and lots of raw onion, the rest is a blur of regret.

DOSA! YUMMY ! me loves the vareity here, its dirrent from other indian restaurants what you get here is only available at DOSA PLAZA and nowhere else. why 4 star? oh-​well, its a bit too pricey and the people are not very generous when i ask for a wee extra onion or sumfin? :-P hey that matters alot to me. i dont think hospitality should ever use the word NO !! rest. yeah i enjoy the food here indo-​chinese is good too… the chilli-​paneer dosa is yummy almost evrything is good and worth trying.:) happy dosaing xx

So it’s «Indian Fast Food.» I like the idea already. Where’es the drive through? Dosa Plaza is stuck in this weird place — like it’s trying really hard to appeal to a funky western audience while still maintaining a traditional menu. And what a menu it is. There is so much on here, what can end up taking the longest is deciding what to eat. No 5 curries, 2 naan and one dessert on option here — there is something like 88 different meal options. You can choose from a basic butter chicken, or experience the concept of the Dosa — a dish well worth trying. There are heaps of different types of Dosas as well, my preferred favorite being the mexican style. If you have no idea what you want, the staff are happy enough to pick out a meal for you, so there is really no excuse not to head along and give it a try.

Before I came here I didn’t really know what dosas were, and to be honest I’m still not sure. Are they pancakes? Rotis? Something else? Is the curry stuff inside part of what makes a dosa, or is that just there for fun? Dosa Plaza didn’t help answer any of these questions, because they make ALL THE FOODS. There are so many things on their menu, and heaps of them have the word ‘dosa’ somewhere in the name. Some of them might even have had ‘plaza’ snuck in there just to add to the confusion.
When I ordered it was pretty much at random, but luckily I made the right choice. I got a savoury pancake thing (a dosa?) rolled up with spicy tomato and capsicum in the middle. It was good. My boyfriend got a slight variation that he thought was pretty good, but neither of us can remember what they were. Next time we go it’ll have to be another blind guess. All part of the fun I suppose.

Dosa Plaza gives you an authentic cultural dining experience — the experience of eating in the food court of an international airport. This place is bizarre. The food is fine (although there’s WAY too many options on the menu — I don’t need eighty-​seven variations on the idea of savoury pancake, thank you), but the place itself offers a dining experience which you won’t find anywhere else on Dominion Road. Fluorescent lighting, plastic tables and chairs, and weird travel-​slash-​aspirational posters on the walls all add up to give a feeling of unease and jet-​lag that, for me at least, is pretty unappetising. Which is a shame because I enjoyed the food — in part, at least, because it looked nothing like the photos they had of it on the walls. I understand that sometimes printers mess up, and that colour balance is difficult, but if you take all the magenta out of a picture of a dosa then the dosa looks green, and that’s yuck. Get takeaways, if you’re coming here.

So technically Dosa Plaza is a chain although so far there are only three in New Zealand — the flagship store being this one in the Balmoral end of Mt Roskill. Undoubtedly my household gets more takeaways from here than anywhere else; in fact, I reckon I probably eat the Dal Fry and Paneer Tikka Kebab at least once a fortnight. It’s my top choice for week night low carb eating as it’s cheap, spicy and delicious.
The first thing that I should mention about Dosa PLaza is that it’s fully vegetarian and calls itself «Indian fast food». What that means to you and I is that the shop is a shiny vision of yellow and red happiness that reminds me of Chicken Spot in the 80s. The staff wear jolly hats and uniforms and the dine-​in area is plentiful but basic.
The menu is extensive to say the least and if you’re unfamiliar with the full range of Indian cuisine then visit the website first for full descriptions and enough photos to give you an idea of what to expect. If you have never tried Dosa then you are missing out. Basically an Indian pancake, it is served flatbread or pizza style with added ingredients (Uttapa), or filled and rolled like a crêpe (Number 77 Paneer Salad Roast Dosa with Cheese is our pick).
As you can see, the names can be somewhat confusing, but half the excitement here is trying something new. However if you are particularly change-​resistant, you can still order a curry, rice and naan from the Punjabi Plaza; again, the choice is comprehensive.
I do have to admit however to having my limits. I love the Mexican style dosas but am yet to sample the Indo-​Chinese menu items or Chopsuey Plaza. I also have never managed to leave enough space for the Sweet Plaza items although the Milk Kheer (Payasam) which is sugar, vermicelli, cardamon and coarsely crushed almonds boiled in milk sounds… intriguing?
The staff are more than happy to help you decode the mysteries of the menu and I can’t recommend this style of cuisine enough. Its fusion style is perfect for Kiwi palates and depending on what you order, it doesn’t have to be sinful. The Butter Paneer is frickin good though if you are in need of a ghee-​soaked food coma. Always fresh and always friendly, if you are not lucky enough to live close by then take the kids and eat in. If you like Indian food this is guaranteed to be a new regular favourite.