Udupi Restaurant - Colombia Heights, MN Review

Udupi Restaurant started many years ago but was burnt to the ground. A few years later and a block or two down the street from the original, Udupi has made it's comeback. Udupi has won 'City Pages' restaurant awards several times.

100% vegetarian traditional Indian dishes from different regions of India are fresh tasting, authentic, and mouth watering. The menu can be mind boggling at first, but if you take your time to look it over and ask LOTS of questions to your waiter/ess, you can have a very memorable and delicious food experience. Waiters/waitresses are more than happy to explain what is what in lay terms and even happy to have a nice chat about India and its food and culture or whatever else might come up.

I have never had a dish at Udupi that I didn't like. Udupi's curry dishes are a favorite of mine. They have the most perfect balance of everything that goes into the dish that even curry haters have been known to be converted here to curry lovers. Regional dishes are a wonderful addition to the menu, a change from typical Indian restaurants and one of Udupi's main draws.

You can request levels of spiciness and make other special requests for your meal, or even have the chef make a dish to order if he has the time. Aside from main dishes (veggie stews, curries, etc.), there are several types of breads, beers, appetizers, drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic, traditional Indian and American), and desserts.

As far as ordering, there are a few options. You can always just order one dish for yourself which usually comes with rice or a bread for dipping, a most American way to eat at an Indian restaurant. This practice has been known to elicit an odd look on the waitperson's face.

When you are with two or three other people, its nice for each person to choose one food item, then share freely when the food comes so you can all try different foods, and  it happens to have a wonderful side effect of stimulating conversation which turns a quick American dinner into an event that lasts for a leisurely hour and a half.

Yet another option is to show up with a large group of people and order one of the selections of  a full meal, with a full five to eight courses (unsure of the exact number of different courses and how many courses in each meal, check the web for details.) This I believe is the traditional way to eat an Indian meal and also the best. It is meant to be an experience that lasts several hours and is not only a meal but entertainment for the evening. If you order a meal, you will get appetizers, soups/breads with dips, a small light dish, the main dish, one smaller dish, and a dessert course, all depending on how many courses you chose and which dishes within the courses you chose. Courses are brought out in a particular time-frame. The delivery times for food all depend on what foods you have chosen and how many courses. Sometimes gaps between heavier dishes will be longer or will be served at an average pace, but with a lighter dish before/after. It seems to me that there is an exact science behind the timing of delivering Indian food in courses, but I have yet to figure out what it is and am pretty sure it takes years of education!! It all seems rather precise, yet carried out in a leisurely and completely unhurried pace. They are meaning and hoping for you to have an entire evening experience and they have succeeded every time I have chosen a meal with several courses, and even with the other options for ordering.

A nice refreshing treat after your complete Indian dining experience is discovered as you walk pass the reception desk an see a large bowl filled to the brim with green and greenish yellow herbs/spices and dotted with multicolored bits. Take a spoonful and put it in your hand and eat. Chew, savor, and then swallow or spit it out. It is a nice blend of herbs/spices with a perfect amount of licorice mixed in to freshen your breath and it really works to get the curry flavor out of your mouth and off your breath. It does look a bit intimidating at first, and seems like the taste would be overwhelming, but it exactly the opposite. It is a perfect Indian breath freshening concoction and a nice way to end your experience.