When you pick up your takeout order from Unavu, inside the the Charm City Food Co. ghost kitchen in Abell that’s across the street from Peabody Heights Brewery, you’ll be forgiven for thinking you’ve mistakenly gone to an Amazon pickup location—or the world’s tiniest train station.
The bright waiting room has a touchscreen for ordering South Indian dishes (as well as eats from another dozen or so ghost-kitchen restaurants) if you haven’t done it ahead of time. You’ll also find blindingly white lockers, an unhelmed desk behind glass, and enough space for all the delivery bikers who make up the majority of those waiting for their paper to-go bags.
Opened in 2025 by a former IT consultant from Southern India, Unavu specializes in food from that region—dosas, biryanis, the fritters called medu vada, street foods like kothu parotta, the rice cakes called idli, as well as classics like saag paneer, butter chicken, tikka masala, and samosas.
This is a very welcome addition, as many of the better-known Indian restaurants in the Baltimore area, like Peerce’s and Ananda, feature Northern Indian cuisine. Although it should be noted that Sangam Indian Cuisine—which has locations in Cockeysville and Ellicott City—has splendid Southern Indian food, including some of the very best dosas around. So it’s not like you can’t find Southern Indian food—which is spectacular, with its spicy, vegetable-leaning dishes and dosas, the splendid crispy burnished crepes—in the area, but it’s lovely not to have to drive too far to get it.
Unavu’s standouts include the biryani—that terrific rice dish that dates back to Muslim communities and often centers around proteins like goat or fish—as well as the saag paneer, the spinach-and-cheese comfort food that I can’t help always ordering. You can also get requisite sauces in tiny cups: spicy bits, chutneys, raita, coconut-centered things and others.
The best thing to do, of course, is to eat all of this as soon as possible, which is why it’s so convenient that Peabody sits right across the street. There, you can order a pint and sit down for supper.
The only issue is that some foods are not as good in little boxes as they would be in an actual restaurant, specifically dosas, which are meant to be crisped and either rolled or curled into cones or otherwise presented. Condemning dosas to a little box, folded into an envelope, means that they get steamed and reduced to something less than they should be. (The photos on the site are gorgeous, but bear no resemblance to what arrives in your container.)
Which is all to say that Unavu is a very welcome addition to the city’s Indian repertoire, though one hopes that they can open a sit-down place at some point, if only so that the dosas would come out as they should be. Meanwhile, being able to eat Southern Indian food at your neighborhood brewpub is an excellent evening out.
Order ahead of time via Unavu’s website, dodge the GrubHub bikers, and enjoy a pint or two of Astrodon IPA with your Chettinad mutton curry. And if you love trivia, go on a Wednesday evening—though be forewarned that it might get loud.
Answer questions. Eat more dhal and naan. Get home safely.