Ananda Bhavan Cafe

I wrote this soon after I dined, right here in this hidden gem of a pure, authentic South Indian vegetarian restaurant. The place is well ventilated, airy, clean and has a good exhaust in the kitchen I guess which lent an aroma. Most Indian restaurants have a strong odour, note that aroma is appetising but not odour. I was intending to order the “Mini Sambhar idly (12 pieces) but went for a cup of hot tomato soup and the “Combo 3” which was Idly, Vada, Ven Pongal, Bisibelabath, two chutneys (coconut and peanut), sweet for dessert and a papad (more like a huge potato chip only it’s not potato but flour) Coming from Chennai, I can be harsh in my criticism if a South Indian restaurant does not serve that quality that I grew up with in my beloved Chennai. The ven pongal was delicious and the bisibelabath was very authentic and yummy. The chutneys were fresh. The Idly and vada were top notch. The Sambhar passed my test. I say this because I cook Sambhar all the time and make the Sambhar powder from scratch. I could tell that this restaurant does that too! Now I will explain why I gave this restaurant 4 stars. 1) The tomato soup though very hot and tasty was not made from scratch like most Indian restaurants in India do. I guess they just diluted a can of store bought tomato soup and heated it. Maybe ? 2)When I walked in, there were only two other people seated separately. But was wondering why I had to spend so much time waiting to be served and food brought to the table ? Other than that, love this place and will go back many more times !

Pretty tasty South Indian food. We got the Masala Dosa and the Mysore Masala Dosa as well as the plantain Bhaji, idly, and vada everything was pretty tasty. Service was a little slow even though they weren’t very crowded. They’d forgotten one part of our order but got it out pretty quickly once reordered. One of the chutneys that’s the dosa come with is an unappetizing pink color, but it’s actually pretty tasty with a peanut flavor. The ratio of breading to plantain in the bahjis could have been better, but even with all the breading they still didn’t taste super oily. The masala potatoes in the dosa are a bit more mushy and cooked down than I’m used to but it was tasty. Would definitely go back.

A nice humble place that we finally decided to try and it was a good decision. We ordered the curry masala dosa and plantain bhaji. The dosa was tasty with really good accompaniments of chutneys although a bit on the oily side. The plantain bhaji were piping hot and crunchy - quite delicious. Will be back here to explore more of the menu soon

I rate south indian restaurants by how well they make coconut chutney. The simplest thing they can make yet shows that they care making it right. They failed in that first. We ordered poori and those came very flat instead of puffy. Medhu vada was very crispy and good. The service was good but unfortunately taste came short of my expectations.

I was looking for an opportunity to visit this place, since it is so close to my home. Finally I made it last weekend. Ordered one of their combos on the menu, which included Pongal, Idly, Vada, Sweet, Sambar and two types of chutney. Liked the pongal and the sweet. Idly was OK too. I had to wait a little bit for vada to be served which was part of combo. Generally combo was good, vada could have been better. Will try other items on the menu on my next visit.