In a NUtshell:

A colorful, neat and clean ‘toddy shop’ with a general area, family rooms and also an a/c family room, efficient service by very warm and nice people (I was speaking in sign language only), superb toddy and a wide variety of excellent meats and seafood that made me say ‘there’s a zoo in my stomach’!!!!

Address & other details: Mullapanthal toddy shop

Meal for 2: ₹200 onwards

Cuisine type : vegetarian & non vegetarian

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.

 

They did not give a bill. For all the food mentioned below that 3 of us ate and almost rolled out of the shop, we were charged ₹1350

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

We got to know of this place from Internet while searching for good places to eat local food in kochi.

When we told our cab driver, he said he has heard that it was a good place but had never been there.

The place turned out to be much better than what I thought. I have been to many more places with great food but worse infrastructure

As we entered, we saw a row of very colorful ‘family rooms’

In the center there was a large area with plastic chairs and table. This was general seating.

They also had an airconditioned family room. We were lucky to get it.

The people were very warm and efficient. Both English and Hindi did not help much.

We had someone from kochi with us. So he helped as a translator.

There are some experiences in life that become memorable for a long time. The memory does not limit itself to the original purpose (food, in this case) but to the overall feeling. This experience at the toddy shop will remain as a memory with us for long.

Food was outstanding and so was our first ever experience of toddy – so far we had only heard about it, had no benchmark and no specific expectations

Detailed description – in case u hv the time to njoy reading:

Unlike most Hindus in the cow belt, many Keralites following the same religion, eat beef, pork and other meats, fish and seafood. Thankfully real beef (cow meat) is not banned in Kerala like in many states of india that r ruled by right wing political parties. So people in kochi do not have to compromise with buffalo meat (like it is in the banned states).

To read history of beef eating in india and other interesting food facts, please read here

Beef fry was very tasty, soft and chewy in texture, hot, somewhat juicy and had a great balance of flavours of meat and spices. Loved it a lot. Rate it 4.5/5

Most of the pork dishes of india (except those from north east) are cooked in Christian households. Here it was not limited to Christians only.

Pork fry was super soft, super juicy and very yumm. The proportion of fat and meat was just right. The meat pieces were small and that made a difference to the texture. This was the only dish that could be remotely be called ‘oily’ but that was mostly meat fat. Rate it 4.75/5

Kappa (tapioca) was the best I have ever had ( I hv not had it in Kerala b4) but in Kerala cuisine restaurants in other cities. Loved the texture and the taste. Rate it 4.5/5

Small fish fry was super crisp, hot and spicy as well. It retained flavours of the fish. I am salivating as I write about it. Rate it 4.75/5

Duck curry was outstanding. Very few Indian duck curries manage to get the texture as good as this (as duck meat is much stiffer than chicken). The gravy was just outstanding. Licked it off the plate till the last drop. Rate it 4.75/5

Kalluma Kai (shellfish) here was even better in taste than my favourite dish at kerala cuisine specialist deluxe hotel, fort mumbai. The pieces were independent, soft and retained full blown flavours of the shell fish. The texture at deluxe is softer. Rate the shell fish 4/5

Karimeen pollichatu is a dish which I have tried in many places. This was one of the best I have ever had – karimeen cooked with onion, garlic, spices wrapped in a banana leaf. The onions were just too good to eat and so was the fish. Rate it 4.75/5

Appam was very good too. It had good a very good fermented flavour and taste. It was soft and very thin at the edges. I was trying to guess if they used toddy to make this but cud not ask it due to language problems. Rate it 4.5/5

Toddy – it was our first ever experience and we had no benchmark. So we tasted with an open mind. It turned out to be a super interesting medley of taste and flavours – sweet, sour, effervescent, fermented….. and a lot more, beyond words in my dictionary. While talking to people from the city in the next two days, we were told that this shop served the best toddy in town!!! Rate it 4.75/5

We rolled out of the place after eating so much. Needless to say it was quite a task trying to not doze off in the car…..

Overall rating of food and beverages at mullapanthal averages out to

Wud hv this on my list for next trip to kochi, to try out many other dishes….