Sri Sai Bhavan is a saivar type resto that serves up quality all-veg food. Their main spot is in Piliyandala which has been around for a while and to much delight of our dosa loving tastebuds, they opened up a branch nearby to YAMU HQ.
Food
Among other things like poori, chapathi, idly and wadey – the usual South Indian fare, they've got over 20 types of dosa. They do a 'Family Dosa' that is three dosas put together to make one huge, four feet dosa – the only one of its kind as far as we know.
Upon seeing that they have a Kochchi Masala Dosai (Rs. 250) we were elated and couldn’t grab it fast enough. Why make you wait, we suggest you get it as well. Why?
It's amazing, that's why. The dosa itself was slightly crispy, breaks off easy and soft. It had even consistency, wasn’t oily and came in creamy colour sporting charrings here and there.
The aroma of the kochchi is what grabs your attention first, mixed in with the buttery, curry notes. The masala-fied potato filling was lumpy and packed loads of curry flavours and loads of kochchi. It was spicy (duh!) but it was the kind that makes you want to keep on eating as it manages to keep its balance well with other flavour elements.
You don’t need any condiments to eat this, but you do get the green and red coconut sambals, sweet chutney as well as a serving of saucy, curried up sambar gravy.
Cheese Paper Dosa (Rs. 300) is essentially normal dosa with mozzarella cheese added to the middle of it. The cheese is only located in the very middle of the dosa and that part was indeed cheesy, gooey and paired well with the crunchy dosa. They are not stingy with the chutneys and specially sambar and sambals, so we had a flavour blast while mixing things up.
They could have done better with the Spicy Onion Uthappam (Rs. 190). While it did pack plenty of onion bits on a soft, fluffy regular dosa with a thin crisp base at the bottom, it didn’t seem all that spicy. There were green chillies and chilli flakes spread around the dosa, but the spiciness of it didn’t come through enough. Still, the uthappam was enjoyable, especially when mixed with their sweet chutney.
*Pictured above; masala tea on the left, Inginee Drink at the right.
As for drinks, we got ourselves a Masala Tea (Rs. 70) and an Inginee Drink (Rs. 70) solely because of the curiosity.
The Masala Tea was a bit too sweet to our liking but had a flavour concoction of cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and a tinge of ginger mixed in with the not so thick milk.
The Inginee Milk is clearing-nut extract which is essentially a “healthy” alternative to dairy milk, with a bunch of health benefits if you go by its advertising. They have mixed it with coffee and quite frankly it tasted like your average kiri kopi but with less coffee-bitterness.
Ambience & Service
The place is clean for a normal saivar kadey setup and has enough space to hold around 30 people or so.
The waiter we got, while a pleasant fellow, seemed a bit preoccupied with other things as he was taking our order. Still, we got our food on time without any issues, so, no harm no foul. We did have to wait a bit for our change after paying the bill.
Conclusion
We are happy that Sri Sai Bhavan chose to open up shop in Kohuwala. Their food is delicious and for the price, it's quite the steal. If you are looking to grab some South Indian vegetarian food at a good price, this is an easy recommend.
