Of camel, elephant and horse

I was somewhere near Mustafa in Little India. Was very hungry, didn't have breakfast. Desperately looking for lunch, and I thought it should not be a problem looking for vegetarian food in Little India. Saw an aircon place and walked straight in (weather extremely hot) and did not even know the name. Looked like an indian fast food restaurant, something like Komalas.

Momentarily stuck at the ordering counter because there were simply too many items on the menu and I was straining my eyes to understand what was what. There were many types of naan and rice sets and even burgers and fries. And so many types of drinks. There were northern indian sets and southern indian sets. There was even a vegetarian burger. Almost ordered that but felt like having naan.

So I ordered a Butter Naan Set. I asked if the gravy was vegetarian, they said yes. Good! I also ordered the Mango Lassi, their yogurt drink, which I like. Collected my order from another counter. They gave me 2 pieces of butter naan, which looked oily (because of the butter) but it really was not oily at all. There were 3 types of gravy and some raw cut onions with lime. The gravy was nice and not spicy at all, one of them tasted more of soft tofu pieces, the other was soft mixed vegetables, and the last was a darkish gravy. Sorry don't know what were the names of the dishes. If I am a full time vegetarian, I think I would have preferred to be an Indian. Because there are so many variations of vegetarian dishes they have created as many Indians are full-time or partial vegetarians. Also, I truly believe that in one of my past lives, I was definitely an Indian.   

I have always loved naan, because it tasted chewy and substantial and felt less oily than roti prata. But 2 pieces were always an overkill. Ideally one and a half of naan would be the perfect portion for me. Luckily I had the raw onions, making the whole meal less "jelak". Loved all 3 types of gravy. And the Mango Lassi was appetising. Then as I was eating, I noticed the signage across one side of a wall of the restaurant, was talking about Vegetarianism. Hmm, it was only then it occurred to me, it might be a vegetarian restaurant! Felt so sheepish and silly that I was asking the service staff earlier on if this and that was vegetarian. So malu (Malay for embarrassed).

When I walked out of the restaurant, I turned around to see the name - Ananda Bhavan VEGETARIAN Restaurant!  Blur me. I will be back again.

By the way, written on the signage inside the restaurant :

The Stamina of a Camel
The Strength of an Elephant
And the Beauty of a Horse
Are all sustained on a Vegetarian Diet.
Vegetarianism - a Healthier Food Choice.

So nicely put and reassuring, I like. :P

And in order to ensure I am fully healthy, I thought I'd better start taking multi-vits and calcium for the bones. This is not the first time I am taking all these tablets. Have always wanted to start but every time whenever I attempted to previously, I always stopped half-way because it was either too heaty or I fell sick or I forgot to take regularly. This time, I am determined I should finish the course. I found and bought the cheapest ones because I didn't want to spend too much money (in case I "tak jalan" again). And I managed to find a multi-vits which are called VegiCaps Soft Capsules - suitable for vegetarians. And the tablets for the bones are also Organic Vegetarian Calcium.  I didn't know there are vegetarian multi-vits too .... so malu again... haha!