Ente Keralam! A restaurant review!

Kerala and its food to me was my long lost love these days. How I wish i was taken back to Kerala just to taste those coconut oil-fried delicacies!!!  

I happened to visit a restaurant called "Ente Keralam" at Poes Garden, Chennai. To start with, as the name suggests, it is a restaurant which has most of the menu from malabar coast. The look of the restaurant from the outside resembles a traditional house in Kerala, with trees surrounding the place and you feel like you've already landed in Kerala.

Ambience :

Like I've said already the outer look of the restaurant resembles a traditional house in Kerala. The restaurant has two floors. As you enter into the restaurant you can see the Kerala lamp or the Nilavilaku being lit in the center. On one corner you can see a counter with ladies wearing Kerala saree making appams.

We were given a table on the first floor, where we saw pictures of different house boats in Kerala. The tables and chairs were made of wood. In short, the ambience was just perfect for a Kerala Restaurant.

What the restaurant Claims :

Ente Keralam boasts of traditional recipes that have been passed down over generations. Mother's recipes that have been fiercely guarded over the decades have been collected, restored and followed to the "T" in order to create the perfect meal.

My Experience on Ente Keralam :

When we visited the restaurant, we saw the waiters dressed in Kerala muslim attire with topi and dhoti because there was a Moplah festival going on. The word Moplah is derived from the Tamil/Malayalam word Mapilla or Mapillai which means the newly wed groom or son in law of the house. So they had special recipes which they serve traditionally for moplahs of kerala.

We were served Ethakka Upperi or Raw Banana chips and Sharkara Upperi or sweet banana chips. They were absolutely delicious. The raw banana chips got over before I could click the pictures :-)

We had ordered tender coconut water first because we were too thirsty. Below is the picture of how they served tender coconut water.

We then ordered Appam and vegetable stew, malabar parotta and egg curry and their speciality dish Karimeen Pollichathu.

Karimeen Pollichathu :

Not sure why I like fish so much, either because I was born in a city by the sea or I live in a city with such a huge coastline. 
I would say that I have tasted many fish recipes from my neighborhood both in Kerala and in Chennai.

Karimeen pollichathu is a specialty dish in Ente Keralam and it tasted how it should actually taste. I would not say it was the best of karimeen pollichathu that I have ever tasted and it did not taste bad too. I have tasted even more delicious karimeen pollichathu :-) 

Appam and Vegetable stew :

The Appam was a little sweet and the vegetable stew went along with it very well. Again I would not say that the vegetable stew tasted great. For a restaurant like Ente keralam, who serve Kerala Specialties I think it could have been made better.

Parotta and Egg Curry :

Parotta was the best dish I've tasted in this restaurant among all the other dishes. It was very soft as well as flaky and it did taste exactly like the traditional malabar parotta. Egg curry did not meet upto my expectation being yet another speciality dish.

Pros of Ente Keralam :

1. The ambience is superb where you will feel like you are already in Kerala in a traditional house.
2. There are food feats going on often like the Moplah feast. So it is quite interesting to watch and dine.
3. We got the food in time without delaying.
4. The quantity was good enough.

Cons of Ente Kerlam :

1. The taste of the dishes that i have tasted was not very good,  not a treat to my taste buds.
2. Very Pricey for the quality that they offered.

Price :

A meal for two would cost around 1500 INR.

Must try :

From the dishes I have tasted it is, Parotta.

Would you re-visit this place?

Definitely not. The price is way too much for the quality they offered.

My rating :

2/5 ( 2 for just the ambience as the taste was not quite appealing )

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