India (Frommer's, 4th Edition) (129 page)

If you’re wanting an exceptionally romantic night out, you should reserve a space at Le Coloniale’s in-house restaurant,
Mountbatten
(noon–3pm and 7–10:30pm), where there isn’t really a menu, but you can order just about whatever you want—chef Raju is good with Indian (north or south), Italian, French, and Keralite dishes, but it’s best to chat with him first to decide what you’d like. The seafood is excellent, and you can rely on Raju to come up with a sumptuous set menu, too. If you want to sample something out of the ordinary, ask about his pineapple and grape curry, made in a coconut gravy. Everything, including the breads and ice cream, is prepared in-house. You can bring your own wine, or ask in advance for something to be purchased on your behalf; you really must book, though, and definitely ask to sit under the staff at a table near the pool.

For pit stops during the day while wandering around Fort Kochi, there are now a handful of good options:
Kashi Art Café
(Burgher St.;
0484/221-5769;
http://kashiartcafe.com
), located in a restored Dutch heritage house, is a novel cafe-cum-art-gallery with tables and benches made out of coconut trunks. It serves hot and cold beverages with cakes or sandwiches (with
real,
hearty bread). Kashi’s owners have also started a tiny eatery in their own home—the clever concept has neighborhood housewives preparing their personal specialties, so there are just a handful of items offered. The place is called
Shala
and it’s only open for dinner (5:30–9:30pm); because it’s so small we suggest you call ahead to book a table and to hear what’s on today’s menu (
0484/221-6036
).

Another pretty little cafe-style venue is
Tea Pot
(Peter Celli St.;
0484/221-8035;
[email protected]), run by Sanjai, a laid-back hippie type. Order the
appam
with vegetable stew (chopped vegetables in a very mild coconut base; Rs 100) and a ginger lime soda (or one of more than 30 teas), then settle down with a good book or a garrulous partner—the food takes awhile to get there, but it’s almost always worth the wait. Also joining the lineup of cafes, is the quiet, compact little back veranda and tree-shaded garden at CGH Earth’s new contemporary art gallery,
David Hall
, where you can order light Indian meals, sandwiches, salads, and morish cakes and cookies; you’ll find it opposite the Parade Ground, near St. Francis Church (Church Rd., Fort Kochi;
98-470-6325;
www.davidhall.in
; daily 11am–7pm).

Traditional Keralite Feasts

If you’re invited, don’t pass up the opportunity to enjoy a traditional sadhya feast while in Kerala. In truth, even the simplest breakfast meal is a feast in Kerala, so forgo the eggs and toast and order whatever’s going. The most well-known feast food is of course the dosa, a crispy thin pancake, or the idly (also spelled iddly or idli), a small compressed rice and lentil wedge—both are served with sambar (a vegetable and lentil gravy) and various chutneys (coconut, mint, peanut, tomato, and chili). The famous “masala dosa” is when the pancake is stuffed with a spicy potato dish. Also delicious is puttu, a fine rice powder and grated coconut “cylinder,” which is often served with baked banana and mildly spicy chickpea stew. Or there’s the steamed rice pancake known as appam, served with vegetable “stew” (chopped vegetables and cashews in coconut milk). At traditional feasts, expect rice and ghee (clarified butter), served with various stews and curries like sambar, rasam, kootu, pacchadi, appalam, and payasam, all of which will be heaped endlessly upon your ela (leaf). Seafood in Kerala is exquisite and plentiful. A popular dish is meen moilee, a delicate fish curry tempered with fresh coconut milk (chemeen, incidentally, means “prawns”). Coconut is a staple used in many dishes: Avial is a mixed-vegetable “dry” curry prepared with coconut, cumin, and turmeric; and aadu olathiyathu is a coconut-based curry made with cubes of fried mutton.

Fort Cochin
SEAFOOD Considered one of Kerala’s best seafood restaurants, this casual catch-of-the-day semi-alfresco pad—located in the low-key Casino Hotel—is something of a Kerala institution. The atmosphere is rustic: Tables are set around a huge banyan tree and the menu is scrawled on a blackboard. Choose from a range of freshly caught seafood displayed on a cart that makes its way from table to table, and decide how you would like it prepared—grilled whole with heaps of spices, or delicately sliced with subtle herbs; the obliging maitre d’ will help you make up your mind and then your choice will be prepared at an open grill in full view of the curious Chinese carp that have been swimming in the nearby fish tank since before we first ate here.

Casino Hotel, K.P.K. Menon Rd., Willingdon Island.
0484/266-8221
or -8421. Prices determined on the day and by weight. Mixed-seafood platter Rs 875. AE, DC, MC, V. Daily 7pm–midnight.