Small plates mean big flavors at Surati Farsan

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES

Little India has always been famous for more than a few foods: dosas as long as yardsticks, curries that crackle with a slow, lingering heat. To those who haunt the area, there’s no spot better for everything subcontinental. And that’s absolutely true—Little India is crammed with so many shops and restaurants that its boundaries blur well past Pioneer Boulevard. But like any ethnic center, that density sometimes works against itself, burying a lot of the focused regional cuisine behind the well-worn favorites. So while most rightfully flock to those paper-thin dosas, those who hit Surati Farsan Mart find food drawn from a different direction.

Surati Farsan points its menu primarily toward the seaside state of Gujarat, one of India’s many culinary epicenters. Within the countrywide cuisine, Gujarati food is regarded as being remarkably clean and simple, with predominantly vegetarian dishes that work wonders with only a few flavors. And that’s what Surati Farsan specializes in: a varied vegetarian style served up in snack-sized bites that hit every note between sweet and savory with a unique, refined focus.

The restaurant does this so well, in fact, that the usual markers of success have started to dress the dining room: a rich flat-screen TV, winding track lighting, high-back leather chairs. It seems a bit much for a snack shop, but it’s welcome—a handsome fit for a place every bit deserving of it. Surati Farsan puts all that to good use, too, as each table hosts a rack of explanatory menus—iridescent things that feel more like wedding invitations than throwaway take-out menus.

Even to those with a nose for curry, Surati Farsan’s foods will likely ring unfamiliar, as most of the menu is lined with dishes that at first seem impenetrable: khasta kachori, sev khamani, bataka vada. Thankfully, the tableside menus help narrow things down, though you shouldn’t let them do all your deciding—each dish is only a few bites and a few bucks, so it’s best to order anything and everything you think might align with your tastes.

One item that’s sure to fall in line with any palate is pani puri, fried wheat shells puffed up and stuffed with beans and potatoes. The golf-ball-sized snacks are topped with a pair of sweet and spicy sauces and served circling a cup of mint-flavored water. Give the things a quick dunk then pop them in—each one cracks open on first bite, unleashing a sweet heat that balances the snack’s starchy sustenance.

Another good choice is khandvi. This dish is a bit of an oddity: steamed gram flour rolled up and topped with mustard and sesame seeds, shredded coconut and a few leaves of cilantro. It looks fantastic: golden yellow rolls capped with bits of crisp white and bright green. The texture, however, is a strange one—soft and almost too tender, like underdone hunks of dough. But it’s the flavors that work well here—tropical tastes that veer toward something reminiscent of Thai and Burmese foods.

Probably the best pairing I had was Surati Farsan’s chole samosa and methi tepla. Chole samosa is a hearty choice: two samosas peeking their corners out of a thick curry sauce dotted with garbanzo beans, onions and a scoop of tamarind chutney. A single bowl of the stuff is practically a meal in itself, but it’s even better with methi tepla, a pan-fried flat bread mashed together with fenugreek leaves and what must be a cabinet full of other spices.

To beat its occasional heat, Surati Farsan also serves up a number of excellent drinks. Falooda is one of the most popular—a pale pink shake made up of rose milk, vanilla ice cream, vermicelli-like noodles known as falooda sev and a handful of basil seeds. It’s an odd combination, but one that works just as well as anything like, say, boba. There’s also the chiku shake, a drink pressed out of the sapodilla fruit, a pear-like berry known for its curious caramel flavor. And that’s what the chiku shake recalls: a faintly toffee-colored drink with a refreshingly natural caramel flavor that sips well with anything from Surati Farsan’s endless menu.

It’s that variety that’s most important at Surati Farsan—each visit could easily yield an entirely different experience. That’s the wonder of its small-plate menu—you may not be able to eat everything at once, but it won’t take long before it all starts adding up.

SURATI FARSAN MART 11814 E 186TH ST | ARTESIA 90701 | 562.860.2310 | SURATIFARSAN.COM | TUES-SUN 11AM-8:30PM | FOOD FOR TWO $10-20

Tags: artesia, Food, gujarat, little india, SNACKS, surati farsan