Indian Street Food: Rava Onion Masala Dosa, Gobi Manchurian and Naan

In my last review for Chhauka, I mentioned that my favorite Indian joint in South Florida is, “a hole in the wall…with Bollywood movies blaring on the TV (and) technicolor images of Ganesh emblazoned on the wall.”

Well, my favorite Indian joint in North Florida is Indian Street Food, a hole in the wall with World Cup highlights playing on the television and a plastic mango plant in the corner.

If there’s two things Indians do well, it’s education and spicy food so it makes sense that the home of the University of Florida would have a strong Indian food game.

A shatter-crisp Rava Onion Masala Dosa flanked by a lineup of house-made chutneys and sambhar.

The Indo-Chinese favorite: crispy, sweet, and spicy Gobi Manchurian.

Pillowy, soft, and beautifully charred—easily some of the best butter naan I’ve ever tasted.

The Spot: Indian Street Food

• Location: 3550 SW 34th St Ste M Gainesville, FL 32608

• Vibe: No-frills, clean, simple, and anchored right next to an Indian grocery store.

 

The Bite: Rava Onion Masala Dosa, Gobi Manchurian and Naan

• Price:

  • Rava Onion Masala Dosa: $13.99

  • Gobi Manchurian: $13.99

  • Butter Naan: $2.99

• Vegetarian Status: All are vegetarian. Rava Dosa might be vegan but they might use yogurt in the batter. Check to make sure.

The Flavor Breakdown

A majority of Indian restaurants specialize in North Indian food - indulgent curries like kormas, butter chicken and malai kofta, tandoori chicken and dum biriyani. I love this food but when I go to a restaurant featuring in South Indian classics like dosa, idli, uttapam and medhu vada - I get really excited,

As I get older, my palate has really started to crave these specific South Indian flavor profiles: fermented rice batters, fresh curry leaves, tangy tamarind, coconut, mustard seeds, and best of all, fiery green chilis.

The baseline flavor profile at Indian Street Food is well-spiced. This is what I consider a true "mild-to-medium" baseline for heat. It’s an excellent foundation, though most people, including my dad, would consider it spicy. He commented on this multiple times.

Rava dosa are my favorite - thin, shatter-crisp and lacy, these crepes are made of rice flour, plain flour and semolina and I always get mine with lots of onions, green chilis and cilantro. You also have the option of getting them plain, but why would you?

Indian Street Food's version is perfect: golden brown, crunchy, spicy and stuffed with the exact right ratio of “masala” (the soft, spiced mashed potato curry hidden inside). This curry is pale yellow due to the turmeric and smooth but it retains a few potato chunks which alongside a scattering of peanuts in the mix is an unexpected and highly welcome texture upgrade.

The dosa is served with a variety of chutneys - coconut (fantastic), tomato (good) and peanut (amazing - like, put every peanut sauce I’ve ever had to shame level of good) as well a small bowl of sambhar - a spicy vegetable soup spiked with tamarind.

Sambhar usually serves a dipping function in my life but this was so good, I drank the entire bowl.

No, I didn’t go to finishing school. Why do you ask?

The gobi manchurian - a family favorite - was spicy, crisp and well-seasoned. Would it have been better with peppers and onions? Yes, but life is better with peppers and onions. Just ask any Italian-American in South Philly.

The naan might have been the best I’ve ever had - pillowy and soft, it was beautifully charred on the bottom, generously slathered with salted butter and the perfect accompaniment to my son’s butter chicken (the sauce was sweet and rich, so the kid loved it).

We also ordered the idli and sambhar (soft and fluffy with the same spicy sambhar. Excellent comfort food), the vegetable uttapam (basically a larger idli topped with veggies and served with the same chutneys and sambhar I mentioned before) and the pav bhaji (spicy, smooth and laden with garam masala with a soft, fresh bun).

Everything was delicious.

The Beverages: Water

• Price: $0

I stuck to water but Indian Street Food serves beer and wine. Yes, they have Kingfisher.

One Mouthy Sandwich Girl Rating:

• Flavor & Freshness:

  • 🥪 🥪 🥪 🥪 🥪 - Rava Onion Masala Dosa

  • 🥪 🥪 🥪 🥪 - Gobi Manchurian (missing a star solely because I really like onions and peppers in this dish)

  • 🥪 🥪 🥪 🥪 🥪 - Butter Naan

  • 🥪 🥪 🥪 🥪 ½ - Average Rating

• Value for Buck:

  • 🥪 🥪 🥪 🥪 🥪

  • My entire meal was $30 which is basically what one dish costs at Chhauka. Yes, I recognize Gainesville is a college town and West Palm Beach suffers from a wildly inflated cost of living, but the value here is undeniable.

• Vegetarian Variety:

  • 🥪 🥪 🥪 🥪 🥪

  • My family - lifelong vegetarians (barring my carnivorous son and my sister’s partner) - were able to eat like the displaced rajas and ranis we are. Every item we ordered was authentic and authentically delicious.

• The Verdict:

  • 🥪 🥪 🥪 🥪 🥪

  • Is this my favorite restautant in Gainesville? I think it might just be. It’s simple, honest and well-seasoned food. The service is fast and friendly and the dishes fly out of the kitchen the second they hit the line. From here on out, I’m stopping at Indian Street Food every single time I find myself in Alachua County.

    Go Gators, and go to this joint.