For a city devoted to food, Delhi’s idea of South Indian cuisine still often circles back to dosa, idli and filter coffee. Inside the earthy brown interiors of Nadoo, however, South Indian food is finally being allowed to stretch out a little.
‘Nadoo’, which means homeland in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada, is chartered accountant-turned-self-taught chef Shri Bala’s entry into fine dining after almost 10 years of pop-ups and professional cooking. Alongside Bala, Nadoo is run by restaurateur Sahil Sambhi, of Japonico and Vietnom fame, for whom the venture is also an homage to his late Tam-Brahm mother.
“My mission was to say South is just not idli and dosa,” Bala says. “If you take Telangana, idli and dosa are not their staple. Sarvapindi, dibba roti, punugulu—those are their staples. Karnataka itself has five different languages. It is so vast that you cannot box it into one.” Over the years, Bala travelled extensively across the region collecting recipes directly from home kitchens. She visited Bhimavaram and Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, Chitradurga, Shimoga, Mysore and Coorg in Karnataka, and Malappuram in Kerala, among other places.
The menu is built around that idea of multiplicity. Try the classic pillowy-spicy mini podi idli, served with Beluga caviar on request, the Tamil style sundal-inspired Kala Ghoda Hummus with chickpea, coconut and salsa on fried parotta, or the Kerala-style motta puffs.
Seafood is perhaps where Bala’s cooking feels most personal. “For me, seafood is the hero,” she says. “Rather than mutton or chicken, where masalas are the king, with seafood, I always believe in one principle—less is more.”
The Kuttanadan fish curry with smoked kudampuli (Malabar tamarind) and mango is among the dishes she recommends, alongside the curry leaf lobster inspired by Tamil cooking traditions. There is also a green chilli chicken with pav, inspired by Nellore, where meat is steamed in banana leaf and tossed in green chilli paste.
Coming from a vegetarian household in Tamil Nadu, there are family influences on the menu too. “The rasams, the sambhars, the idlis, the dosas — all of it is from my mother,” Bala says. Rasam occupies a central place at Nadoo.
The drinks menu, too, has more than just filter coffee. Nadoo has a dedicated kaapi bar, where different styles of South Indian coffee take centre stage, alongside cocktails that fuse tequila with brine and spicy chilli pickle, or a Kerala-style payasam cocktail with rum, cardamom and vermicelli.
Desserts are equally inventive, drawing from Sri Lankan traditions and bakery cultures from the south. A good bet is the Pol Roti Tres Leche, a softer, dessert-like version of the coconut pancake, a Sri Lankan breakfast staple. The VV Puram Obbattu brings together puran poli, also known as holige in Kannada, with dal payasam and banana caramel. Or, to keep things spicy, there is even an idli churros infused with kandari chilli, inspired by Bala’s meeting with Gordon Ramsay in Kerala in 2020 for the series Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted.
At Masjid Moth, E5, Greater Kailash llI, Savitri Cinema Main Road, New Delhi. A meal for two without alcohol costs ₹3,000.