Aug 06, 2007 01:16 AM
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Saravana Bhavan is a household name for most of Chennaiites. That is because of two main reasons.Food here has an autherntic taste(especially the typical south Indian specifics like idli, vada, meals with sambhar, rasam etc) and Food is supposed to be very hygienically prepared.(kitchen cleanliness and the oil and other spices proportion .are supposed to be the best here)
My Earlier Experiences:
Eating out has never been part of my life until I was out of school and into college.the few times I have visited restaurants have been to Geetha Cafe - Pondy Bazaar, which was pretty decent in quality and service.
You just start having'junk food' like burgers, pizzas, and the habit just sticks and forms a routine in your life.going to Hot Chips, McRennet, Pizza Hut, Cakes and Bakesbecame part and parcel of college day enjoyment for me too.(like many of you all I guess) . I didn't find the need to taste South Indian food outside, as I got the best delicacies at home.So, the few family get-togethers we had, I used to have North Indian food.
During my glorious college days, I would have visited Sarava Bhavan with my family maybe a couple of times, (The Vadapalani branch) after some hectic shopping, and hence had South Indian Meals, which I found to be really good. Though the token system of serving food did irritate me a bit, I found all those can be tolerated to have some good food for starving stomachs.
We, (me and my friends) used to watch a picture at Udhayam Theatre, and have some quick tiffin at Saravan Bhavan at the Ashok Pillar branch, and I felt the quality was inconsistent all the time we visited. But the idea was to hang around with friends after all.and that branch was a Fast Food type, so there were no qualms about the service whatsoever.
How Saravana Bhavan became an unshaken part of my life
I've heard someone saying, you knowingly avoid something, that becomes unknowingly a part of your life.I deliberately avoided south Indian restaurants, for reasons I mentioned above, but landed up having lunch at Sarava Bhavan atleast once a week . And this was because I wanted a break from the kitchen routine, after slogging for nearly 5.5 days a week.(and did you think its because I couldn't cook well enough? ! ).and Sarava Bhavan seemed to be the safest bet with some elders at home who preferred a wider range of items.and our visits to Saravana Bhavan continued with branches alone changing from time to time(like Pondy Bazaar, T.Nagar, Ashok Pillar)
*The Food
As far as meals are concerned, they serve South Indian and North Indian Thali, Business class lunch(its nothing but a combination of North and South Indian meal), Quick lunch(which is, as the name suggests a limited meal).There are Chinese Speciality food too. Tiffin varieties include the common ones, and they taste much better than the meals. The mini-idlis(14 small idlis soaked in sambhar) are their speciality. Starters and soups are just fine, and there's nothing great about it. Icecreams and cakes at Saravan Bhavan are the crowd pulling items. You can't find a similar range elsewhere. Their blackforest cakes should not be missed.( I was told that they don't add eggs for their cakes, am not quite sure, but they are extremely good).Their sweets and savouries are fantastic and dependable to distribute among friends for any occasion They were purported to have great quality **but they are slackening drastically.
*The Service:
Coming to the service.or do I say the lack of it? yes.The waiters at Saravana Bhavan(all branches that I have visited and most of them, 1 or 2 people may be an exception) suffer from a severe attitude problem.A smile or atleast a nod would be a welcoming gesture.and that is the least anyone would expect. **That's not the only drawback when it comes to service. There have been instances when they don't even look at our face while placing orders.
*My Current Experience:
We didn't have any other choice and visited this hotel at **Eastham HighStreet this afternoon. I was totally famished and couldn't wait for lunch timing at Vasantha Bhavan or Chennai dosa there, hence had to compromise. There were hardly 4 people having food, so expected some speed service.
We ordered Gobi 65 and Golden Fried Babycorn as starters. We were told that Babycorn fried was not available and hence decided to have Gobi 65 alone. After 25 minutes of waiting(which I think is too much) we got some 4 inch long pieces in a plate with some sauce.they were the Golden Fried Babycorn, which we were told were not available! Fair enough, we anyway wanted to have it .after that we ordered Veg Biriyani and Navarathn Pulav.(I have a specific liking for the dry fruits generously topped in the Navarathna Pulav).we were served with the 2 items within 15-20 minutes which was acceptable. I could find green beans, carrots, mint, potatoes and peas, but no trace of dry fruits, nuts or fresh fruits.! I double-checked the menu card to find what description they have given for this rice delicacy.They had indeed mentioned about the dry fruits that I was expecting too.I called the manager and asked him about that, he said we don't add dry fruits, and when I showed him the menu card, he was puzzled and stammered something.Then went to kitchen, (which was very much in the vicinity and had a tough time arguing with the cooks there to get them redo the Navarathna Pulav).Thereafter he came and told us that rules are such that the waiters had to complete a 3 year catering diploma course to get a visa/workpermit to work in the London Branch and hence they were short of people and hence the hitches.There were 2 other families arguing with the manager for the grumpy attitude of the waiters.
When an established singer, messes up with a song, there is a section of crowd assuming the tune to be at fault. That is because, they have an already developed opinion or pre-conceived notion about the singer, that they fail to accept the flaw pointed out with regard to the voice of the singer. Same thing is happening with Saravana Bhavan. They were serving arguably the best food in the past, but are slowly drifting from their ideologies now.and there are people who still feel that the quality here is the ultimate.
However,
-They cannot hoodwink people with their past reputation for long.
-They need to revamp their menu card which seems to be uniform for many years now, and hence boring, and also their mode of service.
-When the price is on the higher side, people expect a better ambience.some soothing music
I sincerely appreciate their efforts and their progress. But its more than obvious that its now deteriorating. With the kind of competition they have at the moment, they need to take some serious steps to stay and save their face in the business.
