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Swati Snacks, Ahmedabad
Gujarat is famous for the variety of its vegetarian snacks. Today, we went to one of the well-known places in Ahmedabad city – Swati Snacks at Ambli Road. This is a restaurant with minimum modern-decor and the snacks were mouth-watering every bite. Below are a few of the snacks we ordered and shared between us. The pricing was on the higher side, but considering the ambience and the hygienic preparation in the open-kitchen you won’t mind paying.
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Arogya Lunch at Paati Veedu Restaurant
Earlier I had written about a speciality vegetarian restaurant in T.Nagar, Chennai called Paati Veedu. Today, again I went there – this time with two friends for a tasty and healthy lunch, which they call Arogya Thali [Health Meal] and it cost about Rs. 499 + taxes. This was a limited portions meal, meaning you won’t get any extra helpings – if you wish for unlimited portions will cost Rs.100 more. I enjoyed the meal, which consisted of sambar rice, Pongal and curd rice – all made out of various millets.
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Menaka Restaurant – Hotel Palmgrove
When it comes to traditional food, there are a few restaurants in Chennai who still manage to retain their authenticity. Over the decades the list has become small, as many have closed their doors unable to stand their ground against the fast food culture, franchise onslaught from bigger chains and ever-increasing input cost. Among the ones who are still in business are Rayar’s Cafe, Mylapore; Hotel New Woodlands, Dr Radhakrishnan Salai; Hotel Palmgrove and a few others. Today, a friend of mine wanted to meet up for lunch and I suggested we go to Menaka Restaurant in Hotel Palmgrove. I like their South Indian meals (as the fixed menu, lunch…
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Restaurants on Chennai-Bengaluru Highway
In the decades past, out of station travel on road, used to be an ordeal. You need to carry enough water pots, food to eat (there will hardly be any hygienic restaurants en route), floor mats to lay down under a tree for a picnic like setting to eat the food, and, paper maps – either from AASI (Automobile Association of South India) if you were a member with them, which I am, or, from Higginbothams bookshop. Nowadays, with Google Maps the difficulty with finding/asking routes is almost gone. Water pots are replaced with convenient plastic disposable water bottles. The other two have completely vanished, very few people now pack…
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Burma Burma restaurant, Indiranagar
When I travel, I would like to try out the various cuisines that are available there, for example, Ethiopian when I went to San Francisco or Mexican Gumbo in Los Angeles or Thai restaurant Bai Tong in Bellevue or Mock meat in Hong Kong. Madras, where I live, is conservative in that sense, the only Ethiopian restaurant in Chennai “Abyssinian” closed a few years back, to turn into a dog-friendly eatery! Today, while in Bangalore, my nephew invited me for dinner to a Burmese restaurant and I readily agreed. The restaurant was called Burma, Burma and was purely vegetarian (I am fine as long my plate has only vegetarian items)…