Kammadhenu, Newtown

Gobi pakoda $7

After a day out traipsing on a Newtown food tour, a late lunch was clearly in order. A trail of cheeky comments on the post pondered why we didn't eat at one of 123,894 Thai restaurants along King Street. But why would you when you can have dosai and deep-fried cauliflower.

There are two outlets of Kammadhenu in Newtown - the King St south branch is closed so we walk up to the one on King St north. The menu is a mix of Malaysian, South Indian and Sri Lankan cuisine.

It's a democratic system of ordering items to share, and I put dibs in on the gobi pakoda. If a vegetable was made to be battered and deep-fried, it's cauliflower, the florets coated in a chick pea flour batter aromatic with cumin. It's on the dry side of crunchy which makes it ideal for dipping into the accompanying chilli sauce.

Meat masala dosai $9

Dosai are a South Indian flat rice pancake made with fermented batter. Their impressive size always creates a buzz of excitement when they arrive at the table, and the crispy edges contrast with the pale underside, and the filling within. A trio of sauces in the silver thali offer a myriad of dipping combinations.

Filling inside the meat masala dosai

We share a meat version - chunks of lamb mixed with soft cubes of potatoes - as well as a cheese version.

Cheese masala dosai $10

The cheese masala dosai is a softer crepe filled with spicy potato and lashings of molten cheese.

Filling inside the cheese masala dosai

Green chilli sauce

Goat saag $14.90

Goat saag is fragrant with spices and has a backburn of heat that steadily creeps up on you. The inclusion of spinach helps lighten the dish, and the goat meat is tender and falls off the bone. I hit the jackpot when I find the bone with nooks and crannies of gelatinous tendons.

Eggplant salad $11.90

Our tingling taste buds are offered some relief with the eggplant salad, a mix of fried eggplant, cucumber and tomatoes in a cooling yoghurt and coriander sauce.

Egg hopper $3

We finish with hoppers - the name alone gives an indication of how much fun they are. Hoppers are a lattice-like crepe cooked into a rounded hopper pan so they form a bowl shape. They can be served plain or with milk, but the egg hopper is one of the most popular variations, fried sunny-side up in the middle.

Hoppers are made from coconut milk, rice flour and yeast and are usually eaten for breakfast or dinner by Sri Lankans.

String hopper $6

We finish with string hoppers, a lacy pancake of steamed thin rice noodles that is best torn apart and eaten with fingers. We tear off small pieces and top with a generous scoop of dry Maldive fish, coconut, onion and chilli pol sambol before dipping it into the sothi, a pale yellow sauce of coconut milk flavoured with onion, saffron, garlic and curry leaves.

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Kammadhenu

171 King Street, Newtown, Sydney

Tel: +61 (02) 9550 2611

Opening hours:

Open 7 days 11.30am - 9.30pm

Also open at

Kammadhenu (King Street South)

377 King Street, Newtown, Sydney

Tel: +61 (02) 9557 2186

Opening hours:

Open 7 days 12pm-2.30pm and 6pm-9.30pm

Kammadhenu Neutral Bay

12 Waters Road, Neutral Bay, Sydney

Tel: +61 (02) 9953 9999

Opening hours

7 days 11am - 9.30pm

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Kammadhenu, Newtown (Mar11)

Newtown food tour

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Indian - Abhi's, North Strathfield
Indian - Aki's, Woolloomooloo

Indian - Maya Masala

Pakistani - Faheem Fast Food, Enmore
Sri Lankan - Janani, Homebush