"The Curry Leg 22 curry restaurants down. You would think we've seen it all. But hot on the heels of our first CURRYBOND buffet comes our first all vegetarian curry place, Saravanaa Bhavan. Somewhat delayed in the CURRYBOND running order after some mild trepidation about an evening without both beer and meat. However, it's time has come, and we've come prepared with our very own CURRYBOND (almost) vegetarian, Di to raise the spirits of the meat loving die hards amongst us. Saravanaa Bhavan, is nestled nicely among the classics of the CURRYBOND corridor on Tooting High Street. Adorned with a white and red neon sign that certainly draws the eye, as well as an impressive list of other countries you can find similar fare, from USA to UAE, Kuwait to Qatar. Inside, it's fairly standard low key furnishings with bright lights and metal trays overflowing with veggie curry goodness. It's busy when we arrive and busy when we leave maintaining a nice hum of atmosphere throughout. Venue Score 7.5/10. We've got a solid turnout this time with most of the CURRYBOND regulars back on board. The menu is extensive and somewhat overwhelming...The inevitable curry greed kicks in and we proceed to order far too much food starting with some tasty sounding starters, Devilled Potato, Samosa, Chana Batura, Cocktail Idl, Masala Dosa, Paneer 65 and Onion Bhajis. Everything emerges extremely promptly but nonetheless everything tastes fresh straight out of the kitchen. The Chana Batura is spiced chickpeas accompanied by a mega puri which could have enveloped a small child! The cocktail Idls come first after a recommendation from our waiter and are excellent bite sized crunchy balls with a variety of chutneys to dip along with. My dosa is suitably giant, crispy and filled with tasty veg masala goodness. A lovely start then, for the most part...One of the lessons learnt from the curry journey has been South India is certainly not the home of the onion bhaji...Bhaji Score 2/10. It's not long before our mains emerge, in fact the prompt delivery starts to cause us some serious table space issues with metal trays quickly stacking up. After some stacking logistics we tuck to the main attractions. Mushroom Rogan Josh, Paneer Jalfrezi, Vegetable Butter Masala, Vegetable Jalfrezi and a full Indian meal presented in a lovely Thali tray with individual pots of intrigue. It is without exception, delicious. South India is clearly veggie Valhalla. The curries are deep, creamy and moorish, the rice is light, fluffy and fragrant and the breads and warm and crisp. My set meal gives me soup, curry, pickles, chutneys, rice, bread and then sweets! Our only regret is finishing most of the starters leaving limited capacity for the main courses. Food Score 8.5/10. With piles of curry trays and an embarrassing amount of leftovers we call for the bill. Without meat or alcohol to jack up the price we get a solid valued bill of £94.60 which comes in at £15.76/CURRYBONDer. Value Score 7.7/10. So, just when you thought you've done it all, Tooting pops up with yet another curry gem. If veggie's your thing, look no further than Saravanaa Bhavan, which makes a late dart for the top of the CURRYBOND leaderboard. If we'd had a few less CURRYBOND carnivores it might have just made it... Overall Score 8.2/10"
Paneer 65
