When you are in an alien country
and your heart desires for something that has the promise of tickling your
taste buds, what do you do? You browse the net for Indian restaurants near your
home, focusing on south Indian fare as nothing tastes better than a spicy
Mysore Special Masala Dosa on a rainy evening.
So, me and my 3 friends zeroed on
the Famous “Saravana Bhavan”, which had newly opened up in my city. While I yearned
for some crispy hot dosa, my friend chanted “Chennai Filter coffee” all the way
to the restaurant. As it became windier outside, we reached the place and the
excitement in the air was quite palpable. As expected, there was no space to
even stand, after some initial waiting time, we managed to get a table for 4.
All of us ordered different varieties of Dosa, Manchurian in starters and
filter coffee. After about 30 minutes, the waiters arrived with our Dosa and
dumped it on our table. When we asked them which one is what, they were shocked
at this question. They cheerfully responded, “No clue, which one is what, we
just got it from the kitchen.” While we 4 tried to solve the puzzle as to which
one is Kara Dosa, vegetable dosa, & Mysore Dosa the waiters conveniently
vanished. After a while, after we had started eating, they said, by mistake in
place of vegetable dosa, they had served some other dos and they will replace
it. We nodded our heads and agreed to wait for some more time, expecting our
starter dish (Manchurian) to arrive before the Dosa. After some more time, they
returned with the correct dosa and we were too hungry, so we attacked the
dishes with great gusto. Then the head waiter (I am assuming) walked up to us
and said, they are out of Filter Coffee! Can you imagine, a South indian
restaurant of a Saravana’s caliber saying, they are “OUT” of coffee! Its like
going to “Arsalan” or “Shiraz” and they saying, they are “OUT” of Biryani!
Anyways, after we were done with our Dosas, they suddenly remembered about the
Manchurian, and to save them from their uncomfortable misery we told them to
cancel that order. They seem overjoyed, literally.
Now coming to Dosa. The Sambar
and 4 varieties of chutneys were ordinary with nothing to write home about. The
light green and dark green chutneys were low on salt and were almost bland. The
orange one was alright. I am a die-hard fan of Sambar and I always manage to
take refills. But this was one time, where in I barely managed to finish my
assigned portion. Now the last part of the story. By the time, we had finished
our food, the place was almost deserted. So the waiters who were done with
their duty, chose to sit on the next table to ours for their “Khatti” session!
Ok, now coming to the best part of the story. How many stars would you give to
this place?
While I select 2.5 on a scale of
10, my friends feel 3 would be better as they were just 1 week old here. J
