Kerala Cafe

It is a good Kerala restaurant with decent ambience. Out of which we ordered, we loved Appam, Pepper chicken curry, Kaima rice chicken biriyani, Injipuli chicken wings, and Kozhi idichath. Porotta was thick and rubbery, Pomfret fish curry was not so great, and Kulukki Sarbath was bland. Overall this restaurant is overpriced, provides less quantity, and has average service.

The newly opened branch of Kerala Cafe, which specialises in Keralite cuisine, was launched last December with much fanfare. Being a "mallu" myself, I was really looking forward to this newest eatery in the neighborhood, and despite a less-than-satisfactory previous experience with home-delivered food from them, I was eager to give them another shot. So along with a friend of mine, I visited the place last night, and it was a bummer. Let's start with "The Good.." Kerala Cafe is a fine dining restaurant with a good, warm ambiance. They have a laid-back cafe-like outdoor dining area. Once you enter their indoor dining area, you are treated to a wall full of photographs capturing the local culture and people of Kerala. A nice touch that almost made me homesick! The dining area is spacious enough and clean. The same can be said for the restrooms, which are well-kept and clean. Interiors are beautiful with a woody feel. "The Not-So-Good..." It is very disappointing that a brand that specialises in Keralite cuisine could offer very average fare when it comes to quality and taste. The menu is ok, but some traditional varieties like kappa, pazham pori, puttu, masala curry, and the karimeen fish variety are missing. Prices are on the higher side, but considering that this is a fine dining concept, they are acceptable. The bar menu has most brands of spirits and a regular mix of cocktails and mocktails. We ordered buff cutlets along with a couple of drinks. For the main course, we wanted to try pothi choru, but it wasn't available at that time. We didn't feel like experimenting much, so we ordered appams and an egg roast. The buff cutlet was nice and evenly fried, with decent stuffing. Egg roast was OK, but something was amiss, which I couldn't work out. The appams were not up to par; it appeared that the batter was old or that maida had been mixed in! People who are trying this cuisine for the first time might find it ok, but for the rest, like us, there's a good scope for improvement in the quality of food served here. The quantity, however, is decent and good. "The Outrageous." Service, service, and service—get the gist? very lethargic and somewhat rude. While ordering food, we asked for suggestions from our server, but the poor chap was clueless with regards to Keralite cuisine, which is surprising for obvious reasons. We ordered drinks, a snack, and the main course together and specifically requested that the snacks be served first, along with drinks and the main course later. Despite having ordered them ahead of time, the drinks (rum) arrived minus water for mixing. The egg roast was served next! I told our server that this was a main course; why is this being served with drinks? His reply was that the dish was ready. Only one of the four appams ordered was served later. I was exhausted by this point and eagerly anticipated what would happen next. Then came the two appams, then the cutlets, and finally the last appam. Our server was absolutely clueless about the hows and whys of serving food and looked visibly confused. All these mishaps are still forgettable, but the next incident was the real deal. Another server, a senior one, I suppose, brought the bill to the table when we were actually having food and asked us about the mode of payment—cash, UPI, or card. I asked him if it was ok that we finished eating our food first, and the guy replied that the cashier needed to finish accounting for the day! If the establishment is so wary of its timing, why even entertain guests during late hours? The time wasn't even midnight yet! This is absolutely rude. Local bars offer better service than what we were subjected to here. The management must urgently train their employees in hospitality ethics and provide them with a crash course in food service etiquette. Let alone fine dining, such callousness is unacceptable in any sort of restaurant. The place has many favorable reviews, and maybe mine is just a one-off incident. That's why I sincerely hope the management listens and buckles up.