trip to Kaavalam

Me and Pramodh decided to spend a day in our famed backwaters.

So we drove to Allepey had breakfast In the Brothers Hotel ( since 1973 )..will post separately.

Later we reached Boat jetty of State Inland Transport Dept .

For decades the Boats are being run to many places like Kottayam ,Kollam ,pathiramanal Kumarakom , and places in Kuttanad like Kaavalamill-painted.

The boats are ill painted like KSRTC buses.

But it was comfortable and seats were plenty.

We were going to Kavalam in Kuttanad.

Kavalam is birth place of kavalam Narayana Panicker. Musician and dramatist .

It just cost 22 Rs for the one and half-hour tri.

It was very breezy though the sun was quite hot.

We just wanted to go to some quaint shop that served good food and toddy so we asked the conductor who told us to get down at Rajapuram .

When place came he told us to walk along the bank and we would see it!

We knew the same boat would return by 2.20 pm .

So we walked along the banks

at places it was dangerously narrow and with big loose stones a single mistake we would be in the backwate

Luckily we reached the shop without any accident.

We were given a table with a nice view .

We ordered some prawns roast as a starter and parotta and Appam with nadan chicken curry and one glass of Mundiri toddy or kallu

The food was delicious the toddy too was tasty and fresh.

Since a toddy has only around 8.1 % of alcohol it's more like a Breezer and one glass just quenched one's thirst but we stopped with that.

The food was good though the chicken was chewy and appeared old!

So we respected it and left it alone.

After this, we gingerly made our way back and got back into our boat.

Kuttanad is low-lying and is rice bowl of Kerala its 11 mts below sea level is said .

There is usually one harvest in a year, during monsoons fields are flooded.

Many houses on banks are on pillars with nothing in the ground floor as during floods its safer for them

But still monsoon floods many houses and we saw some community kitchens.

Many used these boats to go to work and tourists are rare in these boats.

The backwaters is full of house boats.

The only thing we missed was the rain as it was hot and sticky when no breeze.

We returned to Allepey and to Cochin later

 

Brothers Hotel Allepey

Warning ...long post

This is a food post Iam sure most of you will enjoy .

Food is something that's part of most of us but for some its more than it too .

We all remember the food we had ,food as children prepared by our mother is dear to us ,food which made us happy always has associated memories .

Like music food melds nostalgia with it.

When we listen to an old film song we go back to our memories associated with it , we remember the people whom we knew in the realm of that song, some songs are special as they touch the chords of love and romance in us transporting us to years back,

similarly, some food touches the happiness spot in you and takes you back like a time machine.

When it comes to Alapuzha ( Allepey or Allapuzha in Malayalam is a coastal city called Venice of Kerala 50 km south of Cochin )most remember the food there.

Though I lived in Madras in childhood with no connection to south Kerala food, mostly sea food, I developed a taste for Kerala cuisine.

ther home we used to take more of food by my mother made like in her tharavad with lot of coconut ,vartharacha sambhar, mostly vegetarian and rarely varatha aracha mutton curry ,I never knew Beef was food !!

or tasted no sea food as we lived in Mylapore a Brahmin dense area and frying fish was blasphemy an abaswaram or almost a criminal offence

so mother made typical veg dishes blended from kerala and Madras Maamis styles with a rare mutton dish )

Only after settling down in Kerala at 26 years I realized Kerala cuisine was so vast and tasty .

I love Beef too,though we still don't make it at home,

Duck rabbit and sea food which Iam still not passionate about egg roast and of course parotta the symbol of ill health byPuritanss but loved by rest pittu Aaapam nool pittu dosas etc etc .

Though I prefer Basmati rice made Dum Biriyani to the kaima rice made modified neychoru termed Biriyani in Kerala I enjoy it too and I love Kerala fish curry meals.

I willingly wanted a lengthy intro on my food culture before this important post on BROTHERS Restaurant in Allepey town since 1973 .

Though I had gone earlier and had Biriyani it was on a stop over in a drive from Trivandrum but it was during Covid times the items were limited and eating in restaurants with all the masked people looking scared was just not the same .

So when me and Pramodh my co brother drove to Allepey to explore the backwaters we debated to either go to Coffee house or to Brothers restaurant and settled on the latter .

