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REVIEWS - Bituntha Vanam

Phone: (905) 281-3332
400 Dundas St E, Mississauga, ON

Bituntha Vanam is a restaurant that serves Sri Lankan and South Indian meals. It isn't comfortable and it's in a terrible location (next to a video shop and a casket store).

Despite that, there is often a long queue of Indian and Sri Lankans to pick up food for takeaway. The reasons are many.....

Although not strictly vegetarian, there are a number of vegetarian dishes. Many of these are fortunately also vegan. Unlike the north of India, where many dishes are made using ghee (clarified butter), or other milk products, the dishes of the more tropical south and of Sri Lanka are oftentimes made using coconut oils instead.

Appetizers are many, but our favourites are probably the crispy fried lentil and sesame seed crisps (not sure of their name), and the vegetable rotis. The rotis aren't to be confused with the Jamaican dish of the same name. These are bready triangles about 2 inches thick, stuffed with vegetables. Not spicy, they are a stodgy but flavourful start to the meal

Our favourite dish is far and away, the Masala Dosa. These are commonly served as lunch-time dishes in South Asia. The "dosa" is basically a thin pancake approximately 18 inches long, made of rice, lentil flour and fenugreek seeds. The batter is left to ferment for a few days, and then fried lightly to create a beautifully textured pancake. The dosa is wrapped around a mild potato and vegetable stuffing, but served with a mildly fiery tomato sauce (Sambhar) and a not-so-mildly fiery coconut chutney (grated chutney with mustard seeds, chillies and other spices).

The entire dish is served on a long, narrow silver platter with the edges of the dosa hanging stiffly off either end. The price for this......? $3.00!

Another of our favourite meals there is the Thali. This is a large dish, with rice as the central character. 3 different vegetable, and lentil dishes surround the rice as well as a salty pickle condiment and raita (made with cream, so vegans beware). This meal could probably feed two, but it's a wonderful way to try a few different types of dishes. I believe that this is in the $4-$5 range.

Beer and alchohol is available (at standard prices, no discounts there I'm afraid).

When ordering masala dosai (plural for dosa) for take-out, don't be alarmed at the containers used. The dosa with filling are wrapped in tinfoil, but the sambhar and coconut chutney are put in plastic bags despite being steaming hot. We've only had a break once in the many times we've ordered, so it works quite well. Take out orders are discounted (from their already incredible price).

The staff don't speak much, but when they do - they're often inquisitive as to why 2 caucasians are there. On one occasion, they asked me whether I was from India!? They're very affable and friendly and their restaurant is one of our best finds ever.

groovegan rating: *****

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