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Fort
Kochi is the new Indian Restaurant in Northampton and the only one
specialising in South Indian food mainly from the state of Kerala.
Kerala is situated on India's South West coast and its commercial
capital is Kochi or Cochin in English.
The food of Kerala is vastly
different from that of North India and reflects the diversity of its
people who are a mixture of Christians, Hindus, Jains, Buddhists,
Muslims and Jews (although the Jewish inhabitants now are just about
in double figures). Its only comparison to that of Northern Indian
cooking is the use of spices; however they are very much more subtle
and aromatic with an abundance of coconut garnished with the very
unusual fresh curry leaves which give a unique taste. Kerala as well
as being named Gods own Country is also known as the land of
coconuts.
Fort Kochi opened its doors very
recently taking the place of what was The Spice Mahal. It is situated
just off the town's main shopping area almost up a side street,
probably not the most fortunate location as it could attract the
boisterous clientele of the 10 pints of larger and lets go for the
hottest curry in the house brigade. The other question was does it
serve authentic Keralan cuisine or was it just another curry house
trying a different marketing ploy and cooking food from a relatively
unknown region and getting it drastically wrong. I had perused their
menu on-line and it did look very authentic to food that I had
sampled whilst in Kerala with most of the dishes given Malayanum
(Keralla's language) titles, but only a visit would confirm this.
We decided to visit on a Saturday
night and arrived at about 8.45 pm. The area was fairly quiet and not
rowdy and raucous as the town centre can get on a weekend, probably
because it is just off the main run. Conveniently there is a public
car park next to the restaurant which was far from overcrowded, so
far so good. We were warmly greeted and politely shown to a table in
the restaurant which was half full of very respectable clientele. The
interior décor was of a light, airy and of minimal design with
a few pictures denoting various Keralan scenes such a the Kathakali
dancers, the backwaters, the snake boat race of Alaphusa (Allepy)
district plus 61 elephants parading at The Arattupuzha Temple at
Trissur. The tables, which were all a respectable distance apart,
were laid with crisp white linen and the attractively folded cotton
napkins; gleaming glasses and polished cutlery complimented the
appearance of the surroundings.
We ordered dinks and the menus
were then presented. Now if you expect to find the usual Bhuna,
Madras and Chicken Ticka Masala you will have come to the wrong
place. Most of the dishes on offer will be completely alien to those
you will find on a standard Indian restaurant menu and it was clear
from the menu that this establishment was not a one sauce does all
ladled over pre-cooked meat and vegetables - this appeared to be a
more than authentic choice. Between the four of us we ordered Erachi
Olarthiathu (I see different spellings of this dish and their
spelling was no exception) a dry lamb fry encrusted with spices and
coconut chips, a Keralan Lamb Curry (for want of a better word),
Nadan Chicken curry which is cooked in a slightly green masala and a
beautiful dish of large fresh prawns in an aromatic coconut milk
gravy called Chameen Moily. For side dishes we chose Beet Cheera
Pachadi (fresh beetroot and spinach in a yoghurt and roasted coconut
sauce), Cheera Paripu Curry (toor dhal with spinach), Cabbage Thoran
(a dry dish of cabbage and coconut lightly tempered with spices).
Some of these were main dishes but they agreed to serve them as a
side dish. We also chose coconut rice, chapattis and Appams which are
a spongy rice pancake type bread. These were served after a
reasonable wait and every dish was fresh tasty and more than
authentic and every dish was of a very different flavour to the
others. The spices did not mask the integrity of the main ingredient
which is what Keralan cooking is all about.
The atmosphere of the restaurant
is superb, the toilets immaculately clean and the staff are polite,
obliging and know their native food intimately. The menu didn't give
a large choice but was an authentic and manageable choice, they also
offered to cook me Avial which is a Malabar vegetable masterpiece
which was not on the menu. I declined this as I decided to save it
for another time and it won't be long before my next visit. The meal
was concluded with various dishes from the desert menu plus coffees
and masala chai (tea)
If you like seafood do try their
fish dishes which dominate Keralan cuisine as most settlements centre
around the coast and the inland waterways. Also sample the Dosas
which are a South Indian speciality which have also been adopted by
the Gujaratis some 1700 KM away. Keralan cuisine is fresh and healthy
eating using very little cooking oil and not being masked in heavy
over spiced gravies. There are very few Keralan Restaurants in the UK
and the ones that we have are mostly located in London. Northampton
in approximately 1950 or slightly before boasted one of the first
Indian restaurants outside of the capital and perhaps this is another
pioneering benchmark for the town. Let's hope that Northampton
embraces this new additional cuisine with the same passion as is did
some 60years ago
Fort Kochi is very much worth a
visit. It is not as opulent as some of the recent Indian
establishments but its lines are crisp, clean, light and airy with
the food being vibrant and of a fine dine nature without the price
tag, in fact the complete bill for four of us including a nominal of
drinks was only £62. My next visit is already planned.
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