Sankalp's South Indian cuisine a delicious surprise
Here's a relatively novel concept: a 90-store, globally present South Indian food chain with restaurants around the world and two locally — Mount Prospect and Schaumburg.
Sankalp is definitely worth a try.
Since South Indian cuisine is largely vegetarian, and because of the super hot climate of the locale, the cuisine has as its fulcrum not na'an bread and tandoori ovens, but spongy, absorbent rice and lentil cakes in numerous iterations, along with lots of seafood. The bread, like large crepes, is meant to be used in lieu of silverware. Worry not, however, silverware is provided alongside these delicious cakes at the Mount Prospect strip mall location.
Nearly every neighboring table was filled with natives of India, all partaking in the dizzying variations of dosaz — a very popular iteration of which seemed to be the large and tubular rice and lentil cakes, caramelized and crispy.
Aside from dosaz, the menu is divided into different types of similar crepe-like staples: uthappas (open-faced fermented lentil pancakes), ravas (cream of wheat pancakes), vadas (fried lentil doughnuts), idli stall (steamed rice cakes), as well as a handful of curries. Each of these pancake groupings is filled out with numerous flavorings, fillings and toppings, each more colorful than the next. One uthappa boasts tiny prawns in Malabari spices, another pineapple. Ravas come with grated carrot or fresh coconut, among other options. Vadas can be sweet (dipped in sweet yogurt) or savory (dipped in soup).
Everything's just a little bit different from what you might expect — even the papadum amuse comes adorned with chopped tomatoes and onions and a generous powdering of chili powder.
A yogurt and cucumber drink — Neermor — is infused with a good amount of cumin. For anyone who's never tried such a combination, it's delicious.
Other drinks include super-sweet creations like a blue sea surfer, made with fizzy Curacao and vanilla ice cream, and another blended yogurt drink — lassi — served sweet.
Starting with Nilgiri rice cakes — fluffy medallions turned green from the mint they were tossed in, along with a good dose of chili peppers to kick up the flavor — we moved on to the chef's special Indian bhaji dosa: two large crepes rolled with vegetables, flattened and cut diagonally in two. Both of these came with a duo of tasty bowls of curry-tinged sauces for dipping.
We moved into meatier territory with the entrees. The outstanding Malabari prawn biryani (which tasted even better the next day!) offered generous offerings of plump shrimp folded inside basmati rice. It was superbly flavored by aromatic turmeric, chili and coriander, and also came with a side of curry sauce.
An even meatier selection came with the gosht palak kesari — a deeply dark green creamed spinach gravy that engulfed chunks of lamb.
Dessert offerings were surprisingly modest considering the famous sweet tooth of Indian cuisine, and included the curious presence of a sizzling brownie with ice cream. But an old standby proved addictively satisfying: the traditional South Indian suji halwa of grated carrots bathed in sugar and studded with cashew halves.
Sankalp
1014 S. Elmhurst Road, Mount Prospect, (224) 735-3427, <a href="http://sankalpchicago.tk">sankalpchicago.tk</a>
<b>Cuisine: </b>South Indian
<b>Setting: </b>Carpeted strip mall location
<b>Hours: </b>11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday
<b>Entrees: </b>$4.75 to $14