GOOD food is something I enjoy, although just how much I enjoy it is a secret between me and the bathroom scales.

Something else I enjoy is going into a restaurant largely ignorant of its cuisine and leaving slightly less so.

That’s why I’m pleased to have headed for Chennai Dosa with my partner the other evening. I had never visited before, although I had visited the premises at the very bottom of Victoria Road many times during its various earlier restaurant incarnations.

Remembering some of those visits to the place, which is quite narrow and extends deep into the building, I was delighted to discover that the folk at Chennai Dosa have a great air conditioning system.

Even though we visited on a stiflingly hot evening, and even though the restaurant was full almost to capacity, the only things to raise so much as a bead of perspiration were certain of the spicier dishes. That is as it should be.

The restaurant is part of a small chain with branches mostly across the south of England and one in Manchester.

Its speciality is South Indian cuisine, and as the name suggests, there is a great emphasis on the dosa, the pancake whose potential combinations of ingredients and fillings make for almost infinite variety.

As Indian cuisine goes, I confess I wasn’t overly familiar with it – or with the generosity of the portions at Chennai Dosa, so I set about ordering with reckless abandon. My partner, who had been before, urged caution. Mind you, she didn’t urge it too forcefully because, I suspect, she wanted to see the look on my face when the food arrived.

She was rewarded not long afterwards when space had to be cleared on the table for the three dosas I’d insisted on having among the six dishes we’d agreed to share.

Rolled up and side by on their platters, they reminded me a little of old aerial photographs of submarine pens.

“Do you want to do the overdosa joke or shall I?” I asked.

For a starter I chose chilli paneer, deep-fried cubes of cottage cheese with red chillis, chilli sauce, capsicum and onions. It was absolutely perfect, with the mildness of the cheese making for an irresistible contrast with the fire of the spices.

My partner chose chicken chukka, a delicious confection of tender boneless chicken, chilli sauce and Indian spices.

Then it was time for our main courses, three of which were the dosas I mentioned earlier. Here’s the thing, though - they may have been bigger than some of those model boats you often see in chandlers’ windows at the seaside, but they were wonderfully light and delicious.

That’s my excuse for the fact that we finished ‘em, and I’m sticking to it.

Hot chutney masala dosa, stuffed with a generous helping of masala potato mash, struck a fine balance between decent heat and delicate taste.

Green chilli coriander dosa and onion dosa were more simple but no less welcome for that, and all three came with a selection of sauces suitable for preferences from mild to wild.

The only non-dosa dish we ordered was mutton curry, a particularly favourite of my partner, who rated it as probably her favourite dish of the evening.

Chain restaurants are sometimes criticised - and often rightly so - for offering a rather impersonal experience even if the food is of good quality. There can be an uncomfortable sense that the service, polite and helpful as it may be, is geared not so much toward total customer satisfaction as getting people through the door, giving them just enough to make them want to come back and then hustling them out and getting their table ready for the next lot.

Nothing could be further from the approach at Chennai Dosa, where we were surprised to realise we had lingered for two very pleasant hours.

Fellow diners included couples on dates, lively family groups and lone people quietly winding down after a hard day at work.

The service staff proved themselves adept at being helpful, friendly, always available yet never overly attentive.

The bill for our evening, which included naan bread and drinks, came to a very agreeable £50.

If you are already a Chennai Dosa customer, you hardly need me to recommend it.

If you are not, then you are in for a real treat.