In a nutshell:

Tiny restaurant in a nondescript place that serves super YUMM, almost authentic Kerala food in Gurgaon at non Gurgaon prices.

Address & other details: As u stand with Medanta Medicity on ur right, go straight till u find a Gurdwara to ur left. Turn into the lane beside the Gurdwara & take the right road as u reach the ‘Y’ point. Malabar Hotel is visible as soon as u enter the Y. See pic below for ease of understanding.

Phone: 7838765020, 7838765252, 7840808703

Meal for 2: Rs. 150 onwards

Cuisine type : Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian

Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everything & give a honest account of the same to you.

I rate all the food items & then give a final overall rating which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster.

Short Description – in case u r in a hurry:

YUMMRAJ heard about this place from his Dentist who got very excited after eating at this almost authentic Kerala food restaurant. We decided to go to this place to check it out.

The restaurant owners might have been a bit confused over the nomenclature. So one signboard read ‘ malabar hotel’ & the other one said ‘Malabar restaurant’.

A business card given by the manager read ‘Malabar Hotel’. It also mentioned that this restaurant has a branch opposite Escort Heart institute, New Friends Colony Delhi. The ‘Malabar Group’ is also into Jewellery & Tours & travel.

The restaurant is situated in Jharsa village. While there r huge unruly looking houses on one side, there is quite a big stretch of open area on the other side. We saw a bunch of local men wearing local attire, playing cards & smoking the traditional hukka. A buffalo stood tied on another side. A lady in traditional dress walked up to the buffalo, bent down, collected the dung & carried it away in a pot that was placed on her head…………..For a little while it seemed to me I was in Medieval India.

The restaurant has a small clean rectangular shaped Dining hall. There were rows of Steel & wood furniture inside. Every table had a set of 4 glasses & a glass jar filled with water.

The staff members were pretty efficient & seemed to b from kerala. Some of them were a bit slow with Hindi. The Manager was vey nice & he helped us very well in selecting our menu.

Food was good in general & had many items that I have almost never come across inDelhi. It was surely very close to authentic. Many of the curries were finished with coconut oil to impart the flavors.

Detailed Description – In case u have the Time to NJOY reading:

We started our lunch with Fish fry special. It was a thin slice of fish with middle bone, marinated, rawa covered & then deep fried. It was as perfect as it cud get. The fish was tasty & nice. The outer coating was crispy & perfect. Taste of the outer later was nice just as it was & of course with the fish. Rate it 4.25/5

We asked for Beef fry (buff to b very specific). It was small pieces of spicy, soft, mildly chewy (enjoyable) & excellent meat. Enjoyed it just as it is as well as with malabar parotha. Rate it 4/5

Kappa biryani Kerala special did not feel at all like a biryani. It felt like a meat dry curry with kappa (Tapioca ) in place of potatoes. The meat was soft & mildly chewy & the tapioca was soft & nice as well. It was good to taste on its own but was way short of being great. I rate it 3/5

Mutton coconut fry was the undoubted showstopper. It was boneless pieces of mutton in a dry curry with fine sliced coconut, finished in cocnut oil. The heat of cooking had made the coconut release flavor & oily texture. Unique dish by Delhi standards & beyond excellent. Rate it 4.75/5

Malabar parotha was excellent. Flaky, layery, soft & just too good as it is & with the fries & curries. Rate it 4.5/5

We asked for some Sambar. It was so simple, had spices but those were not on the face. Flavors of daal were obvious. Very nice in terms of taste, flavor as well as balance. Rate it 4.5/5

We enjoyed a lot of the above with unpolished Red rice boiled. Loved it.

We also super loved the Pachidi. Intense taste with a fermented flavor. Rate it 4.75/5

We also tried Kadhi. Really nice. Once again, simple, had spices in it but not on the face. Loved it & rate it 4.5/5

We also tried a Bitter gourd (Karela) dry subzi. It was as good as it cud get. The way it is made at home. I rate it 3.5/5

Last dish we had was Fish Masala. It was a heavily marinated slice of fish deep fried & plonked into a curry. The curry was superb. I wud have loved it more had the curry & fish been friendlier. Rate it 3.5/5

After we were done with the food we asked. Is there anything sweet? We were offered Sweet bonda. It was essentially vada in a round shape & a very mild sweetness. We were told later by the Manager that that this is eaten with tea as a snack in place of biscuit. Clear case of mis-communication. Rate this 3/5.

Overall rating of food at Malabar hotel averages out to 4/5.

Look forward to revisiting soon to try Dosa, idly, puttu, Malabar Biryanimoilee fish mango curry, alleppy chickem curryegg roast etc. Watch out for this publicity shy excellent Kerala food joint.