This all-vegetarian menu is based on Udupi cuisine, a wholesome, healthy, South Indian style. Aficionados tend to judge an Udupi restaurant on the following: dosa – thin, filled crepes; idli – steamed, savoury cakes made from fermented rice batter and lentils; and sambar – spiced lentil gravy.

Sri Ananda Bhavan excels on all counts. You can have your dosa folded around spiced potatoes, onions, chilli paste or curry leaves. It might be drizzled with ghee or sprinkled with podi, a spice and pulse powder. The most important accompaniment is the sambar. Based on toor dal, a yellow lentil, it’s soured with tamarind, sweetened with shallots and sugar, and balanced with house-roasted spices.

Tear the dosa, dip it in sambar and enjoy the subtle kick, the crunch softening into soupiness. End with pineapple kesari: semolina pudding studded with cashews and raisins, and glossed up with house-made ghee.

Good to know: The owners are obsessed with proper Chennai-style filter coffee, served hot, strong and foaming.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.