On this week’s edition of Cheap Eats on Dubai92, Arva shared one of one of the oldest — if not THE oldest — South Indian veggie restaurants in the country.
What’s This Week’s Cheap Eat?
Every week our founder Arva Ahmed goes on air on one of our favourite local radio stations, Dubai92, to share the best food in Dubai or the neighboring Emirates that’s also incredibly cheap!
This week the spotlight was on Woodlands Restaurant which is a household name in Karama. They’ve stayed true to the same Udipi style menu for over 40 years. We love their crunchy vadas and huge 15.75 dirham paper roast dosa (no masala). But what seals the deal every time is their sambar.
Here’s Woodlands’ location on Google maps.
Also if you love a good podcast, give this one a listen — it’s an interview with the humble Woodlands owner, how he set up the restaurant and how every single day, his wife gets all their meals from the restaurant! Here is the link: https://amaeya.media/
What Their Paper Dosa Looks Like
Here’s a quick Instagram reel showcasing their gigantic paper dosa.
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Tune In
Tune in to the segment on Dubai92’s Instagram account or check out the transcript below.
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Transcript
Arva:
Right. So for this week, we are gonna rewind about 40 years to one of the old timer South Indian spots in Karama. I think it might have actually been one of the first to spread a dosa in that community, which now has a dosa spot at every corner.
But these guys have kept up the same spirit, the same flavor, literally the same menu for ever. Woodlands, And they do Udipi food. All right. So honestly it’s the, the what seals the deal is their sambar. So anything that you order, as long as it has sambar, you are set. Sambar is basically their it’s, it’s these soupy lentils and these guys are probably grinding their masalas for the sambar fresh. So it has that very home style feel to it. It’s delicious. You can get anything from their 8 dirham medu vadas, which are basically like these crunchy donut shaped fritters, and you can dunk those in the sambar.
Or you can get this about 16 dirham four foot long paper dosa. If you’re getting it with the masala, which is tthe potato filling, make sure you ask for the potato filling on the outside, on the side because it is sacrilege to mess with the crispiness of a dosa. But yeah, between, we’re looking at, you know, for a dish, it’s between 8 to around 16 dirhams. You should finish it off with a 5 dirham filter coffee because that’s just how people endtheir meal, and you will walk out a very happy bunny.
Jono:
Great tip this morning.
Arva Ahmed is the co-founder of Frying Pan Adventures, Dubai’s first food tour company, and a celebrated food explorer known for uncovering Dubai’s hidden culinary gems. Her expertise in the city’s diverse food scene has been featured in prominent publications such as CNN, Khaleej Times, BBC Travel, The Sun, The Independent and countless more. She also hosts Ditch the Silver on YouTube. Through her immersive tours and storytelling, Arva brings Dubai’s rich flavors and vibrant cultures to life.
