In a nutshell:

A small, neat & clean, good ambience, good service, Andhra style South Indian Vegetarian Eatery that filled a void in Gurgaon – of eateries that serve YUMM South Indian Veg food.

Address & other details: Madhuban

Meal for 2: Rs. 400 onwards

Cuisine type : Vegetarian

Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everything & give a honest account of the same to you.

Short Description – In case u r in a Hurry:

As we entered the lift area of the strange mall in which this restaurant is located, we saw huge posters of this restaurant. Once out of the lift, there were no signboards though. After walking around the open balcony of the mall we reached the restaurant in some time.

It was a small restaurant but very well maintained. It had Nice wooden furniture & one cud see the attention to detail. The menu card was not too long & had quite a few ‘I am different, pick me up’ items in addition to the usual idly, vada, dosa fare.

The staff members were pretty knowledgeable about the food they were serving.

Food here tasted ‘much better than good’ in general & gave me a sigh of relief – Unlike in the past, if I am ‘medu vada hungry’ in Gurgaon, I will not have to drive all the way to Saravana Bhawan in CP. A trip to Madhuvan or the not so old Vanakkam will be able to take care of my cravings. Thankfully these new restaurants r way better & authentic as compared to the likes of older restaurants like Naivedyam & Sagar Ratna.

Detailed Description – In case u have the time to njoy reading:

We started our meal with Papad Gunpowder – ‘Papad sprinkled with Gunpowder made from fresh spices’. Plain fried papad. Gunpowder was not hot but chatpata & enjoyable. Papad was the normal plain papad that is usually served with rasam. Overall it was Good but not great. I wud give this a 3/5.

For main course we ordered Madhuban special home style thick dosa – It was made with a good batter that had mild fermented feel to it. The thick dosa was slightly crispy on the outside & soft within. The thickness of the dosa was more than the usual dosa that we see in eateries all around but less than thickness of utthapam. We said we want to buy ‘aloo masala filling’ to go with the dosa. We were served a very good Aloo ‘masala’ in a small steel bowl & they said ‘it is too small an item to charge money’. Loved the dosa as it is. I give this 4.25/5.

The aloo masala was very good as well. Just the right texture, good seasoning & everything perfect. I give this a 4.25/5.

The Sambhar was better & less tomatoee than at most eateries in Gurgaon. Only the sambhar at Vanakkam seemed to be more ‘home style’ than the one at Madhuban. Sambhar gets a 4/5.

The white Chutney was good to taste but suboptimal in texture. The coconut used was either dry or just the scraping was used post extraction of coconut milk. Result – Everytime the chutney entered the mouth, it left a grainy sediment. I wud give this not more than 3/5.

Red Chutney was good unlike the ones at Naivedyam which is inedible to the extent that I will not have it even if I am paid to eat it. Red chutney at Madhuban gets a 3.5/5.

Post this we had Pesarattu upma (also called MLA pesarattu ) – pesarattu served with upma as a filling , served with ginger chutney.
For the uninitiated, Pesarattu is a crepe-like bread unique to Telugu cuisine that is similar to dosa. It is made with batter of green gram (moong dal), but unlike a dosa, it does not contain urad dal. A variety of pesarattu served with upma is known as MLA pesarattu, which came to be known after it was popular in MLA quarters restaurants in Hyderabad. Upma pesarattu is a favourite in coastal Andhra region.

I have had many a pesarattu at friend’s homes & this one was as good as those but not better. The upma was very nicely made – perfect seasoning, balance of flavours & taste. Combined together they tasted nice. I wud give this a 4/5.

The ginger chutney served with MLA pesarattu was awesome. We licked it off the bowl till the last drop – strong flavour of ginger amidst different flavours emerging from other ingredients. I wud give this a 4.75/5.

South Indian filter coffee – The worst coffee I have had in my whole life. Made with some milk , a whole lot of water & probably few drops of coffee resulting in a pale, tasteless, ineffective cup of coffee that simply disgusted me. /It does not deserve anything more than 1/5.

For Dessert, we chose the dessert of the day – carrot payasam. Menu card said ‘ All desserts are made from pure cow ghee’. The carrot payasam was not thick like the other carrot dessert we are used to eating in North India. It was of thick liquid texture with finely grated carrots in it. Did not look promising but tasted too good. Large pieces of cashew nuts added to the taste & added a different dimension to the texture. Loved this dish & hence give it a 4.5/5.

Overall the rating of food at Madhuban adds up to 3.6/5 (simple average). Sans the coffee the food average adds up to 3.9/5.

I wud surely go back here again & try out the numerous promising items in their menu, but will never dare to have the coffee.