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The repertoire of sea food at the Kumarakom restaurant, on Kodambakkom High Road, is worth trying out.
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COCONUT OIL, curry leaf smell, `mundu' clad `achayan' and Malayalam. We are in Kumarakom, on Kodambakkom High Road, the new dot on the city food map.
There is hardly any decor worth mentioning. Yet there is something cloyingly `Mallu' about the place. It was elusive in the beginning. After looking around for a while it hit me. It was the moustaches. A Malayali's obsession with facial fuzz is almost fanatical. The menu is a very functional affair. Besides the standard Syrian Christian non-veg items, there is also a Chinese section. It looked like plan B. If the Appam and Stew fail to click, there is always Gobi Manchurian to fall back on. The caution is unnecessary in this case.
The Appams (Rs. 5 per piece) are good. So is the Puttu (Rs. 15). The Vegetable Stew (Rs. 15) had an overdose of cardamom, cloves and cinnamon. But considering that it is one of the only two vegetarian dishes in the section, it is worth salvaging.
I have to air my everlasting grouse again. Why do Malayali restaurants here begin and end with non-veg food? There is a whole world of vegetarian cuisine alive and kicking in Kerala.
Kumarakom has paid due attention to the seafood repertoire of the State. The Prawn fry (Rs. 80) and Meen curry that came with the Kappa (mashed tapioca) were both very good. Beef olarthiyathu (Rs. 30), a focal point in a traditional meal, turned out to be beef fry, though a good one.
The most disappointing dish was that which was touted as the day's special, the Duck roast (Rs. 80). This particular duck must have swum all the way here from the backwaters. There is no other explanation for those sinews and bones. To make things worse, it was undercooked too.
The darling of the `kayal', karimeen or pearl spot, was there. But the tragedy was that in the Kumarakom version of Fish pollichathu (Rs. 120), it didn't have an identity. So much masala was heaped on the fish that it was difficult to enjoy its unique flavour.
As the payasam was over, there was no sweet ending that night.
MARIEN MATHEW
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