A few days ago, when I visited the Mall of Travancore, I found a couple of posters announcing the launch of a new food outlet in the cafeteria called Aadiruchi… They claim to be selling authentic Kerala food and I felt that the menu is quite interesting with Chattichoru, Pothichoru, Pazhanchoru, etc… So, this time when I planned to visit the mall, I decided to see if the place has opened by now and if so, to try the food and here we are 🙂
So, I was hoping to try the Chattichoru here… But unfortunately according to the staff, they just started operating just a couple of days ago and hence there are still in the minimum mode… What that means is that they only have 3-4 items from their menu and the rest like Chattichoru and all are yet to be started… My beloved foodie friend was also with me and among the options available we chose to go with their Kerala Meals which had 3 variants, namely, Fish, Chicken and Beef… Since the fish available was not to our liking, we went for one each of their Chicken Meals and their Beef Meals… Turns out the only difference between them was the one meat component ie, the Chicken Curry and Beef Curry… So, pls excuse the lack of pics of the Beef Meals tray here, though a partial view can be seen in the pic below… ?
So, lets talk about the food… I am not sure at this point whether the contents of the meals changes on a daily basis as it tends to be in most restaurants that serve Kerala Meals… The meals that we got had Rice (felt quite weird to see the white rice instead of the red boiled one), Pappadam, Cabbage Thoran, Parippu Curry, Aviyal, Sambar along with some Raita, Pickle and some Palada Payasam as the dessert… I had the Chicken Meals and hence as can be seen in the pic below, it had some Chicken Curry in addition to everything mentioned above… My friend had the Beef Meals and so in her tray, it was the Beef Curry instead of the Chicken one…
So, lets talk about the individual items in the meal, as can be seen in the pics below… First of all, it really felt quite weird to see them serve white rice instead of the typical Kerala style boiled red rice… Though the rice was cooked perfectly (though not seasoned at all unlike most places in Trivandrum at-least), personally I think the overall experience would’ve been much better if the Kerala Style Red Rice was used instead… But its ok… Not a huge problem if you ask me… The Cabbage Thoran was pretty much just like any other with Coconut and Mustard Seeds and Dried Red Chillies… The Parippu Curry was the typical green kind made with Green Gram and Coconut, though not as thick as most places… Though a bit too salty for my taste, I liked the flavour though which seemed to have a strong presence of Garlic in it as well… The Aviyal felt to have a nice balance of the flavours of the Raw Mango and Coconut along with the Mustard Seeds and Vegetables… As for the Sambar, it was indeed flavourful with the flavours of the Vegetables used along with the Lentils (though clearly not much has been used), Asafoetida, Fenugreek, Chillies and Turmeric… The Raita and the Mango Pickle were just like any other that we see in most places in Kerala… Basically everything so far has been a bit too salty for my taste… But when eating with the bland rice, it seemed to work just fine, leaving me wondering if the seasoning was done like this deliberately… The star of the show to me was of-course the dessert as it was indeed one of the best Palada Payassams that I have had in quite a while… Clearly it was made by a chef who knows what he/she is doing as the taste was absolutely perfect with just the right amount of sweetness and flavours of the milk and ghee… I just loved having that and wish they had given more of it… In-fact thats basically the only complaint, that for the amount of rice given, I think they could’ve served more of these side dishes in the tray… Anyways…
Last but not the least, coming to the Chicken Curry, shown in the pics below, well, first of all again, it was too salty for my taste, but in spite of that, it was also one of the most flavourful Chicken Curries I have ever had… The flavour of Chicken was present in every drop of the gravy and also even in each piece of the caramelised Onions and Tomatoes seen… The Chicken itself was cooked so well that I could get the meat to slide off the bone using my spoon… The spices usage was absolutely perfect if you ask me and the only complaint I could say is the salt level… Again, when having with the bland rice, it feels balanced but when I mixed it with the other salty side dishes, overall, I felt more saltiness than I like personally… But its okay… Most people in Kerala tend to like more saltiness and spiciness than me and so, I guess it ok… 🙂
And regarding the Beef Curry, well I didn’t taste it as I don’t like having it, but as can be seen in the pics below, it looks like they are using the same recipe for both since everything except the meat pieces look exactly the same as the Chicken Curry I had… My friend was the one who had this and according to her, this curry too was too salty to taste but yet the rest of the flavours were all spot on… She also mentioned that the Beef pieces were cooked perfectly as well…
That’s it for now… Basically got a taste of the food at Aadhiruchi for the first time… I say that the very minor flaws are all probably just cause they just opened and so their processes are yet to get settled down and I hope that once they do and start operating as full fledged, things would be much better… That much is quite clear from the taste as I feel that even with these flaws, the meals they served were definitely good enough to be compared with the same from the known best places in Trivandrum… My only concern is how well the people might be willing to accept the pricing though, which if you as me is not too expensive for the taste but can be problem for people who are quantity sensitive… Lets see how the place grows over time… I for one am eagerly waiting to be able to try their Chattichoru and Biriyani… Hopefully soon…
