YOU would keep going back to MTR 1924 once you have eaten its dosa, or thosai as we call it here. No restaurant does it as exceptionally well as MTR, the newest outlet of a highly regarded chain of dosa restaurants from Bangalore, South India.

I have been there four times since I heard of its opening in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, last year.

Until MTR came along, who has had a dosa neatly folded in a triangle and served with a little tub of hot ghee to be poured over? One bite of this hot, crispy, buttery dosa, served with a green chilli chutney and tomato-based lentil sambar, and you are hooked.

Our most recent visit was on the first day of Chinese New Year. Traditionally, it’s a no-meat day for Chinese, and coincidentally, we were at MTR, which is a vegetarian restaurant.

The waiter wished us Happy Chinese New Year and served us Kesari Bhath, a saffron-tinged pudding made with dry roasted semolina, vermicelli, ghee, cashew nuts and raisins. It’s lightly sweet and creamy, with the lovely aroma of ghee and rosewater.

We moved on to Bisi Bele Bhath, a small dish of rice with lentils cooked with spices, curry leaves, long beans and tamarind pulp, and served with raitha. I get a mouthful of spicy plump lentils mixed with rice in a creamy porridge a little tart with tamarind. I stir in the raitha, and it gets infused with a little sweetness and mellows down. This is so delicious.

The Masala Dosa parades a crispy dosa made with fermented rice and black gram. It is filled with spiced potatoes, and served with green chutney and lentil sambar. We drizzle hot ghee over it, cut into the crispy dosa, and enjoy its light tartness embraced by the ghee and soft, spiced potato filling.

The Pudi Dosa introduced us to a different dosa, almost like a soft, spongy apam. It looks so inviting, with turmeric-based chutney sprinkled all over, and finished with a heap of spiced potatoes. I taste a little of the chutney powder: flavourful and texturally resembling chicken floss, like on those chicken floss buns you find at certain bakeries.

The Pudi Dosa was complemented with chutney and lentil sambar. I like this dosa a lot, especially its spongy texture with the spicy lift of chutney powder.

There is the Ragi Dosa, made with millet flour flavoured with curry leaves and cumin seeds. It is dotted with onions, and is delightfully crunchy and tasty. You can even eat it on its own, without the ragu (mixed vegetables) and sambar served with it. Millet is grown in Bangalore, which does not have a lot of rain.

The Rava Idli came about during World War II, when rice was in short supply, and MTR’s founder, Yagnanarayana, created a different idli with semolina flour. We gleefully tipped over the tub of hot ghee over this scrumptious steamed semolina cake made with yoghurt, coriander, cashew nuts, curry leaves and mustard seeds. It comes with chutney and potato sagu, but I like it just as it is.

I fell in love with the Uddin Vada (or vadai) on my first visit to MTR. What we usually get is always dry and hard with lentils, but the Uddin Vada, or fried lentil doughnut, is crunchy at first bite, before sinking into a light, cottony inside. Flavourful and simply lovely. It’s the lightest vadai I’ve ever had.

It’s the best vada at all MTR outlets, even the ones in Bangalore, said Adarsh Srinivas, one of the partners of Culin Ventures Sdn Bhd, which launched MTR in Malaysia. He can’t explain it.

MTR (originally Mavalli Tiffin Room) was started in Bangalore in 1924. Besides India, and now, Malaysia, it has outlets in Dubai and Singapore, too. The cooks are from Bangalore, trained for at least seven years there before they are sent to work elsewhere. The spice blends, ghee, gram and rice flour mixes come from Bangalore, while the pulses, grains and vegetables are locally sourced.

The prices: Plain Dosa is RM8, Ragi Dosa (RM9), Masala Dosa (RM12), Pudi Dosa and Rava Dosa (RM11), Rava Idly (RM8), Uddin Vada (RM7), Bisi Bele Bhath (RM9.50) and Kesari Bhath (RM6).

MTR has mini meals on its menu, too, ranging from RM13 to RM19.

MTR is located at No. 69, Jalan Thambipillay, Brickfields, 50470, Kuala Lumpur. It can be reached at 03-2276-4924, and is open daily. – February 9, 2019.

* Eu Hooi-Khaw has been writing about food for the longest time, covering all aspects, from restaurant reviews to cooking and recipes, as well as the healthy side of it. She has written for major newspapers and magazines, published the cookbook Fresh Ingredients, and also writes for her website hooikhawandsu.com.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.