Saravanaa Bhavan - Restaurant Review

My sister was craving some Parotta today, so we decided to go to Saravanaa Bhavan - a south-Indian vegetarian restaurant. Even though I love my meats and try hard to avoid vegetarian food at most times, Saravanaa Bhavan is a regular stop where I enjoy vegetarian meals. Regardless of the numerous south Indian/Sri Lankan restaurants in Tooting, this restaurant is the one restaurant I would recommend to people, who want to try some authentic south Indian cuisine :)

Silver Tumbler

I love it how they have silver tumbler cups just like in India; gives the restaurant a very authentic feel. The general atmosphere in the restaurant is very nice and the staff are polite too. My sisters and I didn't have to look through the menu for very long as we all knew exactly what we wanted lol. We ordered Panneer Fried Rice, Poori Masala, and Parotta.

The parotta came with a side of potato masala and pureed cauliflower curry. Parotta is a type of a flat bread commonly eaten in south India. It's usually made with maida flour, to which eggs and ghee are added. The dough is rolled and folded several times and grilled in a round shape. The unique feature of Parotta is that it consists of thin layers. As innocent as it may look, it is high in calories though, so watch how much you are eating =P

I'm not a big fan on the potato masala, that comes with the parotta, as it is too dry for my liking...but the cauliflower curry is a very good accompaniment. Surprisingly enough, the curry actually tastes like a non-veg curry!

Parotta

My little sister ordered some Poori Masala, which I quite liked. Poori is another type of bread, made with wheat flour. The dough is cut out into flat circles and deep fried in oil. During the process of deep-frying, the poori puffs up and gives it that round shape as you can see in the picture below. Again, the poori was served with the potato masala and cauliflower curry...yumm!!!

Poori

The last dish we ordered was Panneer Fried Rice. I was very disappointed actually. The portion size was very generous but there wasn't much panneer in the fried rice lol. It was very bland in taste and didn't taste anywhere near as good as it looked.

Panneer Fried Rice

Overall, the food was nice though. I won't be ordering the Panneer Fried Rice again, but the Parotta and Poori are always a must-try classic. Also a favourite classic of mine: Chilli Panneer...fried panneer, with a spicy aromatic taste...thought I mention it too ;)  The 3 dishes plus soft drinks came up to just under £20, which is a very good price if you ask me!

If you do get the chance to find a Saravanaa Bhavan branch near you, give it a try!