Veggie Nook: Swaad

Situated beside Gharonda, Swaad, started just about a year ago, is barely visible from behind the bus shelter on the main road of Padmarao Nagar. This ambiguity is quickly cleared as you step into the pleasant ambience of the spacious foyer with its comfortable waiting chairs.
Inside the restaurant, you find well-spaced wooden tables and chairs in an air conditioned room that can hold 72 people. The long buffet table in the center facilitates easy maneuverability. The windows all around are tastefully covered with bamboo chiks. The stark white walls exhibit bronze figurines each posing with an Indian musical instrument. Various lighting fixtures further accentuate the effect. Every effort is made to coalesce food and music— both complementing one another.
As soon as you seat yourself, you are served a refreshing fruit juice made of fresh fruits.
Swaad serves only vegetarian buffet at both lunch and dinner times. The buffet has as many as 44 items in all. On this day the menu is as following:

1. Three types of soups— Tomato, Sweet Corn Veg and plain Sweet Corn for the more bland palate.
2. Salads: thinly sliced raw vegetables like tomato, cucumber, beetroot, carrot and onion all arranged separately
3. Three kinds of chaat preparations: boiled peas tossed with finely chopped tomato and onion; chana chaat of soft-boiled chick peas; third, Kachumer chaat made of thinly shredded capsicum, tomato cucumber and onion. One common ingredient in all three is the lemon juice.
4. The starters consist of vegetarian Manchuria and ginger paneer. Both these are prepared with well balanced spices.
5. Rounding off the snacks section is the Indian favorite— the ‘paani puri’.
6. Two dry curries consist of Gobi and Bhendi fry
7. Four curries with gravy: Guthi vankayi koora, mixed vegetable curry, Aloo kurma and Paneer mutter
8. Curd items: Plain curd, curd rice, raita and dahi wada
9. Chinese: soft noodles and Gobi Manchurian wet
10. Rice items: Biryani and Jeera rice
11. Dal items: Dosakayi pappu, rasam. sambar
12. Desserts: Fruits, fruit custard, beetroot halwa, saboodanaa kheer ice cream and gulab jamun.
13. Three varieties of Indian breads: roti, naan and phulka
14. Accompaniments like paapads, ghee karampodi and pickles thus completing the South Indian menu

All food is presented in steel casseroles with uniquely designed hydraulic lids which shut quietly on release. Most of the food is prepared with mild spices and little oil and is easy on the stomach.
And to round up this Indian meal experience is the paan on offer too. All the necessary components are kept at the end of the buffet table. You need to pick them and roll out the paan for yourself.
The buffet is priced at Rs. 150 for an adult and Rs. 100 for a child. The restaurant timings are 12 to 3: 30 pm and 6:30 to 10:30 pm. Ample parking in cellar available

Pluses: Good selection of health foods
Minuses: No special items that you don’t find elsewhere
Food: 3/5; Ambience: 4/5
Located near Gharonda food court, Main road, Padmarao Nagar.