h_s, sorry to hear you have a conflict. But if you're gonna race instead of eat, then you had better win

Expecting to se the trophy at the picnic.

I apologize for the lack of updates, but coaxing the final details from the restaurant has taken a bit longer than I thought.

I will update today, but assume it is a greatest hits style menu for $20 per person including dessert and drinks. I wanted to bump this to get a final head count.

So far, we are at 12:

Confirmed guests
gastro gnome + 2
na
Cynthia
Suzy Creamcheese + 2
GAF
BR
RAB, REB

Any additions/subtractions?

We are all good as far as I know (and hungry ) but I was wondering if the $20 includes tip or not? If not, I assume $25 should be enough to cover - I'd just like to inform our guest up front if possible.

Suzy, thank you for asking as it is worth clarifying. The per person cost is for food and drinks only, as at the last dinner.

I will be speaking with Hansa tomorrow morning to finalize the menu and will post details and the finalized cost here. $20 is what it was last time and is my best guess at this point.

I had a late-breaking dietary restriction that threw things off a bit. One of my compatriots is Jain and cannot eat vegetables (root or otherwise) because of a religious week. Are there any other dietary needs I should be aware of before speaking to the restaurnt tomorrow?

No dietary restrictions for us. Really looking forward to this meal.

Just wondering, what does someone who can't eat vegetables eat at a vegetarian Indian restaurant? Besides bread. Lentils maybe? Though I would think that even the dal is made with onions and other aromatic veggies.

Yogurt? There is a chaat that features bhatura and sweetened yogurt. Which I have been meaning to try, incidentally.

RAB wrote:Just wondering, what does someone who can't eat vegetables eat at a vegetarian Indian restaurant?

This floored me as well. But typical Jain vegetarianism takes on many forms. Some Jains do not eat any root vegetables for fear that digging them up could harm tiny creatures/plants in violation of their strict adherence to nonviolence. Currently, it is during the holy days of Paryushan during which stricter measures are undertaken. Jains apparently have a wide variety of fasts.

Interesting excerpts:

• Varsitap: To eat on alternate days, and Upavas on the rest, for a whole year. Thus this fast is very rigorous since it entails a whole year of "tap" with eating no food on alternate days and eating food on rest of the days, while following the prescribed rules like not eating in the evening after sunset, not eating root vegetables (like potatoes, onions, ginger), and various other rules.
• Digambar Upvas: One may drink water only once a day, before sunset.
• Bela: To give up both food and water or only food continuously for two days.
• Navkarsi: Food and water is consumed a minimum forty-eight (48) minutes after sunrise. Devout Jains brush their teeth and rinse their mouths only after sunrise.
• Sadh-porsi: Taking food and water four hours and thirty minutes after sunrise.

According to my friend, she is strictly avoiding vegetables. Fruits such as tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants and peppers are all fine (she was happy to learn that all these were fruits). As are breads, dairy and all pulses (lentils) and legumes. I think the idea is just to adopt stricter practices than you do in your daily life where she is a vegetarian. Her family may have developed this practice for the holiday over time.

That was a bit of research, but I too was perplexed by the Indian vegetarian who couldn't eat at an Indian vegetarian restaurant.

Hope it's not too late to sign up. Just realized that we can in fact make it and I'd love to make another trip to Uru-Swati (only been once). figmolly & figjustin

Molly, I will confirm with the restaurant today, but it shouldn't be a problem.

Ok, confirmed. The dinner will be $21 per person including drinks, tax and tip. It is usually assumed that cash is king at these events but Hansa also mentioned it would be preferable to pay in cash.

The menu

Snacks: bhel puri, samosas, pakoras
Drinks: mango lassis, lime sodas
Meal: baigan bhartha, mailai kofta, channa massala, vegetarian biryani
Bread basket and sada dosa
Dessert: Assorted and galab jamun

Attendees:

gastro gnome + 2
na
Cynthia
Suzy Creamcheese + 2
GAF
BR
RAB, REB
figmolly, figjustin
dansch

Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow.

