Posted on 11 November 2011. Tags: cheenavala at yuvarani residency, crab delicacies, crab festival, crab festival in kochi, hotels in cochin, Hotels in Kochi, Kochi Hotels, yuvarani residency
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 11th 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.
Posted in Events, Foodie
Posted on 26 August 2010. Tags: Cochin, cochin hotels, fort kochi, hotels, Kochi Hotels, koci, rascism, shah rukh khan
About a month back, I almost caused a few accidents and made even more people stop in their tracks and gawk at me when I decided to give a very attractive young woman a hug. And would you believe it? This happened in one of the more upmarket and liberal spaces in Kochi.
A friend narrated to me an instance when he really had to take a leak while walking around in Fort Kochi. So he walked into one of the famed heritage hotels there and was told that the toilet was only for guests, while a man from a foreign land was given immediate access and all this while he was standing there..
So this begs a question, are Indians racist to Indians? I once had a hearty laugh while I was discussing this with a traveller friend of mine from America (Caucasian male) and he told me that India was one country where he never had a racism problem. He even mentioned to me how people were falling over each other to help him, by letting him jump the queue in train stations and letting him sit in crowded buses while many old Indians stood.
Why is giving a lady a hug wrong? Why is physical touch considered taboo? Why can’t a girl be my friend? Why can’t I have a meal with a lady without ulterior motives? Why are public toilets in so called high end hotels only for the ‘Guests’? Why is there so much Bias? Is it wrong I was born with Dark Skin?
The Indian prejudice against ‘shyam varna’ is well documented from the past, stories of prince and princess bathing in sandalwood oil infused water with rose petals to lighten their skin, to our own modern version of Shah Rukh Khan telling people which product to use to make our skin color lighter. Most of us would have succumbed to this temptation and used one of these products ourselves.
The more I think about it and the more I research, it brings me to one common stand point, ‘education’. The first bits of education we get are from our parents and the society around us, and it is ingrained in us very early that dark is bad and white is great. They scramble to make the kids drink milk; so that they get fair are one such example and a great way of demonstration of this ethic to our younger ones.
India does not talk about sex, but we have heaps of it. The proof to that is our population. Education again plays a huge role in this problem. Talking about sex is not taboo and neither is physical contact between a guy and a girl. Thus hugging a girl/boy with no ulterior motives does not amount to cheating and NO you will not lose your precious virginity with a hug. 
The generation our influencers (people who influence us) lived in was dominated by the talk of culture and a socially acceptable right and wrong. The generation we live in is slowly changing to let us have the freedom to choose what is right and what is wrong. So what might be right for me might be wrong for you. But the big picture here is that of the diminishing influence of the society.
So the next time you see me hug a beautiful girl, feel jealous, But don’t stare..
And also an appeal to the high end hotels in Fort Kochi and anywhere else living similarly on a high pedestal: It’s the same thing, Don’t Discriminate my pee, I have little control over it…. I might make your lobby very very dirty.
Posted in Lifestyle, News
Posted on 17 April 2009. Tags: Cochin Restaurants, Kochi Food, Kochi Hotels
Three days back was the inauguration of another ‘naadan’ restaurant called Ela in Kochi city. The restaurant is located at Menaka, opposite Bay Pride Mall and under The Attic restaurant. In fact Ela restaurant is run by the same people responsible for Attic, which is one of the few places that serves good steaks and sizzlers.
Nadan Restaurant Ela in Cochin
One thing that we definitely welcomed was the menu outside the restaurant, by the foot path. So you dont have to wait till your server gives you the menu to decide what your going to eat or if the place is too pricey! The menu at the street definitely looked appealing, though once inside we were quite surprised that the interiors and the ambiance did not match what you would expect in a naadan restaurant. The interiors were somewhat modern, swanky looking and played some western pop music in the background.
Interior of ELA Restaurant
The same menu that we studied by the footpath was produced by the Captain. But we did get pretty disappointed when the Captain informed us that each of our orders were either not available or will take time, which is another way of saying, “your order is not available”. So, finally we decided to have the naadan meals and naadan biriyani and some kozuva fish fry. At Rs.60 for the Veg Meals, Rs. 75 for biriyani and Rs. 45 for the fried fish, the rates were somewhat reasonable, taking to consideration the ambiance. The 30 minute wait for the food to arrive definitely worked on our appetite and to a certain extent on our patience too. The meals was good enough. But the naadan biriyani was certainly disappointing. The biriyani was in no way naadan and was more like the north Indian version. It was more like a spicy pulao with 2 pieces of chicken thrown in. The fried fish was good enough and proved worthy of the wait. The payasam that was served was not great and we decided we have had better.
Over all the food was not exceptionally good. But if trying out new places gives you the kick, then go ahead and check out Ela. We rate the place a generous 2.5 out of 5.
Posted in Foodie
.jpg&h=254&w=254&zc=1&q=90)
