Readers and eaters,
The plan was to have friends over and watch three of the most depressing feel-bad-movies of 2011 and wallow in our own crapulence... Turns out everyone was busy getting on with life in 2012 so now I was stuck with no plans and my stomach was growly, unaware that my heart was still grieving the loss of a certain girl in my life. Pulling myself out of my emo-fest of self loathing I bundled up against the shitty weather and hopped the 9 over to Jessica's apartment. New plans were afoot...
Living in Vancouver with it's large Indo-Canadian population I am no stranger to the cuisine of India. Although truthfully it is so diverse in flavour, spices and techniques that one could spend years exploring the regional variations available, never mind the recipes like butter chicken that don't even originate in India. The apocryphal story is that an Englishman when being served Chicken Tikka Masala in Great Britain demanded gravy for the meat. The chef then whipped up a quick sauce of tomato, butter and curry and plunked the chicken into it. True or not all food evolves alongside the culture that developed and eats it.
I know East Indian food quite well, from the most mundane take out curry at Rangoli, to the mega vegetarian buffets of South main street to Vij's I have tasted my fair share. South Indian however has eluded my palate to the same extent with most of my experience being at Chutney Villa which was previously owned by my friend Chindi who has now returned to India to open a Canadian restaurant. I'm Serious. Anyhow, South Indian cuisine is based around the 4 southern regions: Andhra, Karnataka, Tamil, and Keral all having different ingredients and spices but with rice, plantain, lentil and coconut being the staples. Less chili powder is used and more tamarind and fresh green and red chilies.
As you make have guessed we were on our way to nosh on some South Indian. Specifically, Dosas. And the goings on were to be going on at Saravanaa Bhavan. I hadn't ever heard of the cozy little all vegetarian place before, but hey, I don't know every restaurant in the city right? Located near Oak street on West Broadway we Jess and I arrived to find the always amiable Alexander Kennedy already seated. The spartan interior was warm and smelled deeply of curry, the scent wafting almost palpable in the air. My mouth watered a little. We sat down ad poured water from the stainless steel pitcher into metal cups. I had noticed in the past the consistent use of metal cups and plates akin to prison issue trays at Chutney Villa. “Must be an Indian thing,” I figured. ***As a side note I should mention that Indian Vegetarian food has none of the irksome factor that many other vegetarian foods have and therefor escapes my general disdain and irritation with vegetarians and their “food.” For more of my ignorant ranting on the subject read ---> this post.
The menu will extensive was mostly variations of dosa, rice dishes, breads, and some tandoori. I was here for dosa though.
Dosa is a light crepe or pancake made from fermented rice and black lentil. A batter is put on a hot stone or griddle and the cooked crepe is folded or wrapped around a filling of some sort. Dosa's have been mentioned in literature as far back as the 6th century making them a long time element of South Indian cuisine where it is still a common breakfast and street food.
Kennedy decided to go with some more standard tandoori style choices and ordered a vegetable biryani and a muter paneer dish. I was glad he did because I was interested in the South Indian take on Eastern dishes. Jess strayed from her usual dosa and went with a paneer dosa which featured the exquisite pressed curd “cheese” as the filler in her crepe. I defaulted to Jessica's usual choice. The Paper Masala Dosa which would have a mixture of potato and onion in it...
Or it would have...
If my dumb-ass had ordered it correctly.
I ordered a Paper Dosa and assumed it would be the one I had read on the menu. It arrived and was a spectacle to behold. Nearly 3 feet long the beast was a cylinder of fragile break away yet soft to bite slightly tangy salty buttered goodness. But the bastard was empty. Having omitted the word masala from my order they assumed I just wanted the dosa.
Legit.
After a little awkward explanation the removed my dosa and returned it promptly filled with a creamy deliciousness of chunked mashed potato and golden onion. I broke of a corner and got to work. The dish is served with 3 chutneys and a sambar. The creamy slightly sweet coconut chutney was probably my favourite, the green chutney which I looked up and is just called green chutney is a mix of coriander green chilies ginger and salt was a close second and the red chutney of cumin onion garlic ginger and red chili should have been my fave given the ingredients but was lacking in punch. The sambar, which is a dal like thick stew of tamarind and pigeon peas was hearty and complex, the sweet and sour of the tamarind playing off the savory curry-ness of it. I would love a huge bowl on a cold winter evening.
Alex's food was tasty and competent and inexplicably came with huge chunks of onion and tomato and a slice of lemon. Odd that.
Jessica was not so happy with her dosa. Not because it didn't taste good, but because it came folded over the filling in a massive triangle of flavour. This, while rich in taste cause the crispy dosa to soften and become a bit chewy. I helped eat it as I was not turned of my the mushy dosa but Jess lamented her decision to stray from the known and comfortable.
We ate every morsel of food and the perfectly fine meal ended on a sweet note. 2 lovely warm sponge-ball Galub Jamun shared between us. These warm little timbit sized dough balls are soaked through with honeyed rosewater and like little flavour sponges they wick the sugary goodness into their cores.
Divine.
I was full and highly recommend Saravanaa Bhavan not only for the quality of the food but for how inexpensive it is. Our total bill after tip came to around 45$ which is amazing although we only drank water. Saravanna Bhavan now serves liquor but we stuck to just water which kept both myself and the bill in check. I'm off the booze right now as I detox and get my shit together but I'm sure in the future I will be back and I will let you know how their beer selection is.
Until then... Eat well
Willy
Next Time: My First Foray into the Field of Fine Dining.
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