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Annapurna (Vegetarian cuisine)  $

 8
JaT Rating

1112 Elko Drive, Sunnyvale, 94085  (Directions)


408-745-1373


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Rundown place serving traditional Gujarati, South Indian, Punjabi cuisine


Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1040
Reviewed: 4/13/2006
Rating: 8.5
My photo gallery 		Sometimes I wonder how the heck we ended up at places like this. Annapurna is located in some random business park where they could have filmed 'Office Space'. Parking in the front is limited to 5 spaces so I have reason to believe most of their restaurant traffic comes from neighboring companies. There's not much to look at on the outside or inside. The interior looks like an office building with minor cultural decorations on the wall.

The daily lunch trays are a fixed menu and you are welcome to sit where ever you want. I choose to sit next to the door with the gaping hole in it. Looks like someone tried to kick the door in and belong on the set of the A-Team.

The waiter/host disappeared for 5 minutes and came back with plastic trays of food, a styrofoam cup of something, and another cup of buttermilk. On the table are plastic spoons and only spoons. Plating presentation brings this to an entire new level for jatbar. I dont think I've ever been served on a plastic lunch tray, used plastic spoons, nor having to order anything. Oh well, let's dig in.

From my 1st bite, I knew we were eating Southern Indian food due to the spice...wooowee, my nose was starting to run. I'm going to cheat a little and find out what region this food is from, my spider senses are telling me Andhra. My descriptions below are probably inaccurate since I have no idea what the real names are.

rice - white rice, kinda fluffly

sambarr - vegetable soup, came in a tiny cup, leaves, bark, seeds, and who knows what else was in there. I liked it.

yellow curry cabbage? - had a hint of cocunut in it, very good stuff, on the verge of awesome...haha

yogurt rice - semi-sweet dessert

spicy pickled something - extremely spicy but wasn't fond of the flavor

mixed vegetables - carrots and some other stuff I haven't a clue what it was. flavorful indeed.

buttermilk - kinda sour, didn't enjoy the drink

roti - similar to wheat tortillas, this is a 1st time for me and enjoyed it thoroughly.

papad - they really need to package these chips and sell alongside Doritos.

So here's my deal, the atmosphere will be one of the most boring places you will eat. They even have a backroom looking warehouse past the cash register, probably where the locals dine. I think it's an all you can eat as the host will come out to put more food on your tray. We were the only non-Indian people at this restaurant and for $7.95, you can experience one of the more authentic vegetarian Southern Indian cuisines. They offer different regional foods on certain days of the week. Don't come here looking for the butter chicken! Annapurna is the real deal...
 


Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 739
Reviewed: 4/13/2006
Rating: 7.5
My photo gallery 		Annapurna was a request from Yasuyo and Manish, and since they also gave me the Sogo Tofu recommendation I knew I had to try this one as well. We drive out there, and manage to find a parking spot in the VERY limited lot. Plenty of streetside parking though.

We walk in and an older man shows us an empty table, next to a door with an ugly gash in it. New meaning to hole-in-the-wall.

We say nothing and he comes out after a minute with trays of food for us. Awesome. Quick service, no talking, just get right to eating. My kind of place. They offer a fixed menu here, so depending on what day you arrive, you can kind of know what to expect. Check their website for the days.

Our day was South Indian, and all of the items were very good. I gobbled everything up, and the guy came out with 2 bowls of vegetables and asked if we wanted more (of which I did) and he scooped more in.

I won't bother to rattle off the names of the items, because I know I will screw them up, but everything was pretty good. The meal was accompanied by butttermilk as well, which was refreshing.

I was a little taken aback by the high price ($8) for my meal, but I guess if we would have kept bringing out the bowl I could have completely filled up here. I think its definitely a must-visit place, at least once though - for its unique atmosphere and layout. The front dining area is small, yet I noticed people walk past the register to the secret warehouse-training-facility in the back which has a bunch of tables setup as well for the overflow crowd.
 
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sambar ate...

For Birthday part - Real deal

“I have recently ordered for a birthday party. I got total 7 items for $8. I feel it is real deal. They charged very reasonable price compared to the other quotes. I have not asked for any discount as such . Food was lovely. I am giving A++. Try it!”

6/29/2007 3:17:52 PM

sainath ate...

Standard lunch

“The price of $8 is too high for the quantity of food we get. The taste is definitely good.We have better choices around sunnyvale for this amount.”

5/23/2007 5:26:05 PM