Vegan food has a taboo, doesn’t it? It has no Cheese, no Paneer, no meat, so it’s ought to not taste good. Vegan bites from Mumbai has come for a weekend trip to Ashvita Nirvana in namma Chennai to prove that just wrong.  An Enthusiastic couple Mr and Mrs.Pasad Collaborated with the open-minded Ashvita Nirvana and Voila! You have a 3 day Italian Vegan Fiesta from 25th November and goes until 27th November for a hearty 4 course vegan meal. But Italian? you heard it right.

Ashvita Nirvana is located in the famous 5th Avenue of Besant Nagar. Sharing space with a quirky store downstairs, the Cafe’ oozes fun. We were immediately drawn to the room with the colourful cubic space and we were more than ready to start our fest.

First course

Two hungry foodies ie; us chose the four course menu option which would be served on Sundays ( 27th Nov) and it started with the Soup, as always. Broccoli Almond Soup, Hands down. The Creamy, flowy soup complemented well with the Crunchy Almonds and half cooked Broccoli. Minestrone soup, on the other hand was my partner’s clear favourite as it was much more umm.. ‘Dhinchak’. If you are into those masala, spicy kind of soups, go for the minestrone one.

Second course

We were pleasantly surprised at the Zucchini Noodles. Hemali had mentioned that it was 100% raw. The noodles are Zucchini, the pesto sauce and the Marinara sauces were obviously uncooked. Hence we had a concoction of some healthy, filling and yet extremely tasty salad for our 2nd course. If they could control the quantity, it would be a perfect meal by itself.

Vegetable Lasagna was one dish I was looking forward to. They said that they try their level best to not include pasta sheets as it was processed. Then how are they going to show layers? The layers were beautifully segregated by 7 vegetables. Sweet potatoes and Egg plant were the distinct ones from the lot. It Cut easily ad literally melted in my mouth.

Third Course

Since it was main course, I honestly expected a Soya dish ( Sorry for stereotyping, guys).  My curious mouth didn’t stop me from asking about the Soya- Vegan collaborations. Mr. Pasad laughed and said, ‘ You know, Soya is just 5 % of our entire menu. Vegan food is not just Soya’.

As expected, we were in for a Surprise. I was served with some yummy looking Pesto Pasta and not so visually pleasing Mushroom Risotto.  Mushroom Risotto rice was localized. They used the Kerala red rice instead which gave a very homely flavour. Pesto Pasta was decent and nothing to rave about.

The Finale

HOW DID THEY MAKE A VEGAN ICECREAM? I am still not over the taste of cookies and cream and the chocolate chip ice cream. I won’t say that it tasted similar to the regular ice cream but it was delicious for sure. I sense Coconut milk but who am I to Judge? Please try for yourself and if you guess the ingredients, spill it out.

An Amazing experience comes to an end. For Rs. 999 for a hearty four course meal which is not just healthy but also tummy filling, it is worth a try. Get a similar experience this weekend in Ashvita Nirvana. I believe it’s open for lunch and dinner. You can contact 9791088189 to reserve your tables. 

Thank you Ashvita Nirvana for hosting us. Check out their Social media handles for offers and updates:

www.facebook.com/ashvitaevents
www.facebook.com/AshvitaBistro
www.facebook.com/AshvitaNirvana

Also, I never thank but for a change, I would like to thank the talented Adhithya Sankar from Face photography for those amazing clicks.  

Happy Eating!

Cheers

-S