Naivedyam

Naivedyam (Fine South Indian and they accept Sodexho :P)

Hauz Khas Village, South Delhi

Awesome Rasam & Kesari sheera

So there was a craving for eating out, this time it was for some nice, inexpensive, really good, non junk, low fat food.  It had to be south indian. The closest and reasonable we could think of was Naivedyam. The other options were Udupi, but the food is not so great, and Sagar Ratna, which is aah.. never mind. This was my second visit to Naivedyam, and the place doesn’t really disappoint.

Situated in the lovely Hauz Khas Village (Village? Really?), Naivedyam has a lovely entrance. Banana shoots on either side, huge leaves making an arch. A cute idol of nandi, with a beautiful lit lamp, matched with incense sticks burning, makes for quite an entrance!

The seating inside is warm and pleasant, lovely paintings adorn the walls. I was surprised to see on a Wednesday night, it had some 70% occupancy. There is classical music playing in the background adding to the whole appeal of the place.

Each table is served with a welcome drink (Rasam) and an appetizer (Fried Papad). The rasam is breathtaking. Together the combination of rasam and papad, make for an excellent start to the meal.

Naivedyam serves the regular south Indian food, its only vegetarian. They have everything from Idlis, vadas, upma, pongal (during the day), dosai varieties, oothapams, types of rice, appams. There are Dosai specialities like the tangam paper dosai, panchtantra dosai which is set dosai, erulli masala is with onions, maharaja dosai is with dry fruits. Rice varieties include the lemon rice, bisbele bath, tamarind rice.  It is decently priced for delhi standards. Idlis are for 70, vadai (80), Rice (90). Average meal for two is about 400 bucks.

                                               Awesome Filter Coffee

We ordered a plate of Vegetable Idli, masala Vadai and Mysore Masala Dosa. The Veg Idli was okay, masala vadai was decent, so was the mysore masala. One of the best masalas I have had. The accompaniments, only the coconut chutney was good. The Sambhar was bland, too much water, the malgapudi was a disappointment.

For desserts we had the Kesari Bhath, and it was just too good. Perfect in fact, the right amount of sweet, less ghee, a must have! Also Try their filter coffee too, does not let you down.

Oh and now for the most amazing part. Naivedyam accepts Sodexho coupons, so all the good food, nice ambiance, it is not a bad deal at all. In fact, if you somewhere near Hauz Khas and in a mood for idli, vadai and dosai, go to this place. After all you get to pay with paper money!

Cheers!