Recently, while ordering food, thru the food delivery app, I noticed a name which I hadn’t seen before and its called “Shappile Curry” and based on the info written in the app, its located in Karikkakam area… When I checked out the menu, one item peaked my interest and that was Kayal Konju Roast… Rest of the menu appears to be equally focussed on seafood and meats and like the name suggests, the menu appeared to specialise in the kind of food thats usually sold at Toddy Shops (Kallu-Shapp which is where the name Shappile Curry comes from) in Kerala… Anyways, I didn’t order back then cause by the time I could try placing the order, the Kayal Konju was no longer available and so, I decided to go for another option and then check the food from this place out next time when the Kayal Konju becomes available and that “next time” happened today for lunch… 🙂 I was anyway hoping to get a Kerala Meal like say a Pothichoru today anyways and while scrolling the app, Shappile Curry showed up and I got reminded of having decided to try the food from there and here we are 🙂
So, for lunch I had two choices from the menu: Fish Meals or Kappa (Cassava) and I went for Fish Meals and with Fish Meals they have combo options where we can pair up the Fish Meals with a Seafood fry or with Kappa along with Fish Curry / Gravy options… So, among the various such combinations listed in the menu, I went for the Fish Meals with Choora Fry… And as planned before, I went for a portion of their Kayal Konju Roast as well… The above pic shows everything that arrived on my table as I was about to sit to eat… 🙂
Coming to the taste, lets first talk about the Fish Meals… From what can be in the pics below, today, it appeared to consists of Rice, Sardine Curry, Sambar, Pineapple Pulissery, Pickle, Beetroot Thoran and what appeared like Vendekka (Okra) Theeyal but had the fragrance of Koottu Curry… That curry even tasted almost like that roasted coconut based Kootu Curry too which made me wonder if that was an attempt at making the Vendekka Theeyal but the chef ended up forgetting to include the Tamarind paste which is an essential part of the Theeyal recipe… As I have mentioned in my earlier posts, I normally stay away from Okra cause of the sliminess but this time, I could eat the Okra cause it wasn’t that slimy and I did find myself liking the taste of the curry irrespective of my doubts about it… The Beetroot Thoran felt to be tasting good and fresh and I wish they had sent me more of it as what arrived was way too less for the quantity of rice given in my opinion… When it came to the given Fish Curry, Pulissery and Sambar, I found myself surprised cause Shapp food is supposed to be spicy and heavily seasoned whereas, here, the flavours of all three of them felt diluted down that I ended up having to add Salt to all of them to be able to enjoy them with the Rice… Pulissery was the better seasoned one compared to the three as I found it to be at-least moderately flavourful with the flavour of Turmeric, Pineapple and Buttermilk, though not really at enough levels… The Fish Curry had a piece of Sardine but I couldn’t get the taste of the fish in the gravy leaving me wondering if they are one of those restaurants who cook the gravy separately as all I could taste from the gravy was the Coconut that was used… When I tasted the Sambar on its own, I felt that it was a good Kerala style Sambar when it was made as in, the flavours are there but felt too diluted down as if somebody poured a bucket of water into it… In-fact, I have that doubt regarding all 3 of them and adding some salt seemed to improve their overall taste a bit… The pickle ended up being the saving grace as that provided the much needed salty and sour component to the whole meal, making the overall meal fairly enjoyable… So, I would suggest mixing that pickle with the rice and the curries for the best overall experience… 🙂
As for the Choora (Tuna Mackerel) Fry, I ended up liking the taste cause it was well seasoned and moderately spicy which is how I personally like Fish Fry to be… However, the fish ended up being overcooked and dry inside making the whole fish tough to chew… But I can’t complain about the flavours of the marination done which I felt tasted nice with the salad that was given with it as can be seen from the pic below…
To be frank, based on the experience so far, I thought of abandoning the idea of writing this review altogether but the only reason why I decided to still go ahead is because of the Kayal Konju (Fresh Water Prawns) Roast that I got and I felt that it deserved a mention here… First of all, it looked great and the quantity of prawns that you get for the price is spot on… When I tried eating it, I felt two things, one was that the Prawns clearly tasted fresh and yummy being well cooked… Clearly the chef who made this, knows what he is doing… The seasoning and spice level on this was just right for me where the spices didn’t overpower the taste of the Prawns… The second part was my realisation that I made a mistake getting this Prawns Roast with the Fish Meals as the flavours I felt are best suited for having with Chappatis or Porottas… Cause the gravy pretty much tasted like the onion-tomato-ginger-garlic-coriander kind of gravy that we usually see in a Naadan style Chicken Curry… In fact, I do wonder if they did end up using the gravy from their Chicken Curry to cook the prawns as I felt that the gravy tasted exactly like the gravy of the Chicken / Egg Curry I got from another restaurant… Like I said, may not be a good idea to have this with the meals, but would be great with say Fried Rice, Chappati and/or Porotta (I am hoping to get a couple of Porottas to have with the leftovers tonight 🙂 )…
So, thats it… Though I didn’t quite enjoy the Fish Meals like I hoped I would, I think that Kayal Konju Roast is a must try… So, feel free to try the same and let me know in the comments section below…
