
As restaurants in Chennai compete to attract young couples with special offers and discounts ahead of Valentine’s Day, a popular eatery in the capital is vying for the attention of ‘singles’ with charcoal flavoured dosa.
Adayar Ananda Bhavan (A2B), one of the leading restaurant chains in India, has come up with the idea of ‘Charcoal Dosa’, or ‘Singles Dosa’, exclusively for this year’s Valentine’s Day. All A2B’s outlets in the city have been decorated with black balloons and the waiters sported black t-shirts with ‘Singles Dosa’ written on them. According to the management, the black color theme implies ‘Singles’.
Speaking to Indianexpress.com, the Supervisor of A2B’s Chrompet branch Prem said all the major A2B outlets in the city will be running this campaign till February 16. “The plan was to surprise our customers on Valentine’s week. This is a new concept in our city; the customers are excited to try out a new dish. The campaign is dedicated to ‘Singles’ around the city but that doesn’t restrict others from trying our dish. Our management had come up with this idea which is new and also healthy,” he said.

The special dosa, according to the restaurant, is made by mixing charcoal powder with dosa batter. After the batter turns black, it is spread on a hot tawa with a generous amount of ghee. The dosa is then served to the customers with tangy Kodhi chutney.

Though the outlet’s chef is reluctant to disclose the full recipe, he says the charcoal powder is prepared by heating a coconut shell, which is grounded and mixed with water and other ingredients. “Charcoal Dosa is highly beneficial for health. People can eat this without any fear once or twice a month. It helps to detox the toxins in the body, and reduce the cholesterol level,” one of the waiters at the outlet claimed.
The exclusive dish is available throughout the Valentine’s week (Feb 10 – Feb 16) at major A2B outlets in the city.