Well, turns out Lockdown 2021 is in full swing in Kerala but thankfully unlike how it was back in 2020, this time they allowed restaurants and food delivery services to continue functioning though restaurants are restricted to doing only parcels for home delivery… So, I was able to order food for lunch today as asked by my parents… Since my mom insisted on having Tomato Rice, I was searching for a restaurant or cloud kitchen that does it and Spicehaus came up again as apparently they had started doing the same recently… Having been fond of the food from Spicehaus so far, we all unanimously agreed on fixing Spicehaus as the place to get our lunch from today… So, placed the order for their Tomato Rice and then for me and my dad, we went for their Fish Curry Meals this time since we had their Pothichoru last time… They arrived as shown in the pics below…
First lets talk about the Fish Curry Meals… According to the description in the menu, it includes a Thoran, Kootu Curry, Chammanthy, Pickle, Pappadam, Fish Curry, Sambar / Pulisherry along with Rice… What arrived was Beetroot Thoran, Vendakka Theeyal, Chammanthy, Mango Pickle, Pappadam, Fish Curry, Fish Fry, Parippu Curry and Mulaku Kondattam / Thayiru Mulaku… To be frank, I was surprised to find that Fish Fry as I didn’t expect to find that… Now seeing the spread, it felt like the idea is that you get the same contents of the Pothichoru but packed in container and pouches instead of being wrapped in a Banana Leaf… 🙂
Anyways, coming to the taste, first of all, the Parippu (Dal) was incredibly rich and thick… It had a borderline strong taste of Turmeric and Mustard Seeds along with Coconut that felt nice with the rice which was cooked perfectly for me… The Beetroot thoran had the flavours of both the Beetroot and Coconut along with Mustard Seeds and Shallots and was seasoned well… The Vendakka (Okra) Pulincurry or Theeyal was seasoned well too and had the nice flavour of Tamarind in it too… The Mango Pickle seemed freshly made and I got a Green Chilly which was used in it as can be seen from the pics below and to be frank I liked the taste of that Green Chilly more than the Mango in it… But its ok since, the mango was good enough too and its just my personal thing and I would’ve enjoyed the pickle just as much if that Green Chilly wasn’t there… Its just that the Chilly became a welcoming bonus… 🙂 The Chammanthy was also seasoned well and had the taste of Dried Red Chillies, Shallots and a bit of Mango as well if I am not mistaken… As for the Mulaku Kondattam, just like Pappadom, it was tasting pretty much the same as how it usually tastes like, though not as dry as usual and gave that salt kick when I had it which was nice and helped refresh my palette 🙂
As for the Fish Fry, it was a single Sardine that was fried marinated in classic Kerala spices thats typically used in case of fish… Nothing fancy and I felt it to be seasoned perfectly for my taste… The same goes for the Fish Curry too, which I felt was a simple no nonsense Fish Curry made with Sardines but seasoned perfectly… My only complaint about this whole meals package is that since the Parippu Curry ended up being so thick, I wish they had given more of the Fish Curry gravy as towards the end, I found myself running out of liquid curry to pour and mix the rice in… I ended up using some of my mom’s leftover Sambar to finish the remaining rice which was around 1/3rd of what arrived… However, I loved how every bit of this meals set tasted like…
Next up, lets talk about the Tomato Rice… There are two kinds of Tomato Rice made in India, namely the North Indian Tomato Pulao and the South Indian Thakkali Sadam… The description in the menu says that its Rice cooked with Tomatoes and Spices served with Raita and Pickle… What arrived was the Tomato Rice and Raita… Based on how the rice looked, I felt it was the North Indian version made with Basmati Rice in the form of a slightly spicy Pulao and both me and my parents agree that this is the version that has the most amount of chopped Tomatoes in it… So, clearly the taste of Tomatoes was very much present along with caramelised Onions, Green Chilles, Ginger, Garlic and the nice Garam Masala… Regarding the Raita, it was a nice one with no too sour and good quality Yogurt and fresh vegetables… I felt it provided a balance to the spiciness of the Tomato Rice and both together was nice… Also, one small tip as well… If you are getting the Parippu Curry as well, the combination of having the Tomato Rice with the Parippu felt quite amazing for me… Its a must try if possible… 🙂
So, that was yet another fine lunch from Spicehaus that both me and my parents could thoroughly enjoy… We just loved every bit of whatever we had and my parents declared that Spicehaus is our favourite option for food in Kazhakuttom as of now, though my mom wishes that they had more vegetarian options in the menu… Hopefully they will, once the current pandemic situation gets resolved and life goes back to how it was before… 🙂