When my cousins and I, a group of 15 youngsters, started planning a trip to Coorg, the first thing we were told is, “Don’t forget to try the pork.” We didn’t need to be told twice, and the search for Pandi curry began the minute we reached there and it was as delicious as promised.

However, it was a much simpler dish which was the highlight of our trip to the beautiful hill town. On our first day there, we walked down the road to find breakfast and stumbled upon a tiny hotel, barely big enough for all of us to squeeze in. Two other customers sniggered as we debated who should eat first and who could wait. Before we reached a consensus, the owner of the place came charging in and asked us, in broken Tamil, to follow him.

Right next to the entrance was a stairway leading downwards – apprehensively, we followed. Much to our surprise, it led to a spacious seating area where all of us could eat at the same time. It was just off the kitchen and provided some much-needed warmth from the incessant rain.

And so we ordered: pooris, idlis, dosas and pongal. All of us ordered vadais on the side. We were served the vadais first, on steel plates with a spoonful of spicy sambhar ladled on top of it and coconut chutney on the side.

Although we’re from the land famous for vadais, we agreed that it was the best we have ever had. They were straight out of the frying pan, but were not oily. Biting into them, there was an audible crunch; they were that crisp. Flavour-wise, they were delicious, without the pesky bits of garlic and chilli. I can’t recall eating a vadai that good in any of the famous “bhavans”.

We ordered another round of vadais and not surprisingly, we ate there every morning for the rest of the trip.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Susanna Myrtle Lazarus / August 08th, 2014