Saravanaa Bhavan on Broadway

Saravanaa Bhavan is an Chennai-based international chain of vegetarian South Indian restaurants.

Saravana Bhavan (sometimes spelled Saravanaa Bhavan) opened in Vancouver on 19 January, 2008. Restaurant hours are subject to change.

Saravanaa Bhavan's South Indian menu offers something every diner craves -- a diversion from the expected.

India is a country as populated as Europe with more than a billion people who speak 15 major languages and practise at least five major faiths, so it shouldn't be surprising that Indian food is extremely diverse.

But anyone who's eaten in Indian restaurants in Canada might think that the nation's cuisine is all about tandoori, korma and samosas.

There's a reason for that, and it's not, as you might suspect, that Indian restaurateurs have simplified and adapted their native dishes to appeal to Western tastes.

According to The Oxford Companion to Food, most Indians who run restaurants in their home country and abroad are from Punjab. Until Partition, there was almost no restaurant tradition in India because of religious and caste differences. After 1947, displaced Punjabis, who were eager to work and relatively free of inhibitions, set up restaurants and, later, catering colleges. As such, they put their culinary stamp on the food business.

But Punjabi cuisine is not ubiquitous in Toronto -- this city is too diverse. There are tens of thousands of Tamils from the south of India and Sri Lanka here. And, so, if you look around, it's not hard to find delicately spiced, vegetarian offerings from this part of the world.

Saravanaa Bhavan serves up myriad flavourful stews and curries in a variety of forms. There's so much going on here taste-wise, you can't imagine needing -- or wanting-- meat on your plate.

The dosas are thin, crisp rice and lentil crepes that wrap around savoury mixtures, like mixed vegetable and cheese and onion. The dosas, like many items on the menu, come with three delightful chutneys on the side -- coconut, mint and tomato-- and sambar, a lentil soup.

The utthappam might crudely be called Indian pizzas. Here, the spiced toppings are placed directly on top of a round pancake-like dough and baked. The result is a soft and flavour-laden flatbread.

But the real showcase item is the Saravanaa Special Meals, a thali platter. A colourful array of thick stews, thinner soup-like offerings and accompaniments in small tins encircle a bowl of steamed rice. Two types of flat bread are also provided for dipping and scooping.

There are three Saravanaa Bhavans in Toronto and many others around the globe. The chain began in Chennai, in Southern India. Clearly, Punjabis don't have a stranglehold on the restaurant business.

Website: http://www.saravanaabhavan.ca/