Really looking forward to this. See you tomorrow.

Is it too late to squeak in one more for this evening's dinner? I know it's late notice, but my schedule just freed up and I've been wanting to try this place.

Cheers,
-Dan

Dan, I called the restaurant and you are in to bring us to a total of 15. I will be out all afternoon so I am going to cap the group now.

See you all at 6

Thanks again gastro gnome for organizing this wonderful dinner. The food was excellent, the company was even better, and who could argue with leftovers for breakfast. As for favorite dishes, I would have to say the vegetarian biryani, followed closely by the garlic naan.

Thanks to all the LTHers (and non) who heeded the call of Uru-Swati. Never have I enjoyed myself so much in front of so fake a skyline. The food was pretty good too. This event definitely did not break any records for per capita photo-taking. I ham-handedly did what I could. The meal started out with unphotographed uttapaam and chutneys, raita and a salad plate of sliced vegetables. Then out came hot samosas, assorted pakoras and delicious individual bowls of bhel. This was already a lot of food. We took a 20 minute rest or so and GAF reminded me to press the shutter a few times as the mains trickled out.

We enjoyed:

Malai Kofta


Baigan Bharta


Channa Masala (in the foreground here)


We also received vegetable biryani as well as paratha as well as onion, garlic and regular naans

Not pictured were Mysore sada dosas served with a coconut chutney.


Left to right: a blurred GAF, Suzy Creamcheese and Todd's Memphis friend Pete, my friend Anand and Cynthia

It was a LOT of food

dansch, figmolly and figjustin fret uneasily about the onslaught of food they will surely encounter


GAF, Suzy Creamchease, Pete and Anand try to make a dent


l to r: a drinking RAB, a turned REB, me, GAF, an obscurred Shivani, turned Suzy, Pete, Todd, Anand, Cynthia, BR, na and Dansch enjoy the convivial atmosphere.

After another 30 minute break or so, we enjoyed some assorted sweets

(I made them only a *little* unrealistically colorful - they were bright). Also served as gulab jamun which was downed too quickly to be snapped.

All in all, this was a feast. I don't think anyone left with fewer than 2 take-out containers. They were ready to serve us 1 dosa per person, but this was more than our food-addled minds could handle, so we settled on 5 for the table. There was some discussion of the value of this meal which seemed quite high - especially given the more than a few (to me) stand-out dishes.

Uru-Swati knows how to take care of large parties. Things really ran very smoothly. I recommend the restaurant not only for the food but for the ability to handle such large groups with aplomb. They also readily accommodated a single Jain diner with dietary restrictions. To make special plates for one among a group of 15 is real service.

And for the food? I thought the bhel was just a knock-out. I ate the whole bowl knowing I might be sacrificing some stomach room. If you go, get the bhel. The channa masala was also excellent. And the veg biryani a bit of a surprise. It included cashews and bits of green beans and was really quite delicious.

I think I would have enjoyed the dosa as well if I had a little more capacity to enjoy it.

All in all, this was a great experience. Everyone was extremely friendly and conversation wide-ranging. It was great to meet most of you for the first time. As I said at the beginning of this thread, I pledged not to enter another Indian restaurant without an ordering squad of at least 5 or 6 people. Well LTH, thanks for getting my back and bringing even more ordering power to the table.

I can certainly see merit to the argument that Uru-Swati is the best vegetarian restaurant in the city. I didn't miss meat one bit. I didn't even eat any meat until over 24 hours later. Uru-Swati just might make you a vegetarian for a night and keep you that way.

Thanks again to everyone who made it a fun and delicious evening.

Thanks to Gastro Gnome for organizing a splendid, relaxed dinner at Uru-Swati. The food was tasty, and only outdone by the wonderful conversation. The service was also great - - as far as I could tell, anything requested was promptly delivered.

It truly was a feast. My two favorite items were the bhel and the garlic naan. I'd say I enjoyed nearly everything, but that no one item blew me away and would be calling me back for more. That said, because I've been to so few Devon Indian spots, I'll be likely to try others prior to returning to Uru-Swati.