Ananda Bhavan Vegetarian Restaurant

Once in a while, I love an impromptu date. I was asked by Miss K the night before our date, if I wanted to join her, her aunt and her cousin on a visit to Mustafa at 9am the next day. She and her aunt are my Mustafa kakis as without them, I have no reason to be there. A, Auntie L's daughter, happens to be in town from Canada where she lives with her family. K's aunt was married to an Indian man but he went Home to the Lord a long time ago when their 4 girls were very young. However, there is a very strong Indian influence in their household and Miss K too cooks a lot of Indian food. It's really funny that most of her family are of Indian/Chinese mix, and she, being pure Chinese, is very much influenced by them. She loves her rasam, cucumber & yoghurt salad, tandoori meats (which she prepares for her bbqs), ghee thosai, papadam, curries of course, etc etc.

A trip to Mustafa with them is always a learning experience. Spying all the interesting things which they put into their baskets, I can't help but ask questions. Thus, it was really great to have A along on this visit (but really, it was thanks to her that this trip even happened since she needs to stock up on her supplies for back home and to buy some stuff for her sisters in the US), as I learned a whole lot more stuff. She showed me what flour to buy for making thosai at home, taught me what to do with the lovely and fresh-looking sundried tomatoes which were so irresistible I had to get a small packet of it. I found tiny bottles of Skippy peanut butter which are perfect for my home (for future reference), and suddenly thought of Goober Grape which I have not had in many many years, and since my girl recently started consuming some peanut butter, I thought it'd be nice to introduce it to her the food of my childhood.

This departmental store really has every thing and anything you want. The pharmacy section alone blew me away! I spent some time there browsing and 'studying' products while I waited for the girls to arrive in the morning. Best of all, it is open 24/7!

A visit to Mustafa always begins with filling our tummies with thosai from across the road. It's almost a tradition. After all, to travel all the way to Little India, one has to have Indian food to start the trip on the right path. ;)

Behind me is Mustafa, the mall I mean. :P

While waiting for our drinks, we spied these yummy vadai and samosas.

The pretty empty restaurant.

A different view of the interior.

Auntie L had the Onion Rava Thosai.

A & KY had this Rava Thosai.

I get the plain boring thosai. :P

Ginger tea which 3 of us had.

Want a bite? ;)

The three of us wiped our plates clean. :)

Oops, Auntie L didn't manage to finish her thosai as it was too heavy with all the onion in there, but she did pack it home for her tea.

Photos were taken using the Iphone thus quality of pictures are not that great, but it was discreet. Haha. I wasn't about to take my camera out to take photos seeing that A was pretty embarrassed by her mum, cousin and I for acting like tourists hehe.

Unfortunately I can't find the exact address of this place but it's a big restaurant directly facing the main entrances of Mustafa in Little India. The road is Syed Alwi.