Indian Guy's Review: South Indian Food

Indian Guy's Review: South Indian Food

Ammas Kitchen
7633 Reading Rd
Cincinnati, OH 45237
(513) 821-2021
http://www.ammaskitchen.us/


A Rock......


Good South Indian food is a staple of mine. After a long night of imbibing and buffonary, a heaping plate of steaming rava idlis, kootu, sambar and rassam do wonders for azeotrope driven hangovers this side of Bangalore. Whoever said one needs meat to feel full hasn't stuffed their faced with upma laden with ghee and cashews or a rava masala dosa and bowl after bowl of tamrind rich sambar and watery sinus draining rassam, only to have to unbutton various layers of clothing and lean back in their chair to fit in a mug of thick filter coffee.

No such satiation however is to be found at Amma's Kitchen where South Indian food is served with classic South Indian efficiency.

I arrived a little after noon, in the midst of the Saturday lunch time rush, and was promptly seated at a nearby booth by a kind old man who seemed to implicitly ask me why I wasn't yet married and he knows a nice girl in Columbus...but I digress. He seemed very nice.



A masala dosa is included with the buffet I am informed; splendid. It arrives rather quickly (a charming surprise because many Indian restaurants will tend to make you wait for such things). I grab some of each type of the red, light green (coconut/cilantro) and dark green (mint) chutneys and clumsily poke around for a fully integrated bite of dosa and potato, only to miss on my first few attempts. Peeling open the dosa I find only a few teaspoons of very lightly seasoned potato in the center. The dosa itself I realize, is clinging to the plastic plate for its dear life to the extent that I eventually have to intervene with a fork and scrape it off, like paint off an old wall.

The problem is, where ELSE am I going to get a decent dosa in any 45xxx zip code?

Earlier, I had left my idly in the sambar to let the two become friendly. A few moments later though, they were at a standoff, each braving its own territory. To the sambar-educated, this is a sign of an overly dense idli, unwilling to let another's spice soak. Sadly though, I'd rather have a passe sambar at a card-carrying South Indian restaurant over what passes for imli soaked toor dal at some of the north Indian restaurants in the area.

The bhel...not sure I even really want to go there.
Unfortunately, I did. Nuff said.

I generally like to get some fluffy upma into my system early on in the meal, but was not able to find any...but there was a tray of gobi manchurian. Now, I know we have a border issue with China in the Indian owned Aksai Chin region, but unless reports of central india's loss to the Red's have been greatly exaggerated, gobi manchurian is not south Indian fare. Id rather have my upma, thank you. But then again, it was tasty, and where else in a 20mi radius of the I-75/275 is one to find a bottomless tray of gobi manchurian?

To close the event, I ordered their madras coffee was a pleasant surprise. Warm and thick and frothy, just how it ought to be, with mild sweetness and a definite bitterness lurking in just the right proportions.

The service was consistently friendly and quick and they do seem to try hard at doing a good job.

.....A Hard Place.

And there you have it, my review of Amma's, lying somewhere between a Rock and a Hard Place. You see, as the only credible excuse for a South Indian buffet in the greater Cincinnati area my unfettered opinion would only serve to diminish its revenue stream and, as the limit of T tends to infinity, deprive me of this unindulgent indulgence. However, should I laud it with the niceties of people who have never had a proper dosa in their lives, I would only serve to promote what passed for an amalgamation of Tamilian/Kannada/Madrasi fare.

If there were a better South Indian buffet here, Id gladly pay twice the $10 charged at Amma's.
So, will I be back? Likely.
But only when I have a hangover.

The real culprit here is not Amma's - it is Capitalism, or the lack thereof. Perhaps the Reds and their commie ways have ventured further South than earlier feared.

Someone, please open up another south Indian restaurant here!! I'll even invest!