Hotel Malabar
This place may require some searching. Its hidden away in an alley in Sarai Julena next to Escorts Hospital. Do not let the alley ways deter you it is well maintained and clean. And is very popular with the local Keralites in Delhi. I took a friend and her foodie husband, after some reassuring of course. This was my second time. One problem we did hit which, I would like to mention was that the owner judged us by our appearance a bit too quick. After spending a few minutes convincing him that we were in fact from the country, he still kept saying things like "no but this will be better for you not this." Yes he spoke fluent English as do most Keralites with their impressive 91% literacy rate! He assumed we would not like the masala and strangely coconut, so we did get a lot of "specially for you" type dishes that we had to send back after insisting that we want exactly how they make it for everyone else. So do specify that you love coconut for one thing, and love Kerala food exactly how it is!
Poppadoms
Were given some pappads to satiate our appetite while they took their sweet time with the food. Later we realized it's because we were getting all this "special" food, since everyone else got their "regular" food super fast.
Fish Molly
Ok now I probably should not have even put this picture up since it was definitely one of the "special" dishes. This was pretty tasty but tasted more like fish do piazza than Kerala fish curry. And yes he omitted the coconut so he clearly did not believe us when we told him we like coconut. Very strange.
Malabar Porotha
Nice, light, fluffy, unlike that oily heavy one you get at Swagat! You can definitely pack more in.
Perfect with some Buff Fry. DO NOT say Buff Chilly Fry or you'll just get deep fried pieces of buff which we did and was no fun. Unfortunately I did not get a picture because ... well i totally forgot and by the time I did remember the plate was over! They do not have it written on the menu but you just ask and you shall receive. It tastes great, and there is nothing shady about the meat.
Fish Fry
- Was a bit over fried as you can probably see and a bit salty. But was still tasty. And some of you might be skeptic of order fish here but don't be its SUPER fresh! They also have prawns and crab on the menu but were out that day.
Chicken Biryani
"Special Version"
Ok now this may look better but again its one of the "you cant handle the real deal special." Since the last time I visited all I ate was the chicken biryani, I luckily knew this was not it. Even though if you like no spice or masala you may prefer this fried chicken and rice biryani.
The Real Deal Chicken Biryani
- This is actually their speciality, if you look around there will definitely be at least one of these on every table. Served with raita (yogurt didn't taste gross and mouldy but nice), lemon pickle type chutney which I found a little bitter. The biryani though is yummy. You stick your spoon in to find all the gooey chicken masala that you will eventually coat all your rice with. Word of advice lose the cutlery and dig in with you grubby paws.
Contact:
37A Sarai Julena
Sri ram building
Near Escorts Hospital, Okhla
011 26923193
Labels: Biryani, Indian, Kerala/Malabar, South Indian (non-veg and veg)
