I happened to go out today with my parents for some shopping and along the way back we stopped at Kerala Hotel at Akkulam, within the NH bypass road (next to where the Toll gate used to be)… It was quite crowded plus my mom’s inability to handle the smell of fish prompted us to just get parcel and leave… So, got their Pothichoru parcel about which I had been hearing recently from the foodie groups in Facebook… The Kerala Hotel is a place that has quite a large number of positive reviews in these groups and so I really had been meaning to check it out but didn’t really get a chance until today…
I was first a bit surprised at it because when I got handed over the bad containing the parcel, unlike usually I felt it to be lighter which is an indication that the quantity is probably lesser than the other Pothichoru options I have had so far but the person in the restaurant said that there is enough for two people… Quite frankly, I beg to disagree there… The quantity really is apt for a single person as I don’t think it will be enough for two… Once again the problem of too high rice to curries ratio applies here as well because I felt that the quantity of the side dishes could’ve been much more considering the quantity of rice, but, considering the much lower price compared to the others, I am not complaining but rather would suggest that they reduce the quantity of rice in it to match instead of maintaining the disproportion… Then again, its just my personal opinion 🙂
Now coming to the contents and here I am typing this from my memory hoping not to miss anything; the parcel consisted of Rice (Sulekha or a variant of it), Aviyal, Omlette, Plaintain Mezhukkupuratti, Chemmeen Peera, Chammanthi and Lime Pickle all wrapped in a Banana leaf… Along with this package, they have given a portion each of Dal/Parippu, Sambhar, Fish Curry, Kappa, Pulissery, a piece of Fried Fish and Pappadom along with a Fried dried chilly (Mulakukondattam)…
Now coming to the taste, on the overall, ignoring the part where I felt everything needed a bit more salt, quite frankly, the way it tasted, didn’t feel like its from a restaurant at all but rather felt home made with simple and clean ingredients cooked just like we do at home… I mean, if somebody brings this to me and say that it was made by a homechef, I would definitely believe it cause thats how it tasted… Plain and simple flavours cooked well…
Coming to the individual items, I liked the aviyal… Its not as sour as I usually get from my home, what made me like it even more is that I was able to taste each and every ingredient used… However, I do wish it had a bit more salt, which I did add on my own here 🙂 Once I added the Parippu to the rice, I could taste the taste of ghee in it as it seems like they have indeed added some ghee to the Parippu… The Parippu appeared to have been made mostly with Green gram (Mung Dal)… I didn’t take the sambhar (gave to my grandmother instead of the parippu which I took), but I did get to taste the Pulissery, which even though from the outside looked like a packet of loose coconut chutney, it was indeed packed with the taste of yogurt and the tempering… What it did is that it brought a slight sour component to the whole meal which felt welcoming considering that none of the other items had any sour component to it… The Kappa was of-course just like any other, and cooked to a pulp…
The fish curry was made with coconut in the simple way with the classic fish masala… The same was the case with the Fried Fish… Classic Kerala style masala coated and fried to be cooked perfectly… A surprise here was that I couldn’t tell which fish it was and so I contacted the owner and he informed me that its “Puzhameen” that they used today which means that it is a fresh water fish… Normally I don’t like fresh water fish, but what I got today turned out to be an exception… 🙂 The fish tasted incredibly fresh that I do wonder if they had just caught it from the lake nearby before cooking and giving me the parcel today 🙂 Also, unlike the rest, the Fried Fish was seasoned perfectly for me…
So, altogether an OK meal option indeed although I personally think it could be a lot better if the food was seasoned better, but then again, its just my personal view… So, pls check it out and reach to your own conclusions on it 🙂
