MTR 1924, Brickfields, HOW WILL I EVER GO BACK TO NORMAL DOSA (DOSAI) AGAIN AFTER THIS? (VEGETARIAN)

Sometime after Christmas 2017, but before New Year, when everyone was in a holiday mood, even on a weekday, dear friend Anand suggested we meet up, on a Friday afternoon, for lunch.  Since Mrs Sapna Anand is herself a celebrity chef with her own program on AFC, called Fast Indian Cooking With Sapna Anand, I naturally assumed that lunch was going to be a meal by her.  But a cryptic text from Anand really intrigued me, when he said, meet at the Hong Leong opposite Nusentral and we'll go from there.  My first assumption, knowing that that he is vegetarian, was that we were going to one of the nearby temples in Brickfields, so I asked if we had to wear temple appropriate garb... He said we can wear anything at all.

By the time we actually got to that rendezvous corner, I was bursting with curiosity.....  and with almost a childlike glee, Anand started telling us about this mystery place, originated in Bangalore, in 1924, used to serve Maharajahs and Viceroys on Gold and Silver plates, and I was thinking to myself, HOW is it I never have heard of such a place in KL?

Well, it turns out this Jewel of The Town (in Brickfields)  is new, and it is called MTR 1924, which stands for Mavalli Tiffin Room, hailing as I said earlier from Bangalore, which is also where Anand hails from.  So well, if a Bangalore native raves about a Bangalore restaurant here in KL, I had little doubt that we were in for something special.

AND BOY, I have hardly been to any restaurant 3 times within a span of 2 weeks.

So what took me so long to write about this?  Well, to be honest, I have a backlog of "invited reviews" and feel somewhat obligated to write those first, but I can bear it no more, and feel compelled to share the good news.

For some reason, we began with this Curd Vada, which is a yoghurty "soup" with a vada (I guess the local equivalent of Vade)....

Rava Idli.... I shan't bother with descriptions, because everything was superlative, and my vocabulary just fails me at this point.

The Thali sets come with a choice of rotis, and I chose the puri, because I lurve puri, and it was a great choice...but of course, this pales in comparison to the Dosa that was about to come.

I also won't bother describing each little bowl in the Thali, because everything is designed to complement each other, so the sum of the parts is greater than the whole kinda thing.  What we didn't realise is that it also came with rice, so for the average Malaysian eater, I think one Thali is really too much....sharing is recommended....

This was the Masala Akki Roti (a rice based roti)...

That famous food writer Lyrical Lemongrass was intruding on our table, but we allowed her ...

Vada...... You might never eat our local vada again after this....

The best Dosa this side of India I bet.... The Masala Dosa with Potato filling...with a little cup of ghee to make it even MORE decadent, and below the Plain Dosa ...

A break from the food coma for abit...

Holige, a sweet dish ...so buttery, with coconut and gula melaka ... SOOOOOOOO GOOOOD.  No wonder not all vegetarians are skinny.

Gulab Jamun, which is no stranger to us, but not all gulabs are made the same of course..Well, having said that, although the GJ was a lot more fine, it is still a bit too sweet for me.

And their filter coffee is pretty darn good too.  I was hesitant at first, because they all come with milk, and I'm more a black coffee no sugar person. But it was the perfect ending....

The coffee ended our first visit, and this is our second visit, whereby due to her incredible fame and popularity wherever she goes, Lyrical Lemongrass was given this complimentary Podi/Pudi.  It pays to eat with that woman.

We were also given this lovely sweet to sample, and I just discovered that this dish, called the Moon Garland, or Chandrahara, made from Maida flour, deep fried to perfection and topped with a thick sweet liquid made from KHOA, a dairy product widely used in the subcontinent, (I just love that word, it's so exotic, like the Far Pavilions), and served only on Sundays.  We were lucky to have sampled it.

Some carrot halwa... ah, surprisingly I didnt find THIS one too sweet. In fact, I loved it.

Joined by old friend, Hairy Berry...

...... And moving on to visit number 3.... when one of the owners of MTR with Bollywood star looks, Adarsh, happened to be there, ...my family together with the Anands had dinner there enroute to watching the Greatest Showman in Nusentral.

Here my dosa education continues, from top Benne, Millet, Buri and Set Dosa... The Millet Dosa is worthy of special mention, because it just tastes soooo healthy.  The texture is of course grainier than the usual flour one.  My favourite here is the Set Dosa...

And you know everyone is enjoying themselves when they're using their hands with gay abandon.....

Address: 69, Jalan Thambipillay, Brickfields, 50470 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur
Hours: 8AM-10PM
Phone: 03-2276 4924