This cheap as chickpeas Indian is located in the Madinat Zayed Shopping Centre, opposite Tanjara in the food court. It’s a thriving, bustling place well worth visiting at night. Part of a chain with restaurants all over the world (including branches in Dubai and Sharjah), the food is authentic and tasty, despite only making a small dent on your wallet.
The décor is simple, with diner- style chairs and a massive glass wall separating the customers from the busy kitchen staff. It almost has the feel of a New York eatery to it, with busy waiters bombing around serving street snacks, but in a mall. The menu is very large and full of dishes that clearly embrace old recipes and the spirit of home cooking. It’s very popular with the city’s labourers and tourists alike, and its plain exterior means it’s often overlooked by many a passer-by – which clearly is their loss.
So how cheap are we talking? Saravanaa featured in our Cheap Eats issue last week [TOAD October 17-23] and you can easily fill up on two courses for two people for around Dhs50.
To start, we had the bhel puri and the pav bhaji. Bhel puri looks like a dish thrown together by a five year old but tastes fantastic. A mixture of puffed rice, vegetables and a tangy tamarind sauce, it’s eaten as a snack in India. The portion was colossal and nicely presented on a silver plate and the crunch of the rice worked perfectly with the chopped tomatoes, coriander and onion. It was surprisingly fresh and addictive, like eating a bowl of popcorn.
The pav bhaji is a tasty vegetable chaat served with toasted bread rolls. The big chunks of bread are great for soaking up the sauce but were absolutely smothered in butter, so a napkin came in handy to remove some of the liquid.
For our main we ordered the paneer dosa and the mushroom rogan josh. You can order the dosas from as early as 7am and these gigantic pancakes are a staple of Indian cuisine. This one came triangular-shaped and filled with crumbly cheese and a thick sauce with a bit of fire in its belly. The coconut chutney it was served with puts out the flames nicely. It also came with a bowl of daal which had a good consistency (compared to some watery efforts you’ll find in the city). We mopped up our plates with some light fluffy naans.
The service is a bit quirky and while we were made to feel welcome, our visit did seem to be a bit of a novelty to our waiter. But Saravanaa offers up cheap, wholesome street food and snacks that are well worth a repeat visit.
The bill (for two)
Bhel puri Dhs7
Pav bhaji Dhs8.50
Mushroom rogan josh Dhs14
Paneer dosa Dhs9.50
Two naan breads Dhs10
Total (excluding service) Dhs49
