How good is Facebook? Oh I know it can be a black hole sometimes (time suckage, anyone?) but for finding information, events and long-lost friends, it’s pretty hard to beat.
I had only been to Annalakshmi once before when my long-lost school friend Vish contacted me via Facebook to let me know that she would be dancing at Annalakshmi’s upcoming cultural event. Vish had seen my blog (yup, through Facebook) and thought it might be something I’d like. Catching up with old friends mixed with delicious vegan food and dance?! She always was a smart cookie.
I rounded up the Vegan Sparkles crew and we headed to Annalakshmi for ‘Mela – The Artistes of the Temple of Fine Arts present Indian Classical Dance Performance.’
You’ll find Annalakshmi upstairs on the Barrack St Jetty, overlooking the Swan River – the perfect place for a sunset meal with friends. A crew of local volunteers run the restaurant that was originally founded by a Hindu Monk, and all proceeds go to charity via The Temple of Service, providing free food and medical services to the underprivileged in India. I get warm fuzzies thinking about this and it makes the restaurant’s concept: ‘Eat As You Like and Pay What Your Heart Feels’ all the more beautiful.
The food is traditional, wholesome Indian vegetarian fare that will warm your belly and your soul. Served buffet-style, there are always vegan options available, so just ask which dishes are suitable. On this particular night they served my favourite – Chana Masala, mmmm…
You are welcome to go back to the buffet as many times as you like, but the food is so filling, I’m yet to manage that!
The Vegan Sparkles crew – with empty plates and full bellies, ready for the performance to begin.
The restaurant is very popular on cultural performance nights, so it pays to reserve your spot early. Check out their Facebook page for details of the next event, and then sit back and enjoy a great night of good food, good friends, beautiful ideas and magical dance performances.
Can you spot my friend Vish? She’s the cutie on the left in the last photo. 🙂
erika
June 15, 2012 at 12:08 am (12 years ago)The performance looks enchanting and you can never go wrong with good Indian food! My husband is half Pakistani and I am always eager to go to family functions- so tasty.
* Vegan Sparkles *
June 15, 2012 at 12:01 pm (12 years ago)Ooooh, I bet! Delish! 🙂
Annette @ Wellness WA
June 15, 2012 at 7:34 pm (12 years ago)I really like Annalakshmi, but I find the food SO spicy, and for a wimp like me it’s too spicy! They used to have this amazing stuff there that we called ‘KFC’ (this is like 8-9 years ago now) and it was a crispy vegetarian meat alternative I think. It was delicious! I need to work on upping my ability to deal with spicy food! x
* Vegan Sparkles *
June 16, 2012 at 3:02 pm (12 years ago)haha, I didn’t see any of the KFC-type stuff but it sounds pretty good! The Annalakshmi food isn’t so spicy these days, so maybe give them another try? They have lots of rice and free water if it’s still too spicy. 😉 xx