Geetar is one restaurant where my family feels quite at home when it comes to eating vegetarian food.
Come January 2018, we’ll have completed 17 years in Sharjah. And all these years my family has been quite regular at this eatery, which is hard to locate as it is housed in an alley in Rolla. But what draws people to it is the good food and down-to-earth price.
A meal for two costs as low as Dh25. And the waiters there pamper you by serving all the items on ‘thali’. Even when you feel stuffed, the smiling staff offer yet one more hot roti or puri prepared by Bharatbhai. And then there’s a steady serving of cool chasni (butter milk) or aam ras (spiced mango juice) and round off the meal with a sweet.
The staff treat you like their personal guests. Whenever both my sons, who are now in India, visit us, we happen to eat there at least once during their short stay here. The 65-year-old waiter Adam Ayub Bhokal is amused at the ‘chotta bacche’ – he saw them as little boys grow to be young men. He reminds them how he served them puri and aloo saag while my wife and I enjoyed the ‘unlimited’ Gujarati thali.
The restaurant sees a steady stream of people for lunch and dinner. And people of all nationalities are seen enjoying food here — for it’s not too spicy! What I liked best here is their dal and Gujarati khadi and the hot rotis, which I usually get more than what I bargain for!!
Today, Sunday, December 31, Geetar has closed. We wait for it to reopen somewhere, sometime.
Last supper at Geetar, one of Sharjah's oldest restaurants
