We do have quite a number of Vegetarian restaurants in Trivandrum and the funny thing is that most of them have name that sounds the same but spelled differently… I am talking of-course about the various “Aryas” restaurants which have essentially became the goto reference for anything Vegetarian here… What I find weird is that the food pretty much tastes the same no matter which one you goto and when I enquired about them out of curiosity, turns out they aren’t owned by the same management as well… However, this post is about an exception that I recently discovered and this place is the Aariyas Restaurant at Kaniyapuram and so here we are… 🙂 The first thing I noticed about this place is that compared to the other “Aryas” places, this one has a very limited menu of just a handful of items… On most days, you only find a couple of Dosa items, Vada and Poori… So, here Lets talk about their Poori set, Vada and the Ghee Roast Dosa (cause the other Dosa item available is Masala Dosa and Ghee Masala Dosa, both made with the same Dosa and the same Masala that they give as part of the Poori set), shown in the pics below…
Yeah… I always buy their Vada whenever I order food from them… To be frank, I think this is the best Vada one can get in Trivandrum right now… They are incredibly soft and fluffy while being crispy outside… And unlike Vada from most places, this one has the taste of the Uzhunnu or Mung Dal quite well… And they always come perfectly seasoned and cooked and I find that they can be enjoyed on their own and also with the combination of Chutneys that they give with it… To be frank, I am yet to find another Vada option in Trivandrum that comes even close to the ones this place makes in terms of quality and taste… They are extremely light too that if you want to make a meal out of just the Vadas, you would need to buy at-least 10… One or Two is never enough for anyone 🙂
Coming to the Poori Set, I found the Pooris to be quite soft and easy to pull apart… I imagine they were quite crispy when made as there was some crispiness left in them in-spite of their journey packed to my home… From the taste and texture, it was clear that they have been made with good quality flour… The Potato Masala that came, as I said is the same that they use with their Masala Dosas and it had a very well balanced flavours of the Potatoes, Onions, Channa Dal, Ginger and Mustard and had a strong flavour of Green Chillies and by flavour, I do mean the flavour and not the heat and hence it was not Spicy at all… In fact I couldn’t feel any heat from those Chillies but rather a nice and fresh flavour of Green Chillies along with the Turmeric used… Seasonings felt spot on as well and the combination of the masala with the Poori seemed to work great and what I found to be even better was to have them with the Coconut and Tomato chutneys that were given (this is also why I buy their Vada with the Poori Set) as well… Sometimes this masala can be seen to have pieces of Carrots and/or Green Beans as well but not this time…
Next, lets talk about the Ghee Roast Dosa… They typically serve this with Sambar and two Chutneys, namely the Coconut Chutney and the Tomato Chutney… I always have a complaint that they don’t give you enough of these Chutneys when you order parcels for take out or home delivery… But then again, thats the case for pretty much all restaurants around here where they seem to treat them like as if they were made out of Gold… But when you dine in, they all give you as much as you need… So, not sure why the shortage in parcels… Anyways, just like their Vada, their Ghee Roast Dosa is my favourite too… This is because unlike most places, this one really has the fragrance and taste of Ghee, though I do question the quality grade of the Ghee thats being used (feel free to compare the Ghee sold by Milma and Nambisan’s to know what I am talking about)… But at-least it has Ghee whereas from most places, if you buy the Ghee Roast, you end up getting a dry roast dosa that hardly has any fragrance, let along taste of ghee, and in some cases, even if you do, you can clearly see that they have at-most used a drop (as if its made of Platinum) only at the center of the Dosa while in this one, you can feel the taste in every bite… And, just like the Poori, the Dosa too had some crispiness intact in-spite of the journey to my home… The accompanying Sambar is almost like the Sambar you get in most of the “Aryas” places but this one is a bit more concentrated and has some presence of lentils though Pumpkin is the main base… There is always some vegetables in it which typically includes, Carrots, Tomatoes, Onions and Chillies… Again, flavour of the Mustard is key here… The Coconut Chutney is just like any other except that they don’t water it down and tends to stay thick as can be seen from the pics… Flavour of Curry Leaves is what hits you along with the Coconut, Onions and Green Chillies… The Tomato Chutney is the Hot and Sour component as it seems to have been made with quite a generous amount of Dried Red Chillies along Onions and Tomatoes… The Sourness appear to come from the Tomatoes used itself, though sometimes I do wonder if they add anything like Lime juice or even Vinegar to it… But they always keep the spiciness and sourness well balanced with the flavours of the Onions and Tomatoes…
So, thats it… This particular restaurant has been a goto place to get Ghee Roast and Vada for both me and my parents… We do end up buying the Dosa more often that Pooris cause my mom makes them at home every few days… Anyways, based on the taste of the food, I think the team at Aariyas, Kaniyapuram deserves our support and hence the reason behind me writing this post… So, feel free to try their food if you haven’t already… They are located near Vettu Road junction (immediately after the junction if you are coming from Trivandrum city or Kazhakuttom side) along the National Highway… Feel free to check them out and let me know in the comments section below 🙂
