Chennai Dosa

Apparently this place is shut now. Phone line doesn’t work and website has taken the address of this particular branch down.

Closed down by the authorities! The food was great right up to the end while everything else was clearly falling apart. I will miss you Chennai Dosa.

Rounded up from 2.5 stars
Service was absolutely rubbish.
Yes it may be very authentic and very South Indian but there is a distinct lack of service and atmosphere. It was bitterly cold in the café and with that your food went cold very quickly
Will not be making a special trip to return.

Have been wanting to try Chennai Dosa for a while as I am a bit of a fan of South Indian food and it definitely didn’t disappoint. The place is more like a canteen than a restaurant with long tables and sparce furnishings but that just makes it feel all the more authentic. It’s extremely cheap too with mains ranging from 3 to 5 pounds. I ordered the savoury doughnut to start which was a bit different and the paneer masala Dosa for main. A Dosa is a pancake filled with potato and is extremely tasty. The dish came on a metal plate with sections for the coconut chutney and curry sauce that accompanied it. All were amazing. We also tried the desserts which were ok but a bit heavy. Most were made with condensed milk. My meal came to a total of £9.30 and that included a pint of cobra. Think I’ll be a regular as it’s such a great find.

Have noticed this little place whilst queuing for at the traffic lights outside on the A56 and often wondered what it’s like so when a few other Unilocalers were going there as part of curry club i jumped at the chance to tag along.
Located in Stretford not too far from the metrolink Chennai Dosa is part of a chain of southern Indian canteens (all the others are located in the south this is their only northern branch). It is very simple inside with plain tables and chairs laid out in small groups and steel cups and jugs of water on each table.
After a quick scan of the menu i oped for the lentil doughnut (50p each) and a chicken tikka doas (£4.95). The lentil doughnut came with a coconut dipping sauce and was OK but I think i will try another one next time as they have an array of starters and the doughnut just happened to be first on the list!
Next came the dosa. i was the only one of the group going for the chicken and mine turned up first-​result! Served on a metal tray with various sauces (coconut, spicy mint and an orange one (that none of us could identify but enjoyed!) and samba (lentil curry). The dosa wa filled with chicken in a masala sauce and lots of potato. It was really tasty. I got involved and eat the dish as it recommends on the posters on the walls with my hands. After years of being told growing up «don’t eat with your hands, use your fork! «it was quite liberating if not a bit messy but no fear they have sinks round the corner in the resto for you to clean up (i am however today sporting some lovely turmeric stained nails!)
Even though full up i still had to try the Indian sweets at 90p each it would be rude not too. I have no idea what they were called but i tried one that looked like small orange and was a type or rice pudding in a ball with nuts and a silver square which was a pistachio based one. Both were nice but I’m not completely sold on them
All in all it was a pleasant and very inexpensive night out £11 inc my beer.
It is licensed which surprised me but they don’t take card so make sure you take cash as there isn’t a cash point nearby (the HSBC that was down the road has closed)

This was my first visit to Chennai Dosa, and my very first try of proper South Indian food.
Like many of you, I’m a huge fan of Indian, but it usually means a late night takeaway, or if it’s a restaurant, more likely a Bangladeshi or Pakistani one. They have their place, but for the first time I got to experience what I can only call truly authentic Indian.
The selection is brilliant, there’s so much that you can choose from, and as I imagined, there’s an awful lot here for the veggies as well. In what was a fantastic example of the hive mind at work, all of us went for the same starter, a sort of lentil donut. This was pretty good, but a bit weird; it certainly grows on you though!
For the main, the hive mind was breaking down a little with only 3 of the 4 of us going for the same thing. That particular thing was the Paneer Masala Dosa. My very first Dosa ever has me hooked — everything about it was brilliant. It was spicy, cheesy savoury and a little sweet all at the same time! If I were cheesy, I might say that it was a taste explosion; since I’m not, I’ll go for the more restrained ‘absolutely brilliant’ and leave it at that.
The restaurant itself has a distinctly canteen feel to it, with everything being served on sheet metal plates — the kind with little dimples for your food. This doesn’t take away from the experience at all, and leads me onto the next bit.
The price is amazing — pretty much all of the dishes are under £5, and that is amazing value for what you get. My entire meal was sub a tenner and as I’m writing this, I’m the fullest that I’ve ever been!
The only thing that was a bit of a let down (and not much) were the sweets. The traditional Indian sweets looked a bit better than they tasted, but I always find that this is the case. If you like Gulab Jamun, they have them — and I know quite a few people who really like them.
I usually eat places that are convenient — either in the centre of Manchester or near home, but for this, I will make the trip again; I highly recommend that you do too.

Having lived for 6 months in India, an authentic dining experience is usually hard to get in the UK and I’m not just talking about the food!
I’d highly recommend Chennai Dosa if you want to eat in a canteen style environment where everything is sheet metal — from the wipe down tables to the water jugs and the trays that your food comes served on — it’s just like being in Chennai or Delhi. Don’t let this lack of aesthetics put you off though, what you will get is efficient service, low low prices and some of the best Indian food this side of the sub-​continent.
The name gives it away by the fact that they serve the South Indian speciality Dosa and each time we’ve been it’s something that we can’t look past, but they also do a great array of other traditional curries, a buffet style all you can special and a street food/​small snack selection.
Now onto those Dosa’s — we had the Masala Chutney Dosa and a Paneer one — both were excellent and served with all the usual sambar sides — coming in at around £5 each. We also had the chana bhatura (chick peas masala with a giant puffed pancake) — which wasn’t massively to my liking but you have to try these things in life!
Topped off with a mango lassi — all this came to £19 which was great value for a late lunch. It was also pretty busy with a mix of British and Indian customers which showed it’s authentic nature appeals to a wide audience!
Parking in the car park around the back is only 50p for 2 hours, but there are a few places to park for free around the front — if you can get a park in one of these then I’d consider buying a lotto ticket the same day as your luck might just be in!

