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WTF - Sivar Kadai in Colombo

Mar 30 2017.

What - Pure Vegetarian Restaurants
Where - Hotel Amirthaa, Rishi Foods, Sri Vihar

Today I need to clear a big doubt that many may have about the term "Sivar Kadai". 'Saivum' in Tamil means vegetarianism, so the term "Sivar Kadai" stems from this and Saivism was more prevalent in Southern India, and making it more local, we call it Sivar and not Sivam!

This week, we wanted to visit a few places that specialise in this type of food, and the place to be is more towards Colombo 13 and Colombo 6. We drove around Colombo and I put my 16 year stay in Wellawatte to good use. Back in the days when Mummy was broke and she was tight for time, all of us enjoyed an all vegetarian meal. Most of the places are now closed down, but only for better ones to come around.

Our first stop was at Hotel Amirthaa.

You cannot expect the best service here; they can be rude. I'm also guessing they thought I'm from Canada, and they asked me a few times, and every time I said NO, they just did not believe me!

We ordered the famous milk hoppers, but were disappointed as it just did not have milk, and was a bit dry.

Address: Frankfurt Place, Colombo 04
Phone: (011) 2 593447
Hours: Open daily from 6:30AM - 10:00PM

Our second stop was at Rishi Foods.

This is now the "Talk of the Town" in Wellawatte. The place is smaller than a train compartment. The food is very popular with a huge variety that they serve up, from noodles, stringhoppers and the usual vadei.

The place is run by Mr. Ramanathan and he is from Nuwara Eliya. He works with a small team of boys who are very efficient. Even though the place is small, they can host 8 people in one seating.

We had the vadei and idly, and it was totally worth the amount!

Address: 459A, Galle Road Colombo 6
Phone: 0774 125 335
Hours: Open daily

Our third stop was at Sri Vihar.

Sri Vihar (formerly known as Shanthi Vihar), is a well-known vegetarian Indian restaurant located at the Thummulla junction. The food tastes great, and this is the most popular place for a cheap dining experience!

We had paper dosai at Rs. 160 and the chillie parata at Rs. 220, (which is available from 3:30PM - 10:30PM), both of which tasted good. So all the other shortcomings in the place are not an issue. One more thing - Ronnie Leitch loves this place!