Sheetal Refreshment — Restaurant in Maharashtra

Sheetal Refreshment – A Nostalgic Morning Visit

Sheetal Refreshment was one of the few South Indian hotels I used to visit way back in the late 1990s for authentic South Indian fare, anytime of the day, whether on Thursday mornings or weekday evenings. Evenings back then used to be quite crowded. For Chinchwad East residents, this was, and perhaps still is, one of the best choices for vegetarian food.

Like most South Indian restaurants, they have since graduated to offering North Indian cuisines. However, my choice that day was very clear, my perennial favourite Masala Dosa. My daughter wanted Misal Pav, which of course was not available. After a long scrutiny of the menu, she picked Dahi Vada.

I requested a crispy brown dosa, and that is exactly what they served within a few minutes. Fork and spoon are things we borrowed from Western manners, but not every Indian food can be eaten with those refined pieces of cutlery. Onion Uttapam, perhaps yes. But Masala Dosa, especially a crispy one? Very unlikely.

Some eateries do manage to prepare a dosa with a crispy layer yet enough elasticity to be picked with a fork. Sheetal’s chefs managed this balancing act beautifully. The potato masala was not a semi-liquid, runny mess like many others serve, but a proper solid filling that could be comfortably picked with a fork and had a good bite.

The first step, of course, was to fold the dosa extending beyond the plate back within its diameter, else there was a clear danger of it touching the table. With Paper Dosa, this risk multiplies many times. Once that was taken care of, came the real joy, cutting a small piece of dosa, picking up a bit of potato, dipping it in chutney, and devouring it. The dosa was perfectly crisp, the potato mildly spiced, and the coconut chutney fresh and delicious.

Next came the sambhar. Sambhar is the ultimate litmus test for any South Indian restaurant. The flavours, spice levels, warmth, and unmistakable taste of moringa, pumpkin, and occasionally eggplant must come together to create a worthy accompaniment. Here, the sambhar did its job well. While dosa may shine even with just chutney, idli and wada can never be complete without sambhar.

I was visiting almost after a decade and a half, yet some flavours, aromas, and textures leave an indelible impression on your taste buds. I could still relate to the sambhar. The chutney was not particularly distinctive, but the dosa stole my attention, satisfied my hunger, and won my appreciation.

Soon, my daughter asked for a bite, and ended up finishing the whole dosa. Her Dahi Vada was good too, fluffy wada with sweet curd, something very few get wrong and a perfect dish for summers.

We also tried a Nescafé, which turned out more like a latte with a sugar shot. The coffee flavour was there, but it lacked the strong taste and the wafting aroma. Passable.

The rates are still reasonable. The décor is decent, the restaurant clean, and tables well maintained. The waiters were prompt in taking orders and serving.

As I sat there, a flood of nostalgic memories came rushing back. Some of my early friends and colleagues with whom I frequented this place have since moved on, some to different companies, some to different cities. I did the same. There is something about the 1990s that still opens the floodgates of happier, more exciting times. The youth of 29 certainly has far more energy than the youth of 57. Time flies, and with it, sometimes, some good memories too.

A good start to...

They say a man’s heart is through their stomach. This is very true for Sheetal restaurant in general as it wins everybody’s heart who goes there. We were in Pune for a day recently and had came here for lunch. We were 10 of us and had ordered Punjabi food and also the farari food as some were fasting that day. The good was amazing to say the least and we were truly taken back by the quality. We enjoyed the original taste of Punjabi food after a long time and the fasting food too was simply delicious. Food was very delectable and we had a very good time. What we were equally impressed was the service of the staff there who always had a smile and very courteous. The people in-charge are very humble and loving. The restaurant has been refurbished recently and the ambience and interior was very nice. We would really recommend this restaurant to everyone who want to have a good meal laced with excellent service and ambience!! Keep up the good work @Viren Shetty...

My mother and I were in Chinchwad after almost 20 years. Sheetal Refreshment was our favourite restaurant to go to, back in the 90s. We reached the restaurant after a couple of wrong turns as the place looks totally different. Having found the restaurant we were both nostalgic. (6:30pm) We headed to the wash basin, one of the waiters was using the basin. We waited, the guy looked at us and he continued to comb his hair for half a minute more. We found that weird. We were desperate for tea as it was a hectic day. We asked for Sev Puri, the waiter responded in passing "nahi hai" and just walked away. Then called for Masala dosa and tea. And you-know-what? The waiter said tea coffee nahi hai. Which restaurant doesn't serve tea coffee?? Lousy and rude staff. We got up and left. On my way out I looked at the signage just to confirm if its a restaurant at all. Never going there again. Zero stars for our weird and...