Here we go! A review! Would I buy one again? Yes. Would I recommend it to others? Yes, but only if you enjoy Indian food, are wanting a better texture in your Idli/dosa batter, or want a SUPERRR smooth texture in things, like homemade peanut butters or the like. Not chocolate though, but I didn't ask why. Strange to me, as a melange is like the exact same instrument.
Anyway, onto the actual review!
I got it Friday, and when I opened it, it had a tiny dent in the upper part of the bowl. (More on that later) I prepped the bowl by washing it and grinding rice and water (Never grind it dry, it'll like, grind the stone away or something bad I guess?) So I ground the rice and water (letting it run about 1.5 hours in total) and got it to literally the consistency of glue. Dang this thing is good at getting things smooth. And that wasn't even soaked rice, it was dry straight from the bag. 10/10 for performance so far.
But that rice/water is used to "clean" any stone bits or leftover manufacturing particles, so I discarded it and washed the grinder again. I was dismayed when I saw what looked to be a tiny scratch running around the bottom of the stone bowl (there are 2 stones that sit inside the grinder and the bottom of the bowl itself is stone, so the stones basically "roll" against the bottom stone, kind of like a grinding mill. Think of how those small toy cars follow the circular track you used as a kid if you're me. Same principle.) I ground rice again in the bowl a second time (again, glue consistency when done), this time with a little water and oil to try to clean/buff it better, and let it run 1 hour. Now, and thus far, the scratch is gone, so either it was my imagination, or maybe I just fixed it or it was residue from the manufacturing or something. Either way, really happy that it didn't stay, as I didn't want ruts in the stone to mess with the grinding process, especially ruts that showed up after the first use.) 8/10
It's surprisingly loud. Like in the kitchen, it's very loud. Eventually you get used to it, but I wore ear plugs because I'm 29 and I want to save whatever hearing I still have
if possible. 6/10
I thought it would be too heavy, and it is heavy, but not crazily so. The stone rollers come out of the bowl (which has a stone bottom) and each piece is maybe 5-10 pounds. And I'm weak! (I hurt my back at work several years back lifting like 60 pounds of garbage overhead, so I'm really careful what I lift.) The only annoying thing is you have to hand wash it (obvious to me though, as it's stone) and they discourage soap, at least not after the initial washing, so just a good rinsing and finger rubbing to get everything off. 7/10
Also, on the dent. I used it, then thought "Man, I spent 200 bucks on this and it came dented. I wanna return it!" So we place the return on Amazon and have to pay 5 bucks return shipping. Dang. But at least we have a UPS like 1 minute from our house. We get there, and my husband gets a text from the company saying "Don't return it, we'll send you a replacement bowl!" So that's great! No return shipping needed, and I get a free bowl! (They said the dent was in shipping caused from the atta/dough kneading hook from hitting the bowl in transit, so it's still obviously usable as I've run it twice now, but awesome they gave me another.) 10/10
All in all, I'd give it a solid 8/10, though it being loud and heavy could be a drawback to some if you're weak like me.
Still, it's CRAZZZZYYY good at making things smooth. Like, blenders and food processers got NOTHING on it. I'll post again once I make idli with it (as I have leftovers in the fridge that I wanna eat, but I'll probably make idli sometime next week.)
And. . .that's all I can think of!
