Saravana Bhavan

On Monday night we went to Saravana Bhavan, which is located at 100 Lexington Ave between 27th and 28th street in Manhattan. The cuisine is vegetarian Southern Indian, serving various dosas and utappams, but with a separate menu of curries for those who prefer Northern Indian cuisine. We ordered an appetizer and two entrées and shared everything, plus we had some of our friend Eppy’s appetizer and entrée.

Appetizers

Medu Vada are deep fried lentil flour donuts, in this case with cilantro cooked in for some extra flavor. They were served with the usual sambar and coconut chutney, along with some tomato chutney. I liked how light these were. They tasted just like idli but with a perfect golden crust. The sambar was great- comforting and starchy, not too oily or spicy. The only disappointment was that there was a lot of squash in it that I kept mistaking for potatoes. It was good squash, mind you, but I love my potatoes. - Ev

Eppy ordered the Bhel Puri, and it was the most unique thing I ate at Saravana Bhavan. I’ve never had anything quite like this, and I'll definitely try it again if I come back. It’s basically a bowl of fried noodles and puffed rice with onion and tomato, all mixed in a sweet and sour sauce. I really liked the texture. The noodles were crunchy and the tomato and onion were fresh. The flavor was complex and a little spicy. – Jim
The texture reminded me of Thai Mee Grob. I also liked the way it started out sweet but then suddenly it was like you raided your spice cabinet and licked every Indian spice you had in there (including the fiery ones). - Ev

Utappams

We ordered a Peas and Onion Utappam and our friend Eppy ordered a Dosa Podi Onion Utappam, which is basically an onion Utappam sprinkled with chili powder. Like the Mada Vedu, these were served with sambar and chutneys. There wasn’t much flavor to the utappams themselves, so I found they were best when I spooned the sambar and chutneys on top and ate it with a fork, as opposed to the traditional rip-and-dip method. They were good but not extraordinary. - Jim
I liked ours well enough until I tasted Eppy's. The salty/savory quality of the chili powder made this ten times better than the peas & onion one. – Ev

Onion Rava Masala Dosa

Very light & moist. The potatoes were amazing because they had a creamy mashed potato flavor but they were still chunky. The tomato chutney seemed spicier than in earlier dishes. I thought this dish was best with everything piled on top of it. - Ev
I loves me some Dosas, and this dish didn’t let me down. It wasn’t the best Dosa I’ve ever had, but it was pretty darn good. - Jim

The Bottom Line

Overall, I wouldn't say this was a mind-blowing experience but these were good standbys that were tasty, comforting, & not too heavy. - Ev
I feel the same way: not amazing but definitely good. If I went back I’d probably order another Dosa, as the Utappams were a little bland for my taste. By the way, one cool thing about this restaurant is that the menu indicates which items have dairy with an asterisk. - Jim