Simply Saraswat - The other South Indian Restaurant

To be honest I had never heard about this community called "Saraswat Brahmins" forget their food. It was when our friend Bakul mentioned about this place called "Simply Saraswat" that too in Borivali I was really interested. She spoke very highly of the place and that they serve Chitrapur Saraswat cuisine. But P and I hardly had time to go find it. As luck would have, few days ago as we were going somewhere we saw Simply Saraswat on the way. There the place was; next to 5 Spice at the corner of Chandravarkar Road and Eksar Road. We decided to go there while returning.

It's a small place. On the wall there is big mural of the Rath Utsav festival during which the deity is taken on a Rath / Chariot ( hand drawn) around the town / village. When we reached there was only a lady sitting in one of the tables. She was busy sipping coffee and writing on her note book. We both did not know what we should try. Even though Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin cuisine includes non vegetarian dishes, Simply Saraswat is strictly vegetarian.



Appe

From the menu we could make out that Dosas are called Pollo and these are soft dosas not the kind of dosa that we get in regular South Indian or Udupi places. We ordered for a Mushti Pollo with Puddi Chutney and Ghee (Rs. 80) and Appe (Rs.70) to start with. Appe is described as a" Fluffy avatar of doas" in the menu. It came in the shape of small Unniyappams. The similarity ends there. It's actually a dosa,remember! It was served with sambhar and 2 chutneys. The Mushti pollo looked like an Uttapam. It was so soft and fluffy and the puddi and ghee sprinkled over added so much more to it.

Mushti Pollo

Rasam Ambode

We loved both. Then P asked for Rasam Ambode (Rs. 70). Button Vadas served with Rasam. After all these we thought let's have another dish from the menu and our dinner will be done.
We asked Kishore who was there serving us about his suggestion. He said Dakshin idli (Rs.90) was a very popular dish. It's idli fried in a spice mixture which, we are told, are very typically saraswat.

Dakshin Idli

All the dishes that we ordered were served piping hot.The menu boasts of a variety of Pollos or dosas. This time we tasted only 2, Appe and Mushti Pollo.

The place has been featured in a column in Mid day. A paper cut was hanging on the wall. From there  I learnt that saraswat brahmins trace their origin to Kashmir. They used to live on the banks of the river Saraswati. Later they migrated to the areas near Mangalore. The food, however is so similar to South Indian dishes than up North Kashmir. Whatever it is, both P and I enjoyed our first visit to Simply Saraswat thoroughy.  We have all the plans to go back to try other items in the menu soon.

Ram Ashraya - Matunga

It is one of those well known eateries in Mumbai. But I never had the chance to be there and try out anything at Ram Ashraya. But today finally I landed there and that too during lunch time. The place is so famous and I was always wanted to be there. I just made my mind that today I will go to Ram Ashraya and thus I held a cab at Dadar and told the cabbie, Ram Ashraya hotel Matunga. He took me straight there, no questions or directions asked.


Ram Ashraya serves South Indian vegetarian food. The place was packed with few people waiting to be seated. I got a place to sit after 5 minutes. I guessed that the most people were regulars because they were just ordering what they wanted to have. Looking here and there I could see the food items list written next to the kitchen wall. I checked what others were having too. In my table one was having Bisi Bele Bhat and the other was having Puri with Korma. Since I had so much about their Dosas I wanted to try out a dosa. But last minute I opted for a Neer dosa to start with. It took about 7-10 minutes and I thought the waiter forgot about my order! He got me a piping hot Neer dosa with chutney, sambhar, a red chutney and a small katori of grated coconut which was sweetened. I thought of saving the sweet thing to the last.

Neer Dosa with the Chutneys & Sambhar

Then I asked for a vada with rasam. I did that deliberately because I am very particular about Rasam. I order rasam only in very few places and some places serving "South Indian" cuisine also cannot do justice to a simple rasam. It's so easy to get the rasam wrong. Ram Ashraya did not disappoint at all. I loved the Rasam and the vada too.

Vada with rasam

I saw one of the persons in my table order for Pineapple sheera. That looked yum and could smell the ghee already. But I did not have any today. Instead I asked for a cup of filter coffee. It was really good, not too strong and not too sweet. Just perfect.

Filter Kapi

This decision to go and have lunch at Ram Ashraya did not disappoint me at all. This is a simple no nonsense place serving what they claim to be good at. Trust me, they are not exaggerating. I have every plan of going to back to try out the other dishes in the menu soon.


Oh yeah, when the bill came, I had to check again. Rs.109/- for a Neer Dosa, Rasam Vada and an awesome filter coffee! Wow.

Ram Ashray Matunga