With a traditional wooden ceiling and minimalistic tables and chairs, That Mallu Joint, a new fine dining Kerala restaurant has a welcoming homely feel to it. We went on to try this new restaurant in the city and its worth a visit.
The slightly ripe raw mango marinated with green chillies and sugar arrives as a welcome snack, and is a delicous addition as we wait for the food. Starting with the Erachi Ularthiyathu (beef), it hits all the right notes in terms of flavor and texture. The spicy dish has a dash of green chilies with the fried dry coconut and the curry leaves adding an authentic touch to the dish. The Prawn Porichathu is fried to juicy perfection with a crispy covering comprising of rava (semolina), adding a nice crunch to the dish.
Coming to the main course, we opted for the Puttu, Egg Appam and Meen Manga (mango) curry. The Puttu was soft and grainy with fewer coconut shavings, the egg appam came with a cooked egg instead of the half boiled egg omlette in the center. Though not a preferred combination for puttu and appam, we opted for the Meen Manga curry which arrived in a mini clay pot that had a homely flavor to it with well-cooked pieces of seer fish.
That Mallu Joint has a simple menu and excels at delivering the dishes in style. The presentation is good, the service is quite slow, which for sure will catch up as the restaurant is a new player in the city. The quantity could have been a little better, especially for the starters. The restaurant is certainly a place to fulfill your craving for authentic Kerala food.
A special thank you to Arathy Menon for her valuable inputs.