When we planned the road trip, we knew there were going to be multiple stops and breaks, involving not just stretching our legs but also trying local food. The 1st few stops were the usual breakfast and chai breaks, but now as we entered Karnataka, we knew things were going to get exciting!
We’d been on the road for over 6hrs, and the town next up was Davangere [530kms from Pune]… This brought to our minds the yummy Benne dosai the town was famous for! The friend travelling with us said he knew of the place to sample these dosas and we went following Google’s directions. We had to get off the highway and into town for 15mins before we spotted the location on a street corner.
We were at Sri Guru Kottureshwara Butter Dosa Hotel. Parked the car in front of the place and hopped in to see what they had to offer. There was a hot tawa, one that can make about 6 dosas at a time, piling on the white butter and cooked over a woodfire [ traditional good old wood stove]. It was fascinating watching the man on the stove make the dosas with ease.
The menu isn’t elaborate, they had the Benne dosa and then the masala dosa. The Butter Dose had two dosas on a plate. It was served with a simple coconut chutney and potato masala. The chutney was delicious [mildly spicy] and the potato mix [potato palya] was just boiled potatoes mixed with slightly sauteed onions. The Dosa was thick, crispy around the edges and soft on the inside, You can taste the butter in every bite. The dosa batter is similar to our dosa batter with a twist – it had parboiled rice, lentils and puffed rice.
While initially, we thought we would probably share 1 dosa between the two of us, we ended up devouring the 2 that came on the plate and reached for 1 more from the friend’s plate. The only thing I wished they offered was hot coffee.
The Benne dosa is priced at Rs80 and totally worth it.
