Hotel Saravana Bhavan (South Indian Vegetarian Restaurant)

March 10, 2012

While we were walking, searching for a place to eat, there's this guy who chatted with the other volunteers and said he'd take us to a very nice restaurant. We knew he would be expecting a tip from the restaurant or us afterwards. I'm not generalizing. But you kinda have to figure out how things work around here. :)

Anyway, the place where he brought us was kinda expensive. So, it was a no for us. Then, another guy came up to us and said there's another nice restaurant that's like really famous around the area. So, he took us there as well. You'll have to understand that I am constantly eating (or perceived to be) so by this time (ad after the amount of walking we have done), I was already really hungry. Alas! The place was famous indeed. There's a long waiting list for people who wants to dine at the Hotel Saravana Bhavan.

Chris always says: if it's worth queuing for,
it must be really good!

By the way, "hotel" here can be synonymous to restaurant. So no, it wasn't a hotel but a restaurant. And, there was a really long line that I almost gave up and wanted to get a Happy Meal at McDo next door!

Vegetable Thali with (assuming) Poori (puffed) and crispy
kropek-like thin something. I'll try to describe the veg thali
the best way I can, ok?! Clockwise from spoon: cranberry-ish
paste, some kind of dal, coconut-based dessert, green gravy-ish
sauce, another dal/bean dish, aloo aur phoolgobi (potato and
cauliflower), dal (yellow), spicy curry with malunggay fruit,
and something like a spicy-not-salty pinakbet. Middle one is
curd--it's like in between taho and yoghurt.

The food was really good. It's like a not so spicy-->spicy-->really spicy order of eating. Well, you actually take the small containers out of the big one (banana leaf covered) and take it with the poori, kropek-like thingy, or chawal. Or, like Kevin, you can just pour these on your plate and mix as you please!

The lassi (sweet, can be ordered as salty as well) tastes like a
yoghurt drink. The smell or after-taste was kinda too strong
for me so no, I didn't enjoy much. Must try another somewhere!

In fairness to the guy who brought us here, it seems like he was telling the truth. And, in fairness again, I think we were trying to give him the tip but he said he didn't do it for the money and he just wanted to learn English. So much so that he was speaking to us (well, mostly Rosie and Chris) all the way to the "Emporium". It was kinda far from the Metro and we're like, where are we?! But, after walking and walking and walking, we finally reached the Emporium. It's an arts, crafts, fabric, carpet, sari, sawakami, kurta, tea and everything Indian souvenir-ish. Like brother's shop all over again. This time though, I think no one bought anything (though we spent more or less 30minutes there). So, I dunno how that worked out for the guy. He was still smiling after though so maybe all is well! :p