The place is very AUTHENTIC when comparing the food with South Indian dishes. I, Being from chennai city, prefer this place as often as my moms meal. Ppl who want to try some random dishes from south of vast india should go for it.
The ambience is very nice, utmost Indian hospitality check, cheap cost check, high quality check, pure satisfaction if u choose the right menu check .
I would suggest people to go for breakfast menu or buffet as they are very famous, nectarous and light compared to the other meals and if you are not sure of what to choose, ask suggestions from the waiter himself according to your preferences.
Dosa is its primary and notable dish but here are other options that is very unique to the place and restaurant — Methu Vada (pulse doughnut), idly (rice cake), oothappam (heavy and thick dosa), beeda (just like sweet desert after the meal), also nethili fish fry (anchovy), thayir vada (vada soaked in yoghurt) etc. feel free to look at my uploaded pictures for the menu and money.
If you’re really hungry, then lunch buffet is more than what your stomach can take. I’m not commenting here just cuz I want to promote this, but with real and absolute satisfaction. The only negative part is its distance from the city. 6 Kms from my whitworth park or Rusholme, but I assure you that you won’t be disappointed. ! Nandri (Thank you).

Finest. South. Indian. Restaurant. Chain. Basically, I had a concept in my head of my dream South Indian restaurant that I would like to see in Manchester. From my first visit, Chennai Dosa is showing encouraging signs of being the complete package!
The location is just a bit out of the way, having its own entrance on an outer wall of Stretford Mall. There are a lot of vacant units on either side of Chennai Dosa, but the situation looks well-​managed, even if there is a definite feel of Stretford being a less fashionable part of town. But I can see the location being a shrewd move, as premises are likely to be highly affordable and I was also informed by a waiter that there is a significant South Indian population in the vicinity. Certainly, I was the only non-​Indian diner during my visit for the vegetarian buffet on a Saturday lunchtime. If it is often as busy as Samir S describes in his review, off-​peak may well be the best time to enjoy this place.
The restaurant has maybe ninety covers with plenty of room to move as well — here we start to see the upside of the Stretford location! The décor is smart and modern, with some nice South Indian detailing and also slick advertising posters like the one with the slogan at the start of my review or ‘Mega-​Family Bhatura’ or ‘Five-​Foot Family Dosa’! I joked with one of the other customers that we westerners wouldn’t need the five-​foot dosa as our families are smaller! There was a nice amount of smiles and interaction — you will feel welcome. But as the Chennai Dosa business model is very much a budget one, what you might lose on opulent décor you gain on relaxed atmosphere and super-​affordable prices. The wait staff are all young South Indian ethnic background, but the command of English is excellent even when I tested them with quite technical questions on ingredients.
Order from the menu, or choose the buffet. I went for the vegetarian buffet, which is £6 for all you can eat, although a good plateful is all I ever want. The plate is a stainless steel thali with larger bowl for rice and five smaller bowls for the rest. Buffet choices are papad, plain basmati, biryani rice, rasam, dhal, sambhar, several vegetable mixes and chapati, with relishes and raitas on the side. I went with the payasam for dessert, which is a runny milk pudding of rice, vermicelli, cardamon and other spices. The whole meal was right up my street, with the blandness of the vegetable mixes balanced by the kick of the rasam and others. Chapatis are OK, with a bit of oil through them, but not really as much to my taste as fresh tandoor roti I’ve enjoyed in curry cafés across Manchester. But as all the other food at Chennai is so much more in line with my lacto-​vegetarian Ayurvedic ideal, Chennai is miles ahead of the others for me. For non-​vegetarians, for an additional £1 you can add chicken and mutton curries to the predominantly vegetarian all-​you-​can eat buffet.
I look forward to reporting back after trying dosa, idli etc from the main menu. Summing up — in offering honest, authentic, affordable South Indian food Chennai Dosa is a jewel in the crown for diners in the Manchester area, which I am sure is already a massive hangout for South Indians and fans of South Indian culture.

So I love dosa and my Indian born parents had been here last week with my sister. They loved it so much they wanted to take me. For those that don’t know dosa is an Indian crispy crêpe or pancake made from ground rice and dahl filled with potatoes, meat or served with dips. Totally beautiful!
Unfortunately I have an Achilles heel that would make me a really bad vegetarian Indian; I’m moderately allergic to chick peas. Only the most used ingredient in all of Indian vegetarian cooking! As you can see I was a little skeptical about going!
So even after a walk from a slightly sketchy car-​park to a slightly sketchy neighbourhood we arrived and the queue on a saturday night came down from the top floor and onto the street! Wow this place MUST be amazing!
We proceeded to wait for half an hour until seated. It had the feel of an very casual kitchen, simple, clean, no pretence, very authentic but far from anything resembling posh. Indeed, the scene was pretty chaotic but boy did the people look they were enjoying their food. Massive portions of dosa were being brought out and families happily eating away. The place is also cheap, we had 3 dishes on a saturday night for £8, £8, you cant even get to the restaurant for that in London!
Where’s the problem you ask? When we asked about the use of the chick peas the very helpful and polite server asked his boss who recommended something, they brought it and the dip had a small amount of ground chick peas and the potato curry had whole chick peas on top of it! It left me feeling horrible and I only got to eat the dry crispy dosa! I left that place hungry and annoyed that they didn’t know what was in their own food. The buffet area also seemed a bit of a mess but I didn’t try that.
I wish I could give this place more stars, certainly the people there loved it but I can’t credit that. I can see why the chain has expanded so quickly but the place needs to know whats in its food and have better presentation, in other words great start but pull your socks up!