Croydon – Saravanaa Bhavan – Prices!

After a week of surprising football scores, everything went as expected today. Lord Clive of Crawley and Hector watched both matches simultaneously in Croydon. Clive reckoned there was nowhere left in Crawley with multiple TVs and decent ale, the recent refurbishment of Brewery Shades took care of that.

Towards the football finale, Clive mentioned Curry, there had to be something worthy nearby. Marg and Hector had Curry in Croydon with Sue in the days before Curry-Heute, there is no record therefore of where that decent venue is/was. Searches flashed up – Sangeeta’s: Authentic Indian Punjabi Food – which was metres from our locus. Having enjoyed – Bangaldeshi and Indian Cuisine – in the last two days, it was time for Hector to get back to his roots. Further research revealed that Sangeeta’s is a caterer, not even a Takeaway. Still, we went to check it out, QED.

Across the road from what may well be the best Wetherspoon’s in the UK lies Saravanaa Bhavan (18 George St, Croydon CR0 1PA), a Vegetarian multinational chain. The exterior suggested a small Curry Cafe, it turned out to be the proverbial Tardis. We were greeted and led to a table well into the interior of the premises. The majority of the diners appeared to be family groups having Thali.

A Waitress brought the Menu, Thali featured prominently I do not know the price of these.

Mushroom Rogan Josh (£6.45) looked like a possibility.

I suggested to Clive that we order different Dishes so as to get as much coverage as possible. £2.75 for a single Roti looked a bit extreme, all the Bread prices appeared to have been inspired by a trip to Aberdeen. Rice ranged in price from £5.25 to £6.75, how could this be justified? I kept seeing – Capsicum – mentioned across the Menu, I had had enough – Peppers – for this trip. How could I guarantee avoiding the – Dreaded Mush?

Our Waitress returned, she was bubbly, enthusiastic, an asset to any business. Firstly I enquired about the presence of Capsicum in so many dishes. I related my abhorrence of Green Peppers in Curry. She looked puzzled for a moment, then a penny dropped.

I didn’t know Capsicum was a Pepper! – she admitted.

I then enquired about the size of the Rice portions making hand gestures to convey – small, medium, large. She decided to lead to me another table where a family were enjoying their meal. Photography would have been an intrusion, I could not believe my eyes. It would have taken two portions, at least, to get anywhere near what could be considered a – Hector Rice portion. Having written oft about the waste of Rice across mainland Europe in particular, where huge portions of Rice accompany Main Courses and so go to waste, here was the antithesis. I must again point out that in most mainland Europe venues, Rice is inclusive, as it often is in Bradford. I returned to our table.

Clive, we’re off.

Clive was gobsmacked. Hector was walking out of a Curry House.

I explained the scenario to Clive and made our apologies to the Waitress.

A third Croydon venue which potentially appealed had recently gone out of business. There would be no Croydon Curry-Heute. It was back to Crawley for a late night Kebap at the only Kebab House which features in this Blog which does not serve Curry – Kismet Kebab (3 Broadwalk, Crawley, RH10 1HJ, England).

Here the Donner Kebab is home-made, I established on one of my previous two visits. Despite three years having passed, Mein Host recognised me. I decide to – go large.

Eight Pound what? Prices!

At least I was given extra Green Chillies, I love Pickled Chillies.

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Saravanaa Bhavan – Menu

Hector will return to Sarvanaa Bhavan when the lottery ticket comes up – BIG!