Footsteps - Jotaro's Travels: Cochin

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Tuesday, February 3, 2015

India 2015 Kolorful Kerala : Day 7 - A Dahl Shopping Day

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Footsteps - Jotaro's Travels

India 2015 Kolorful Kerala : Day 7 - A Dahl Shopping Day

Fort Kochi - 12th January 2015

It's our last day at Kerala - a day for shopping for the girls and some cycling for us guys. The girls did some last minute shopping at Fort Kochi, no shopping in Broadway and then perhaps some at Lulu Mall.

This is page 6 of a 6-page blog, click on the respective titles below to go to other pages :
- Kolorful Kerala Day 1 & 2 - Of Spices, Tea Valleys & Cool Hills.
- Kolorful Kerala Day 3 - Of Tahrs & Kalaripayattu.
- Kolorful Kerala Day 4 - Of Elephants & Kathakali.
- Kolorful Kerala Day 5 - Of Kerala Backwaters Houseboats.
- Kolorful Kerala Day 6 - Of Fishing Nets & Mosquitoes.

Even though our return flight will be in the late evening, we left Fort Kochi after lunch as they will be a few stops for shopping along the way.

The girls had got up for an early breakfast and were soon off on their shopping at the Princess Street area. We guys were a bit sluggish, pulled ourselves up from bed, had breakfast then decided to go cycling.
We rented a couple of bicycles but were quite disappointed that that the conditions of the bike was not quite road-worthy. We had to go through a few bicycles to select two of the better maintained ones, even then their brakes were not working perfectly. Never mind, we won't be racing; so let's just go.

The leisurely pace of cycling gave us ample opportunity to take in the sites along our route. We visited the Chinese fishing nets again and this time got to talk to the fishermen.

In contrast to speeding by in a car, our riding pace allowed us the opportunity to observe life here. Near the port area, a man took delivery of some sacks of rice, loaded them onto his pull-cart and was soon pulling the cart away, heading for his destination which we hoped was not to far away.

We stopped by the Jewish cemetery to have a quick look and said some prayers. Continuing our journey we saw this odd camel being led by his rider. Hey! There are camels here.
About 6km from our hotel, I realised that we were lost. Fortunately, with the help of my mobile phone GPS tracking app, we were able to make our way back just in time to check out from Chiramel Heritage Homestay.
(... click to see more of your cycling Lost In Fort Kochi).

So it's lunch time now and we were cracking our head on where to eat.
Hah! We just walked over a couple of doors away to Dal Roti; it's a place that sells a wide range of prathas (Indian flat bread) cooked in a variety of ways.
This place sells northern Indian Mughal cuisine; so we ended our holiday in south India with a north Indian meal.
Hah again!
I had this Fish Kati Roll. It uses a type of pratha called Lachedar Pratha, a crispy and flaky version. I like it as the bread was well layered and each layer was flakily cripsy.

My buddies went for a Chicken Thali Meal; it's a combo meal that came with a chicken curry, paneer, two vegetable curries, a cooling raita sauce. Two pieces of flat pratha and some rice came with this, it was definitely a filling meal. Fortunately, they did advise that it can feed two, so they shared. Phew....
(... read more at Dal Roti blog).

From Fort Cochin we headed for Ernakulam where we started our shopping exodus at a Himalaya beauty care product shop. No prizes for guessing who got excited over shopping here!

Inside there were shelves of products for body care, hair care and even lip care!
Set up in 1930, Himalaya is renown for their health care products which include ayurvedic ingredients.

Our next stop was a place called Broadway, an open street shopping area. The girls had expected a place something like Petaling Street in Malaysia where they could buys some Indian clothing, souvenirs, etc.; sadly for them this place catered more for locals with shops selling bags, hardware, etc.
So no shopping here for the girls. But Kev did manage to find a neat antique shop along Shanmugam Road and got a few small ones for friends back home.

We expressed our displeasure to our driver Prakash, and he whisked us over to the Lulu Mall located not too far away. Lulu Mall claims to be the largest in South Asia; it is fairly large but not as large as others in South-east Asian countries. Still it has a good share of shops that should satisfy shoppers.
(For a list of the world's largest shopping centre, click here).

The air-conditioned interior of the mall was a welcomed change from the hot, smelly streets of Broadway. We popped into a few shops like this one above but the girls did not find anything that fancied them. Kev got a pair of harem pants for one of his friends.
Seems like this shopping trip benefited him more... Heh... heh...

