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February 2011
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Cochin – Day Two

   

Day two started with a buffet breakfast filled with Western and South Indian dishes. The best part for me was the coffee- yes I know I keep going on and on about it but I do love it. We walked by the ocean for a while and took a three wheeler to another part where we were looking for a place called Grand Hotel. Before reaching the hotel we stopped at a spice market filled with peppercorns, cardamoms, coffee, vanilla beans and ginger candy. I bought a bunch of stuff and headed to the hotel. It was a modest space with a large restaurant.  The food was supposed to be outstanding with extremely reasonable prices. We found the place and walked in. We had also read about a specific fish curry called karimeen. It is a back water fish and was highly recommended. We ordered the fish masala, a prawn curry and bread. I had glass of fresh lime soda- which is essentially lemonade made with club soda instead of water. As we waited for the meal, I noticed everyone enjoying their food around us. Finally the food came.. the fish curry was the best we have ever had. It was a perfect combination of onions, ginger, garlic, mustard seeds and curry leaves. It was a whole fish and we got busy trying to get every bit and avoiding the small, sharp bones. It was an amazing dish. The prawn curry was good but the fish took the cake- so to speak.

Karimeen Fish Prawn Curry

Kerela Parantha

Dinner was at Malabar Junction, a restaurant in Hotel Malabar House. I opted for the tasting menu- a seven course, long meal. The first two courses were okay, a bit bland. I asked our server to make my food spicy- I reminded him I was Indian and could handle whatever came my way. The next few courses were nicely spiced and delicious. The sixth course stood out – it was fish biryani and spiced yogurt. It was delicious, flavored rice with delicate morsels of fish. The dessert was stewed fruit in a Napoleon shape with a sorbet. It was a good ending to the meal but the fish curry from the afternoon stood out as the clear winner.

Kerela Fish Curry Stewed Fruit