Lovely decor at Sva-ahaar, J M Road Pune
We had quick trial of this place couple of weeks ago and tried Sweet chili tofu with pineapple stir fried noodles and Apple cinnamon soy smoothie at that time and we had loved it. So we had decided to visit it again to try wider range of their offerings with larger group.
So eight of us visited it yesterday including 2 kids! We tried several dishes including their weekend special: Sadya. This is our impression about the restaurant.
Food experience: Of course food is the most important factor of any restaurant. I can tolerate poor ambiance, slow service as long as the food itself is good! Though the menu is not exhaustive, it offers quite some variety and almost all those dishes are unique.
BTW, note that Sva-Ahaar serves only vegetarian food!
We tried Iceland vegetable soup, Onion & thyme soup, Stirfry broccoli with coconut, Sweet chili tofu with pineapple stir fried noodles, Mix vegetables sandwich, Crispy tofu sandwich with ginger peanut sauce, Sadya (Kerala Thali), Brown rice with red Thai curry, Sambar rice. And then we finished our delicious meal with Apple cinnamon soy smoothie, Papaya orange smoothie and Pomegranate line sabja juice. As you can see, we have tried quite a few dishes and had a chance to taste large variety of their spread.
Iceland vegetable soup And Onion & thyme soup at Sva-Ahaar
Delicious Sadya served on weekends at Sva-Ahaar
Tasty Sweet chili tofu with pineapple stir fried noodles at Sva-Ahaar
Brown rice with red Thai curry at Sva-Ahaar
Mildly flavored Stirfry broccoli with coconut at Sva-Ahaar
Crispy tofu sandwich with mouth watering ginger peanut sauce at Sva-Ahaar
Almost all those dishes were wonderful with an exception of Red Thai Curry, it was thin and somewhat bland - it didn't taste as good as the one you get in specialty Thai restaurants. The coconut milk was thin, and those flavours were missing. Nevertheless, it was freshly cooked and all the veggies were fresh and nice. The sandwiches were great - the ginger peanut sauce was absolutely mouth-watering. Both the stir-fry dishes, Stirfry broccoli with coconut and Sweet chili tofu with pineapple stir fried noodles were great. They were not oily at all, in fact one could hardly taste any oil in the broccoli dish with coconut. It had nice mild flavour that we relished with salt-n-pepper. Taste wise, Sweet chili tofu with pineapple stir fried noodles was much better though. However, it was not as great as we had tried for the first time 2 weeks ago and quantity was lesser as well. Sadya was nice as well, lots of small accompaniments with Sambar rice and really awesome rassam! Their rassam not overly spicy, but retains that special flavour. We simply loved it!
As for the drinks, Apple cinnamon soy smoothie, Papaya orange smoothie were divine. Somehow, Pomegranate lime sabja juice was not as great as we had anticipated and it tasted slightly bitter. It didn't have soaked sabja seeds that we expected and when we asked about sabja, we were informed that they were cold-pressed with the juice itself. Again, quantity was little less as compared to what we got 2 weeks ago. Probably, they ran out of ingredients by the time we finished - in fact we had ordered 4 Pomegranate lime sabja juice, but they told us that they could give only 3. The quantity was still quite less.
Apple cinnamon soy smoothie And Pomegranate lime sabja juice at Sva-Ahaar
However, barring the exception of Red Thai Curry, I would say everything else tasted very good! The food here is highly recommended - no two ways about it.
Service: We had heard some stories about the delay here and were worried about it. However, we did not face inordinate delay for any of these dishes except one (more about it later). Soups were served in 8-10 mins and Sadya was readily available as well. By the time we finished our soup, rest of the dishes started arriving and we were happy with that. Given that all the food is freshly prepared as per order (no ready-made red, brown, white gravies here), the time they take is acceptable. However, there was one problem: we ordered 4 Sweet chili tofu with pineapple stir fried noodles, and three of them were delivered promptly but remaining one took almost 50-55 mins after we ordered. In fact, rest of us had finished our meal when it finally arrived. When I discussed this with the owner Rajan, he informed me that the noodles were over and they had to cook them again. I just think he should have informed us so that we could have ordered something else. Anyway!
The service was very polite and courteous. They helped us with menu selection and were nice enough to serve us separate Sambar-Rice which was not part of menu. They also ensured that kids' dishes arrived quickly and they didn't have reason to grumble.
Since it is a new restaurant, I guess they are still getting organized and I hope they would reduce delay as much as possible. That would ensure that customers do not get disappointed despite their awesome food!
Ambiance: Sva-Ahaar is a smallish restaurant that could barely accommodate 12-15 people. However, the decor is quite pleasant and classy. Despite being close to noisy J M road, it offers calm and quiet ambiance with wholesome, tasty food. I hope they can keep quality and quantity of food consistent and I am sure that they would attract lot more happy patrons for their delicious and unique food!
I had a chance to chat briefly with its owner: Rajan (Sanjeet Rajan Kolkattil, as seen in the photo below) and told him how much we loved the food.
Owner of Sva-Ahaar: Rajan, Sanjeet Rajan Kolkattil
Here are couple of suggestions that I believe would help them improve:
- Delay: As mentioned earlier, one dish almost took an hour after we ordered it. This won't be acceptable for most customers. It's a new restaurant offering rather different dishes, so it might take them some time to figure out what is most popular and keep its ingredients ready to serve it faster. Moreover, when they run out of something, it is best to inform customer about the possible long delay and check if he/she would like to change the order instead.
- Consistent quality and quantity: When we had tried two dishes about 2 weeks ago, Sweet chili tofu with pineapple stir fried noodles had more soy sauce and tasted different. It was probably given enough time to get those pineapple pieces caramelized enough to give them that divine test and aroma. This time, pineapple pieces were little under-cooked and quantity was much lesser as well. Even quantity of Apple cinnamon soy smoothie was much lesser than what we had last time. I hope they keep the taste and quantity consistent.
I would highly recommend this restaurant. Where else do you find such eclectic, delicious & healthy food offerings that allow you to indulge without much guilt?
Sva-Ahaar is definitely a must-try restaurant if you love vegetarian food!
| Rating - Food - 4/5 Service - 3.5/5 Ambiance - 4/5 Value for money - 4/5 Overall - 4/5 |
