Veggie- delight!

If you thought Subway sandwiches are the healthiest in town, the Cholayil Sanjeevanam vegetarian restaurant at Adyar could change your opinion. This cosy little restaurant at Adyar offers ‘Rajakeeyam’, a sumptuous South Indian meal on a banana leaf which true to its name is king-size. The restaurant, an innovative concept developed by A.V. Anoop, owner of the Cholayil group dedicated to providing Ayurvedic healthcare products and services, started its first branch in Kerala. Today, they have 3 branches in Chennai and one recently inaugurated in Bangalore.

“We do not use any artificial ingredients, stimulants, preservatives or colours in the food making it a perfect choice for a balanced healthy meal”, explains M. Yuvraj, manager of the restaurant and that is what makes Sanjeevanam stand apart.

“We do not even use onion and garlic and as a sweetener we use palm candy, the best alternative for sugar. It helps in lowering the calories for diabetics and people tackling the problem of obesity”, says Yuvraj.

The meal starts off with five different juices- dates juice, nuts milk, vegetable clear soup, buttermilk and bran rice water which needs to be consumed in that order. The juices help remove toxins from your body and increase your appetite. Then you are served with 12 different curries along with bran rice and dal.

Confused as to how to go about with a meal with so much variety? No problem, a waiter sticks around with first- timers, letting them know the goodness of each dish they’re consuming and how to have them.

The curries are served in three rows- the first row has raw vegetable curries, second has semi cooked and the third is fully cooked, which need to be, again, consumed in that order.  The variety is so enormous and the myriad of colours and flavours on your banana leaf may seem like you have been presented with an entire vegetable garden. They serve you simple dishes with spinach, beetroot and cucumber to unique ones made with banana stem and flower. Even drinking water is flavoured with fenugreek or tulsi.

If you thought your meal is over with that, you’re thoroughly mistaken. The waiter splurges your banana leaf again with white rice and some more accompaniments which include sambar, rasam, buttermilk and payasam (kheer). All this and you get to have as many helpings as you want.

At the end of the meal, you are given a spoon of honey which aids in digestion and a bheeda filled with carrot, beetroot, grated coconut, raisins and jaggery, an innovated version of the traditional Indian mouth freshener.

“You can eat to your hearts full here and still it feels light on your stomach”, says Rajkumar, a regular customer.

This week, Sanjeevanam celebrates ‘Dosa Nites’, enticing dosa lovers with a lip-smacking range of over 30 dosas with an array of accompaniments and stuffings.

The Rajakeeyam meal is definitely a dream come true for veggie-lovers and an incredible experience for anyone who walks in hungry for a good South Indian meal.