July 22, 2015
At Pathiramala Junction, there are two food vendors. One is a street vendor (Thittukada), the other narrowly qualify as a hotel, Hotel Smitha, they have put a big board outside..The board is bigger than the hotel itself.
The street vendor
starts business at around 3pm. Mainly serves thattu dosa, a small thick but
soft dosa of around 6 inches or lesser in diameter, Kerala Parotta.Chutney and
sambar to accompany the dishes. ..and there is beef fry also for somebody having
irresistible carnivorous culinary instinct .
I had three dosa
and asked for half a plate beef fry which Purushothaman Annan( elder brother) who ownes the joint declined.
Since the menu
card do not have coffee or tea.. Obviously there was no menu card at all, I
decided to explore the next big thing nearby, Smitha Hotel .
In fact there was
no tea or coffee either. I was sitting on one of the four small benches,
supporting my hands on wooden desks wondering about the tealess strategy of two
local business entities. But was enticed by the variety of curries and other food
stuff on offer.
The menu is not
printed on paper but memorized by the waiters and the dishes were vividly displayed on a
structure which I construed as a table only after thorough and detailed
investigation. Boiled tapioca flavoured with green chillies and freshly ground
coconut, seasoned with mustard and turmeric was the lead menu. This mouth-watering stuff can
be accompanied by fish curry of your choice. Kera (Yellow Fin Tuna) , Poomeen,
Katla ( Brackish water fish from grouper family) and fish head. Karimeen
(Pearl Spot), Kanambu (Mullet) ,Pranjil, Kozhuva(Anchovies, Sardine and mackerel
were also on offer as fries. There were prawns and clam also fried to perfection to
woo the customers. According to Charles, a tourist cab driver who comes frequently
to Pathiramanal with tourists from Alleppey, the city more popularly known by
the name Venice of the East, said mid-day meals are even more special with
varied fish recipes. Most of the fish are caught from the endless backwaters of
Ashtanmudi kayal (lake), extending from Thanneermukkom bund to Kollam.
Pathiramanal is a
terrific place to visit. You can get good non AC accommodation for Rs.1250
and AC accommodation for Rs.2500. However there are expensive star hotels with tariff ranging
between Rs.5000-Rs.10000.
A yacht owner took
me to a home stay nearby, strategically placed on the banks of the lake. Soon
the heavens were covered with black clouds.
When the rain Gods
obliged it was a spectacular sight...a memorable one.
BTW, I was there
to write a brief on Deyal's afforestation model for dessert lands. Deyal is the
programme Co-ordinator for Mahatma Gandhi University for the organic
farming course which is unique in content and delivery.
August 27, 2015
This is the Hotel I once talked about in Pathiramanal. Last time I visited Deyal to collect content to start a Facebook page, I drank coffee from Hotel Smitha...coffee and tea is available only till 7 p m.
The same lean old man
of 65 plus who was languishing on the wooden bench greeted me with customary
smile as if I am a frequenter.
At the first look
you won't be able to decipher whether he is a waiter or the owner but he
started to answer my queries in a polite but authoritative tone.
He was very
animated when I asked about the menu that day the hotel has on offer.
It is Scampi season
..he said. So we have Scampi of all size in today's menu... starting from Rs.200...to
Rs.1000 ( Scampi is freshwater lobster found abundantly in the river streams
and backwaters of Kerala)
For Rs.1000 you
will get jumbo male Scampi of 500 grams up cooked to your taste
To soothe my quizzical
eyes.. he added that the same thing in the nearby 5 star hotels will damage
your wallet by Rs.7000 to Rs.10000.
" Guests
from the hotels come regularly till they leave...because our food taste
better ..we take only the fresh one every day . There is no freezer here.. U see he
added
The menu for that
day included Jumbo Karimeen (Pearl Spot),Thirutha(Big Mullet)and Chempally
(Red Snapper...) ..., not to talk about the dishes of crab,squid, and prawns of
various size and shape .
I said goodbye to
meet Deyal hoping that I would come soon to spend a lengthy hour or so to
devour the delicacies.
Because it was getting dark & I had to get
approval from the Doyen of organic farming in Kerala for the Facebook page I had
created. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Deyals-page-for-forestry-and-sustainable-development/879696068750806
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