Santosham - Chandivali

I used to see this restaurant listed on Swiggy, and noted the high rating. I never bothered ordering from there as I felt that high ratings of new restaurants are not to be trusted. It was when a colleague at work, one who has a good taste in food, recommended this place that I decided to check it out. The reviews on Google praised the restaurant's thali, idli, and dosa. It was the evening of March 3, 2024, when I decided to check out the restaurant. Given the time of the day. thali was out of the picture, idli and dosa it was.

It is probably because of the time of the day, as I found myself to be the only person inside at 5p.m. on a Sunday. The place was small, with seating for around 25 people. I ordered the ghee podi idli, and the Santosham special masala dosa. While I waited for my food, I looked around the place. The yellow lighting along with the light brown coloured interiors and furniture was tastefully done. The irritating part was the presence of mosquitoes in the restaurant, which the management has to sort out.

The ghee podi idli was 1 large idli with a diameter of around 6 inches. It was served with coconut chutney only, and the absence of sambar surprised me. I decided to go with the flow and consume as it was served. The idli was soft, the podi was tasty, and the combination with the chutney was very good. The waiter served me extra chutney as the quantity diminished, even when I did not ask for it. I would have consumed more had I known that the chutney quantity was unlimited.

The dosa was small when compared with what Thambii and other restaurants serve, but it was crispy to the point that it would hold its shape and not crumble while I scooped the masala and chutney along with it, dipped it in sambar, and consumed it. The masala was nothing to write home about, but the dosa was nice.

About an hour before deciding to go to this restaurant, I had an entire mug of coffee that I made badly, and the idea of having filter coffee did not appeal to me at that moment. I asked for the cheque, paid and left.

The food presentation was one of the best for South India food I had seen. It appears that the owners of the restaurant understood the power of social media, and ensured that the presentation was of great quality, which when paired with the lighting in the place makes for great pictures for social media. Being the type of person who like prose to express ideas and emotions, taking pictures of the food did not strike me at that moment, and the idea came to me as I was paying my bill. Probably I will be able to compress some parts of the description of the food into a picture and save myself 1000 words, but that is for next time.

I will go back to this restaurant at a later date to try out some of their other offerings, and will take guests who visit me in Mumbai and want to have South Indian food to this place.

An epilogue before I close out, I found out from the restaurant's website that it is owned by a Maharashtrian family who already own a famous South Indian restaurant in Nagpur named Shanti Bhavan.