This review has been long due and I am actually pretty excited to pen down my experience with some Keralan delicacies at one of my favourite restaurants in Cherai, Kochi.

While taking a stroll around our resort area, we bumped into this restaurant in the neighbourhood called Lilliput which was bustling with local folks from around that area. Such a sight is enough to indicate that the food served in a particular restaurant is actually good.

The ambience isn’t something to talk about but the seating and everything are kinda okay in terms of comfort. They do have an indoor and outdoor seating arrangement.

My experience summed up in 6 Points (For those who don’t want to go through a long detailed review):

●Ambience : 3/5.

●Food : 3.45/5.(Rating solely based on the tried food only).

●Quantity: 3.75/5.

●Value for money: 3.5/5.

●Hospitality and Service: 3.5/5.

■OVERALL RATING: 3.5/5

FOR A DETAILED REVIEW, PLEASE KEEP READING.😊

1. Tandoori Fish @Rs.700.00, Taste Rate – 4/5 : The people at this eatery, charge according to the size of the fish for this particular dish. The fish also varies from time to time. We got this beautiful fresh red snapper and it was brilliantly seasoned! The fish was beautifully charred with the perfect amount of tandoori spices and coriander paste. The flesh was tender, juicy and yet super flaky! Loved it!

2. Seafood manchow soup @Rs.130.00, Taste Rate – 2.75/5 : There wasn’t much of a seafood aroma but the soup was quite okay to taste. There was definitely a very heavy dose of white pepper and a good prominent taste of garlic. Far from how a manchow soup is supposed to taste but wasn’t bad either.

3. Prawn appam @Rs.80.00, Taste Rate 1.5/5 :
This was my first ever encounter with Appam and I surely wasn’t a fan! From what I have heard, an appam has a neutral taste with a fermented feel to it and a slight sweetness from the coconut milk used in the batter but my tastebuds only experienced the sour fermented part. There was also no crisp edges! Adding the dry prawn masala over the appam was of no use because it delivered 0 flavour. However, when combined with the ghee prawn roast we had, it was somehow palatable!

4. Ghee Prawn Coconut Roast @Rs.260.00, Taste Rate 4.5/5 : This particular dish stole my heart, to be honest. Clearly the winner of that night! You can never really go wrong with the lovely concoction of prawn, coconut and ghee, can you? There was obviously a very heavy and dominant presence of coconut amd curry leaves. The roasted effect added another level of excellence to the already awe-inspiring delicacy! We had this with the bland and dull appam but I am sure that this would go extremely well with steamed basmati rice. 😍

5. Seafood friedrice @Rs.200.00, Taste Rate 3/5 : Our intention was to go for seafood in every section of whatever we ordered that night so when my brother wanted chinese, we obviously went for SEAFOOD friedrice. The friedrice was well made with independent grains of rice. Very much chindianised (chinese+indianised) in terms of flavour but the only problem was that even after adding fish chunks, prawns and squids, there wasn’t any ubiquitous aroma of seafood.

6. Chilli fish @Rs.170.00, Taste Rate 4/5 : Again a very chindianised version but this time the fish used was totally mind blowing. They used barramundi/asian sea bass and boy was the fish cooked perfectly! The batter was as thin as it could get as a result of which the fish fillets were more of fish than just lumpy fried white flour dough. The fish was super flaky, fresh and had a fishy taste which wasn’t too strong to disgust someone but was very subtle. The gravy was nice but the capsicum was unevenly chopped and a bit too big for my liking but who cares when the fish itself is so stunning?

7. Fish Dum Biryani @Rs.180.00, Taste Rate 4/5 : The biryani is Kerala is very very very different from the ones you find in Kolkata or in North India. The rice used isn’t basmati rice/long grained rice but rather short grained rice called Kaima Rice in Kerala. The fish used was again the same one used in Chilli Fish hence was excellent. The fish was charred seperately after marinating it with Red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, ginger garlic paste, fennel seed powder and lime juice. Then a masala is made in which goes the fish and this masaledar spicy fish is then incorporated in the fragrant cooked rice. Then finally the whole thing goes for a round of dum on low heat and the outcome is beautiful! Such a soul satisfying meal.😊

8) Lime Soda @Rs.30.00, Taste Rate 4/5 : I personally am very sceptical about my fresh lime soda. Let’s just admit that a fresh lime soda with the wrong proportions of the ingredients, is bad enough to piss you off. This place seems to have mastered the art of making good fresh lime sodas. Refreshing and perfect! We actually ended up ordering 5 portions of this!😂

We paid a total of 1890 (including the price of a bottle of mineral water) for 4 people and we all were full to the brim!

Our souls were content and tummy was pretty overjoyed as well and all we needed was a long good night sleep after this!

Recommended.😃

Eat.Salivate.Repeat.💗

Stay beautiful. 😍😍

Happy eating!😁😁