Where are you Lal?

As a vegetarian (with the occasional fish and chips binge), there's nothing I like more than eating out at a southern indian veggie restaurant. I know that I can eat pretty much everything on the menu and I can spend more than thirty seconds making my choice. While I'm on this topic, yah boo sucks to Chili's whose non carne offerings amount to, well, er, a caesar salad. Have they heard of veggie chilli? I cook a mean veggie chilli and will share the recipe with them for a price...

Yesterday I was up in Dubai and there's a number of veggie restaurants I love, the mainstay being the Saravana Bhavan in Bur Dubai. However, as I was in a celebratory mood I wanted to go somewhere a little more upmarket. I eat quite a lot of indian food at home and have a plethora of pickles and chutneys to go with it. One of my favourites is 'Mohanlal's Lime Pickle'.


For those who do not know, Mohanlal is a movie superstar in Kerala. Eating his pickles prompted me to find out more about the guy on the internet that then prompting me into buying one of his VCDs which was in Malayalam with no subtitles. Me and hubby spent the entire movie trying to spot him as so many of the male actors all look the same. My googling also pulled up a gem: the man has his own restaurant in Karama, Dubai. Me and hub decide we should go there next time we're in Dubai and yesterday I called 181 to get the restaurant's exact location while screaming down SZR (I wasn't driving). I tried the number and got one of those number not available noises. Oh no, don't tell me that the place has gone the way of many eateries in Dubai?

So, we ended up in the Saravana Bhavan again. Does anyone know what's happend to Mohanlals? We want to enjoy our puris under a fiberglass banyan tree!