Deshadan Plaza requires no introduction. They have been serving Kochiites with some yummy Indian and Chinese cuisines. Located at Panampilly Nagar (near Passport office), Deshadan Plaza has a wide array of awesome dishes which would treat your taste buds. Their latest new Weekend Buffet Lunch is something which you would not want to miss.

The Executive Thali meals that they have been hosting there is something worth a try. Veg Thali meals come at a price of 90 rupees, non-veg thali for 125 rupees, Karimeen curry/fry thali for 190 rupees, and special thali for 140 rupees.

The non-veg buffet lunch costs just 250 rupees! This one definitely looks nice, and you would not want to miss this. Make sure you drop in at ‘Curru Pot’ at Deshadan. It is too good!

For reservations or more details, contact: 0484-2310007 or 2320007.

It’s a ‘crab-by’ thing. Oh yeah! You heard that right. Kochi is celebrating a new crab festival that is happening at ‘Cheenavala’, their restaurant at Hotel Yuvarani Residency. With so much crab delicacies to choose from, crab-lovers can treat a feast from this festival.

The festival has begun on the 11^th of November, and will be on for a week. ‘Crabby Nites’ is all about yummy crab dishes. Crab delicacies are not served much in our restaurants here. They either don’t have crab on their menu, or they have very few dishes of crab from which we can decide. At ‘Crabby Nite’, you will have crab soups, starters made out of crab, main course filled with crab flesh, and much more.

From Chinese varieties to dishes prepared in the typical ‘Kerala’ style, there is a wide variety here. You can also savour on crab sizzlers! Beat that! Dragon crab meat chopsuey, crab and vegetable au-gratin, Thai coconut gravy, crab kofta makhani, are just a few of them. Mouth-watering? Rush to ‘Cheenavala’. For more details and reservations, ping them at 0484- 4030123.

Walking to my bus stop in the morning is an experience in all that is quintessentially Kochi. I hug the side of the (pavement-less) road and rather large loose stones skitter away under my feet. Since this is the monsoon season, heavy-duty road resurfacing is underway. Essentially, it happens the same way every year. Slap-shod temporary fixes make the road briefly bearable, before it breaks down again into the network of ruts and holes big (enough to be caves) we are used to. Luckily for me, it didn’t rain last night. So the road isn’t actually a lake.
Since it’s still pretty early in the morning, there’s not much traffic on the road except for the occasional line bus, whooshing past uncomfortably close to me in a chaos of clattering and belches of smoke. They rule the roads, and no one else dares challenge their supremacy, lest they be squashed to pulp under merciless wheels.
I turn left at the junction, and am greeted by the sight of a traditional chaaya kada, an old man with a newspaper under his arm and his mundu tied up around his waist, waiting for his hot steaming, frothy tea. The man’s an expert: he juggles two grimy glasses in an elaborate dance as the liquid rushes madly from one glass to another, its gleeful flow seemingly reveling in the joy of the morning.
The city’s barely awake yet, although there are a few enthusiastic young cricket players on the ground, shouting at each other to catch ‘it’, as the birds sing merrily in the trees overhead. Later on, they’ll probably head for school or work, but right now they’re simply lost in the joy of the game.
I carefully skirt a (pretty large!) mound of rubbish that seems to have built up for no other reason than there was no dustbin there. Maybe more people would heed the request on the ‘Use me’ if there actually were more ‘Use me’s around!
I finally reach the bus-stop, and slip a coin to the homeless man who habitually waits there in the morning, and who’s become something more than an acquaintance. He helpfully tells me when I’ve missed the bus, for one, and that’s what friends do! On the opposite site of the road, the elegant marble façade of an exclusive jewelry store is somewhat marred by an old lady in tattered clothes. She, too, is begging.
And really, there’s no better way to explain the paradoxical heart of Kochi, of rich and poor, of driving rain one minute and stifling damp heat the next, of dinner at the Taj or chaat on the street, of the rare Mercedes nosing through the throng of Marutis.
This is my city, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Feast upon one of the world’s most popular cuisine, Italian at Le Meridien, Kochi. For a week long, from the 15th to the 24th of October, indulge in some fine Italian dining only at Le Meridien. Be there between 7-11 pm and enjoy pastas, risottos , lasagnas made with that subtle but mouthwatering touch.
The Festa Italiana is a dinner buffet at their multi-cuisine restaurant Treasure Trove,priced at INR 850/- plus tax per head for adults and half price for kids from age 5 to 12 yrs of age.

Head to Le Meridien and let your palate have a wild time.

This is a video of Naan being made in Casino Hotel