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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