Benne to open soon in Chowpatty; Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh spotted at trials for friends and family

Among those spotted at the Chowpatty outlet on Wednesday afternoon were actors Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh, who had also visited the Bandra outlet shortly after its launch. If you remember, a photo of a pregnant Padukone — a Bangalorean herself — with Singh and exiting Bandra outpost had gone viral at the time.

Benne was born out of a simple craving. Iyer, founder-producer of The Artist Collective, and Narayan, a psychologist, found themselves missing authentic Bangalore-style benne dosa in Mumbai. So they decided to make it themselves.

“I learnt the art of making dosa from a master who runs a successful thela on Avenue Road in Bangalore,” Iyer had told us earlier, adding that his observations and attempts to get the details right helped shape Benne.

“I learnt the art of making dosa from a master who runs a successful thela on Avenue Road in Bangalore,” Iyer had told (Express Photo by Aakash Patil)

After two months of trials, the brand launched in May 2024 as a compact darshini-style space — a quick-service neighbourhood format serving fresh, hot food made right in front of customers.

“What I am offering is a Bangalore-style benne dosa that is crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, with a golden-brown finish,” said Iyer, who is often seen manning the griddle himself, and rejecting dosas that don’t meet his standards.

On Wednesday afternoon, we saw him set aside dozens of dosas during trials. “We are striving to achieve that perfect balance between crispiness and softness — where the batter is well-fermented without a sour aftertaste,” Narayan explained.

LPG crisis has hit them hard

Benne is not immune to the ongoing LPG crisis. In an Instagram post on Monday, the brand informed customers that it was unable to serve benne dosa at its Bandra outlet.

Speaking about the disruption, Iyer said the shortage has hit operations hard. “There’s a lot of uncertainty more than anything else. We have a short supply, and the most troublesome part is that we’re not able to serve the main thing we want to — the benne dose. What is nerve-wracking is that we don’t even know when this will be resolved,” he said.
The team has attempted workarounds, but with limited success. “We tried alternatives like electric fryers and induction, which work for other items, but we haven’t found a substitute that works for the dosa yet. That’s the biggest concern.”

At the Bandra outlet, the availability of benne dosa has been inconsistent, depending on whether cylinders can be sourced on a given day. In Juhu, operations continue at a reduced capacity, with only one of two tawas in use. The Delhi outlet has access to a gas pipeline.

The crisis has also complicated the brand’s upcoming Chowpatty launch, which is tentatively slated to open on Friday. “We’re constantly debating whether we should open at all if we can’t secure a steady gas supply. We’ll have to see how it pans out. Hopefully, we get enough supply to open and run consistently,” Iyer added.