- Bib Gourmand, Eat, Italian Restaurant
Sri Krishna Bhavan Pure Vegetarian restaurant review
- Cheap Eats, Dubai Restaurants, Eat, Indian Restaurants
- Share
Sri Krishna Bhavan Pure Vegetarian restaurant review
Sri Krishna Bhavan Pure Vegetarian should be on everyone’s lips in Dubai, as its South Indian cuisine simply storms.
Written by Liam Collens // Read more reviews here. You can find Liam on Threads, Instagram or Facebook.
The Highs
The Lows
The Highs
The Lows
Sri Krishna Bhavan Pure Vegetarian restaurant review
Sri Krishna Bhavan is not much to look at from the outside, but do not let that deter you. Press on, open the door and pull up a chair.
Order a fresh zesty lime aid spiked with salt and plenty of ground black pepper. The waiter cracks a can of soda water, adding a slug of spritz as the bubbles percolate through the ice and tumble this saline citrus alchemy. Suck it down. Isn’t that wildly refreshing? It quenches and satiates those parched corners of the human body that water only dreams about.
I mix up three a week these days while telling myself I am doing a health.

All the makings of a fresh lime soda
Sri Krishna Bhavan languished on my “one-day” list until a Delhite friend who accompanies me now and then on such culinary expeditions called me up with that tapping her watch tone in her voice down the phone to remind me it’s been far too long. As usual, she is right and, as usual, I pick the next rendezvous point.
She is vegetarian with an unpredictable disposition to dairy, and, importantly, she hails from North India, so like that, the glove fit, and off we go. We’ve dined in Avatara, Nobu, Tresind Studio, and more. Sri Krishna Bhavan is worlds away from these places but still impresses.

Sri Krishna Bhavan’s exterior is modest to say the least with muted greys, a large sign and black out blinds. It’s almost as if they don’t want you to go inside.
Order a fresh zesty lime aid spiked with salt and plenty of ground black pepper. The waiter cracks a can of soda water, adding a slug of spritz as the bubbles percolate through the ice and tumble this saline citrus alchemy. Suck it down. Isn’t that wildly refreshing? It quenches and satiates those parched corners of the human body that water only dreams about.
I mix up three a week these days while telling myself I am doing a health.
All the makings of a fresh lime soda
Sri Krishna Bhavan languished on my “one-day” list until a Delhite friend who accompanies me now and then on such culinary expeditions called me up with that tapping her watch tone in her voice down the phone to remind me it’s been far too long. As usual, she is right and, as usual, I pick the next rendezvous point.
She is vegetarian with an unpredictable disposition to dairy, and, importantly, she hails from North India, so like that, the glove fit, and off we go. We’ve dined in Avatara, Nobu, Tresind Studio, and more. Sri Krishna Bhavan is worlds away from these places but still impresses.
Sri Krishna Bhavan’s exterior is modest to say the least with muted greys, a large sign and black out blinds. It’s almost as if they don’t want you to go inside.
Sri Krishna Bhavan’s decor
Sri Krishna Bhavan’s decor is a mishmash executed well and betrays its slovenly exterior. A bright white ceiling is punctured with warm, honeyed wood squares that almost mirror the floor’s geometric patterns. A second, lighter tone of wood stretches along a vast back wall interrupted by a coal-black pillar. Not all the chairs match, but some do. Some are white, some teal, while others are just wood. An oversized bucolic mural speaks of somewhere beautiful and painted with a sense of nostalgia. There’s both a grandeur and a humility to Sri Krishna Bhavan. Someone spent time putting this together. It is a warm space that quickly fills with regulars as we approach one pm.