At the Flora Hotel next to the airport, we stopped by to have a light dinner before checking in. They serve pretty good bun sandwiches here. It's the pan toasted type, toasted in a way that the thin crust becomes very crispy while not being over-burnt.
As we were checking at the airport, this poster of an Indian girl in a classical Indian dance pose seems to be bidding us "Goodbye, come again soon."
Yes, goodbye India, we will come again.

This is page 6 of a 6-page blog, click on the respective titles below to go to other pages :
- Kolorful Kerala Day 1 & 2 - Of Spices, Tea Valleys & Cool Hills.
- Kolorful Kerala Day 3 - Of Tahrs & Kalaripayattu.
- Kolorful Kerala Day 4 - Of Elephants & Kathakali.
- Kolorful Kerala Day 5 - Of Kerala Backwaters Houseboats.
- Kolorful Kerala Day 6 - Of Fishing Nets & Mosquitoes.

Related Blogs :

India 2015 - Kolorful Kerala : January 2015

A seven day tour of the Southern Indian state of Kerala - one of spice gardens, tea valleys, cool mountains, house-boats cruise and colonial Fort Cochin.

Cycling India 2015 - Lost In Fort Kochi : 12th January 2015

Wanting to explore this colourful and vibrant city, we cycled and got lost.

Banana Leaf Fish & Seafood @ Kerala Cafe
Fresh & spicy seafood at the heritage centre of Fort Koci, Kerala, India.

Monday, February 2, 2015

YummY! - Fish Kati Roll @ Dal Roti Kochi

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YummY!

Jotaro's Food Review

FISH KATI ROLL @ DAL ROTI FORT KOCHI

Fort Kochi, Kerala, India - January 2015

It was the last day of our holiday in Kerala, looking for a place with good food for a good ending to our holiday we found ourselves at Dal Roti in Fort Kochi. Oddly we finished our tour of South India with Northern Indian food as this is the fare that Dal Roti specializes in. And there were real specialists as the Mughal cuisine they served was indeed good.
So we had no regrets partaking northern food in the south.

Dal Roti is located at Lily Street, right at the heritage core of Fort Kochi. It's bright Dutch red exterior makes it hard to miss.

Inside, the place is simply decorated; simple furniture, a few simple decorations, and not one of Mughal splendour that one would expect. This simplicity belies the good food that were to come and I guess the simplicity had also made the pricing of the food very reasonable. Why go for airs, good food in a pleasant surrounding at affordable prices should do.

The simple yet warm setting has built up our expectations and we made our orders quickly.
I went for the Fish Kati Roll. Kati rolls originated from Kolkata and is basically Indian flat bread wrap round some filling, example fish, chicken, etc.

My Fish Kati Roll came; a piece of slightly burnt pratha rolled up with some wax paper holding up one end to maintain the roll shape. Looks golden brown good from the outside.
Ooops..... where is the curry.... my mistake here. Kati rolls are normally street food and eaten like a cone; Dal Roti here has improved on it to make it a dining fare...

The fish was a fried slightly spicy fish, fresh with crispy edges. The bread seems to have been baked together with the fish after rolling up as I found it to be more crispy than the usual flat pratha. I later learnt that this flat bread was a Lachedhar Pratha, one that is flaky and crispy. Nice....

Hah! There was a curry that came with the dish afterall, it was served in a separate small bowl.
Cutting the kati roll, I added this over the cut piece and slowly savoured the mix of crispy bread, fresh fish and a good curry.

My buddies went for a Chicken Thali Meal; it's a combo meal that came with the chicken curry, paneer, two vegetable curries, a cooling raita sauce. Two pieces of flat pratha and some rice came with this, it was definitely a filling meal. Fortunately, they did advise that it can feed two, so they shared. Phew....

The dahl that came with this was the thicker North Indian variety filled with lentils and chick peas too.

The food here is good, very good.... there is nothing dull about Dal Roti; they serve interesting dishes and their menu even provided a glossary guide of the type of food here.

Below is Dal Roti's well-thought out menu; please note that pricing is at time of this blog and do check with the restaurant on the availability of the dishes.

The Kati Roll Menu.

The Stuffed Prathas Menu.

The Combination Meal Menu.

The desserts & drinks menu.

The owner of the place, Ram, is a friendly and chatty fellow; he even did a quick caricature sketch of himself to give to us.
If you are in Fort Kochi, do drop in to Dal Roti, they serve a wide and interesting range of rotis and at reasonable price.

DAL ROTI
1/293, Lily Street, Fort Cochin, Cochin, Kerala, India.
Tel: +91 97464 59244 E-mail: dhal.roti@gmail.com
Hours: 9-00am to 10-00pm
GPS : 9.963994, 76.239818

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