Right in the middle of the town one could get into hotel parking lot through a bottleneck entry or park on road ,luckily after opening Allepey bye pass more than 50 % traffic through town has come down .

The quaint old town with roomed houses had more relaxed roads these days and the antics of an ancient traffic police man amused us !

The Brothers has an aura of hallowness in its structure of a roomed cottage almost like entering into the seventies.

At 9.30 am on a Monday morning, the place was almost full.

It was neat and had well-placed tables wash and rest room.

The walls had lot of pictures of celebrities who visited there almost a who-is-who from all walks of life who had meandered in .

Most had happy countenances probably pictures taken after they had food here.

And several testimonials and remarks by celebrities mostly from the film world caught in camera as pictures.

Later on reading I realised how many relationships Malayalam films and Brothers had!

When Madhavan pilla and Ayyappan pilla Brothers decided to start a hotel way back in the seventies they obviously called it Brothers.

That was the time when Allepey thanks to the Appachan group and Kunjacko was making Allepey the Malayalam film capital shifting slowly from Kodambakkam in Madras.

Though that shift to Kerala would take decades more Malayalam films were planned and scripted and many shot in and around Allepey .

Most actors too hailing from South Kerala adopted to it naturally.

Allepey being on Highway to the south from the north was also a stopping place for food and stay.

By then Brothers had started a lodge too.

Many film people had discussions here, many actors stayed here many scripts were written here.

Room 19 is still famous with film people as it had a lucky charm, most films scripted or discussed here went on to become huge hits.

It was the era of Malayalam films breaking on its own with classics like Chemeen and there was a lot of excitement to film more of Kerala in its rusticness in those films instead of staid sets in Kodambakkam studios!

Coming back to the food we ordered the famous mutton curry, egg roast parotta and aapam and tea.

This place is well known for its duck roast too.

In fact, the duck was not served here at all, though ducks are very common here with backwaters around.

Once cameraman Sukumaran staying here for a film brought back a live duck from his shooting spot and requested the Brothers to cook it, though hesitant they cooked a delicious duck roast, from then there was no looking back this became the signature dish of the Brothers.

The food we ordered was splendid.

The Oscar went to the delicious mutton roast which had tender pieces falling off the bone blended in spices.

The gravy was rich tasty and took us to culinary nirvana.

The parottas were fresh warm fluffy and crisp with a tinge of sweetness

The Appams were fresh warm soft succulent and seductive in its satin smoothness and egg roast too was excellent above all the tea was just perfectly made.

Evening too one return before driving to Ernakulam though not hungry we returned to Brothers to close the day where we started and had just tea and delicious sweet banana fritters.

So when in Allepey don't miss Brothers.

Incidentally, they have a big list of vegetarian dishes too like dosas or meals but the star items are still nonveg.

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Pubs in Cochin !

 

If there is one thing Kerala needs to learn its social drinking.

People here with exceptions think drinking is equal to binge drinking making fools of themselves and big mess getting into fights in smoky bars.

They do not know in many countries pubs are not crowded dance places with bouncers and girls dancing with young men on all kinds of stuff, its just a quiet place where one can sit over a drink for an hour or more watching people and having some food or meeting an old friend and to talk over a drink.

Being a tourist state Kerala needs to have such places.

Of course I am against driving even after one drink so one should either use public transport or Uber or have a driver

These days drive back apps are there too

Somehow that fun is not in Kerala where even people conclude one is a drunk to even write a post like this!

I recollect Kuala Lumpur which is a great city @ to me where I had a few days to kill and I would go to a roadside pub in happy hours nurse a mojito and get a marguerite for the same price have some burger and fries and keep watching as the busy roads run in front like a film.

Very few people were in the pub at that time and then I would walk back to my hotel

Another place I enjoyed was in New York in a Manhattan bar in frigid December where I sat on a high stool sipping a Manhattan cocktail.

With imposing black Americans standing around slit-gowned ladies in high heels and coiffured gentlemen in Levi's

I felt like I was inside a Hollywood film.

People there just leave you alone to have your fun without any hassles no moralizing crowds and the barman even clicked a picture of myself I remember thanking him and he told u r welcome sir enjoy your drink