A fellow UAE based foodie by the name of Devina Divecha a.k.a FooDee recently laid down the gauntlet by proclaiming on her site that if you wanted South Indian food in Dubai, the only place to go was some random place (added for dramatic effect, actually I've tried it and thought it was OK, but definitely not THE place) called Venus in Karama. While I love all kinds of food, the one thing that I truly consider myself of being an expert at (eating & cooking) is South Indian food.
So for me, the lover of all things South Indian, who has frequently gone out for idli's at 7 am - I naturally thought it was my duty to put her right. I immediately called her out on twitter on her preferred choice of South Indian eatery, and a foodie face/off challenge was laid out and accepted! The VadaWar battle will be coming to a FiA blog near you soon..
In the mean time, I bring you a few choice selections from my personal favourite; Sarvana Bhavan...
In the mean time, I bring you a few choice selections from my personal favourite; Sarvana Bhavan...
The first choice when sampling South Indian food should be the Dosa, if they can't get this right then chances are the rest of their dishes aren't going to be any good either. If you are feeling really adventurous go for the giant paper one pictured above - I prefer mine without any filling but their masala version with the Potato filling is also quite nice. Pictured below is the Uttapam, if you want a real kick to your tastebuds make sure you ask for extra 'gun powder'!
Below that we have the Vada & Idli combo.. you would think it doesn't get any better than that and it doesn't until you get to the 1 meter chai.. which is poured from a height of 1 meter for that extra special taste., any chai fans will truly love this variation.
Below that we have the Vada & Idli combo.. you would think it doesn't get any better than that and it doesn't until you get to the 1 meter chai.. which is poured from a height of 1 meter for that extra special taste., any chai fans will truly love this variation.
Their amazing Thali is also worth a mention and so are their Indian Chinese dishes, be careful with the Chili Paneer - it is that spicy that it really should come with a safety warning!
It's probably worth mentioning while I do love most of their dishes, their idli's are a bit lacking. For the best Idli's that I have sampled in Dubai, you need to be up bright and early and head to the Apsara Supermarket on Bank Street, Bur Dubai - they have a small South Indian counter in there (not Apsara's food counter but this is part of the small juice stall directly in front of you as you walk in the main entrance) that does the most amazing idli's.. they run out by 10 am so if you are truly a idli fan, try and get there early and you won't regret it.
Sarvana Bhavan has 5 differnet locations in Dubai that can be found here: http://www.sarvanabhavan.com
4 comments:
wow, I'm impressed. Seriously didn't realize you were such a South Indian food fan. I've tried the Saravana in NYC...not a fan there because of their greater-than-thou attitude, but food was pretty awesome there too. Will have to try the branch in Dubai - that, and the idlis on bank street. Can't believe I've grown up here and still so much to learn...!
Haha...bring it on :D
PS - Have not tried these Bank Street ones ... must do on our vadawar trip!
South indian food is a very specific art ! and to do it well without too much oil and just enough spices is tricky :)... cant wait to read more of this ! P.S you have a great blog !
I couldn't agree more Shafeena! Although I find with South Indian food, even with the least amount of oil (home cooked - I use only one tsb of oil for anything and everything) there's only so much I can handle as it can get quite heavy.. obviously I need to have a lot more and build up a tolerance :D
Glad you like the site!
Post a Comment