FoodieFC: Hotel Saravana Bhavan (Chennai, India)

Tuesday, 13 December 2011

Hotel Saravana Bhavan (Chennai, India)

Just back from Hong Kong. First to clear backlog from India. Stay tuned for food to eat in Hong Kong at later posts.

Hotel Saravana Bhavan is a restaurant chain based in Chennai serving South Indian vegetarian cuisine. In India, restaurants are called 'hotels'. Hotel Saravana Bhavan was found in 1981 in Chennai (of course). Today, it has 24 outlets in Chennai and multiple outlets all world wide including UAE, USA, UK, Canada, Malaysia, France..many more and even Singapore with 4 outlets. To be honest, I have never seen this restaurant in Singapore.

In Chennai, this hotel (restaurant) is very popular. In fact, my Singaporean friend based in Chennai told me that the coffee here is very good. Hence, since we were nearby, we had to try it.

Entrance

Cashier

This is where you pay.

This is where you make your orders and wait for the food as it is self-service.

Notice the round tables without chairs at the foreground? This is where people can just stand around and drink their coffee or tea. In the background, there are tables and chairs for patrons to eat their meals.

Look at the variety of items available! So many dishes.

Special Coffee

Special Pure Filter Coffee (INR 24 per cup)

Tata~! 3 cups of Special Pure Filter Coffee! There was another order for a cup of Special Tea. But let's start with the coffee first.

Noticed how the Special Pure Filter Coffee was served. Here's how you are supposed to drink it. Pour the coffee into the metal container holding the metal cup. (Be careful, it is hot as the container is made of metal.) Then pour the coffee from the metal container back into the metal cup. Do it as many times as required to cool it down. Reminds me of Teh Tarik. I just did it once and then tried it. The coffee was very aromatic. Shiok! You got to try it if you are in India. I certainty want to try the coffee served by the hotel in Singapore. Moreover, it provided a fun experience too!

Foreground: Special Tea (INR 24 per cup)

The Special Tea arrived much later. Did not try it. Looks normal. I am glad I tried the coffee instead.

I got to check out it's outlets in Singapore one day and see if they serve such a coffee here. Good coffee with fun experience! Who knows, the food might be fantastic too.