Sri Krishna Bhavan’s interior decor is worlds away from the outside with warmer colours that all come together in one vivid dining room.
Sri Krishna Bhavan’s interior decor is worlds away from the outside with warmer colours that all come together in one vivid dining room.
Anyone who needs convincing that vegetarian food is not only exciting, vivid, spicy, tangy, and the stuff of swooning joy but, more importantly, light years away from the vapid cardboard mulch of Linda McCartney frozen broccoli tots need look no further. Book a taxi and tell them I sent you for the medu vadas.
Sri Krishna Bhavan is South Indian, but not exclusively so. Diners order steamed idlis dredged in tomato-rich sambhar broths, bowls of dahi puri blanketed with cooling yoghurt, samosas folded like a secret, rust-stained paneer tikka and tandoor gobi (cauliflower). Show-stopping Thalis are served on trays traditionally lined with banana leaves in quaint silver kadais (available during select hours, the menu warns). The ferocious waft of garlic naans hits the nostrils as a flaky, buttery stack floats passed to a neighbouring table.
Inside Sri Krishna Bhavan, a bucolic oversized mural.
Anyone who needs convincing that vegetarian food is not only exciting, vivid, spicy, tangy, and the stuff of swooning joy but, more importantly, light years away from the vapid cardboard mulch of Linda McCartney frozen broccoli tots need look no further. Book a taxi and tell them I sent you for the medu vadas.
Oh, those medu vadas! Those bronzed beauties. Sublime savoury doughnuts of a satisfyingly crisp frame that collapse to a pillowy pale centre. The hole is judiciously used to grab one and never let go. The vadas sop up the crimson tomato-lentil sambhars like an edible sponge. They are stunning fist-sized mouthfuls resigned to our memories in only seconds.
Sri Krishna Bhavan’s Medu Vadas with Masala Dosa and an array of chutneys.
A Davanagere Benne Masala Dosa—the size of a satellite dish—enters our orbit. We lift the sandwiched, crisp, sturdy, paper-thin dosa, generously dotted with butter, to reveal a mound of soft, spiced potato. It is one of the best masala dosas to ever pass these lips.
Sri Krishna Bhavan’s dishes are not complex but undoubtedly stretch beyond my capabilities. It exudes a humility, but quiet capability that, until now, feels like a secret cossetted by those who know better. Four people messaged me on Instagram telling me it is their favourite place. Three of them are chefs. So perhaps this is just me. A Westerner who is too often lured by shinier places with fatter marketing budgets and premium locations. Sri Krishna Bhavan is not fancy; at least, it is not “Dubai Fancy”. Branches in Barsha and Karama do not signal fine dining, nor is it a place symptomatic of backpacker’s holidays. It is just plain good and very affordable. An exhilarating way to get your five a day.
Sri Krishna Bhavan’s Davanagere Benne Masala Dosa with a heap of spiced potato.
Plates come thick and fast while I bottle-feed my son. I wish they slowed down (or asked us if we needed time), but the kitchen is ready when it’s ready. Sadly, a few dishes wait, so our puri bhajis wilt from thin, delicate, puffed carb balloons to the flaccid sag of once was, but that is our fault. Eat them fresh and fast. A coriander chutney does the heavy lifting to resuscitate their greatness.
We order another round of tomato sambhar, asking for it, pipping hot to sip like a soup in atonement for all this fried deliciousness.
Sri Krishna Bhavan’s Tomato and Lentil Sambhar.
Our vegetable uthappam resembles uncooked pizza dough studded with red onion and peppers of different sizes. It is so large that you could share it with a small village. The fermented rice and lentil batter lends a slight funk that gives way to the vegetables that retain enough crunch to put our back teeth to work. This uthappam is the least impactful in an array of dishes amped with depth and flavour, so we make quick use of the peanut chutney and jaggery-laced dips available.
Sri Krishna Bhavan’s Vegetable Uthappam
We finish with the sheera of the day: Kesari Bath, where the plump, fully hydrated semolina sings of fresh pineapple, sugar and that most marvellous of things, ghee. It resists being tooth-chatteringly sweet. The presentation is a beige mound of “here is food” intended for two, but eaten almost exclusively by myself.
An astonishingly low bill is paid by two who ate like ranis and maharajas. We waddle out where I must have told ten people about Sri Krishna Bhavan within the week. Cheerful and cheap, a place people deserve to know more about. That is why I penned these words.
Sri Krishna Bhavan Pure Vegetarian Restaurant, Would I Return?
In a heartbeat. I look forward to bringing Mrs EatGoSee here.
Vegetarians, lovers of South Indian food, or even North Indian food for that matter.
Four courses, one dessert, two drinks and a large bottled water was AED 126 incl. VAT.
Medu vada, AED 15
Davanagere Benne Masala Dosa, AED 23
Puri Bhaji, AED 18
Kesari Bath, AED 15
Large bottled water, AED 4
Fresh Lime Soda, AED 13
Diet Pepsi, AED 5

Receipt from our visit to Sri Krishna Bhavan.
Sri Krishna Bhavan Pure Vegetarian Restaurant, Al Ghurair Apartment Shop #8, Al Barsha 1, Dubai or Shamma Building, 318 8C St, Al Karama, Dubai. Call 043438288 for more information.
Sri Krishna Bhavan Pure Vegetarian Restaurant, Who Should Go?
Vegetarians, lovers of South Indian food, or even North Indian food for that matter.
Sri Krishna Bhavan Pure Vegetarian Restaurant, how much was it?
Four courses, one dessert, two drinks and a large bottled water was AED 126 incl. VAT.
Medu vada, AED 15
Davanagere Benne Masala Dosa, AED 23
Puri Bhaji, AED 18
Kesari Bath, AED 15
Large bottled water, AED 4
Fresh Lime Soda, AED 13
Diet Pepsi, AED 5
Receipt from our visit to Sri Krishna Bhavan.
Sri Krishna Bhavan Pure Vegetarian Restaurant, Al Ghurair Apartment Shop #8, Al Barsha 1, Dubai or Shamma Building, 318 8C St, Al Karama, Dubai. Call 043438288 for more information.
You May Also Like
Loading...
- Arabic Restaurants, Casual Dining, Dubai Restaurants, Eat
- Dubai Restaurants, Eat, Fine Dining, Japanese Restaurants, Michelin Guide Dubai, Spanish Restaurants