Kerala is often called “God’s own country.” It’s a beautiful, tropical state in South India with palm-tree lined beaches, an extensive system of Backwaters, rolling green hills, wildlife and tiger reserves, and much, much more. Kerala is a soft landing for first time visitors to India, and a gentle respite from some of the more hectic parts of the country. There’s a lot to see and do all over the state. This post is a suggested itinerary based on a 10-day trip I took with photographer Andrew Adams to five Kerala hotels and resorts managed by CGH Earth.

We visited five Kerala hotels. We started at Marari Beach Resort on the Arabian Sea coast, then drove up into the cool, fragrant Cardamom Hills to visit Spice Village in Thekkady – and Periyar Tiger Reserve. Then, we drove back down to the Backwaters of Kumarakom to stay at legendary Coconut Lagoon before heading into the historic port city of Fort Cochin / Kochi and the iconic Brunton Boatyard hotel. Our final stop was the show-stopper: we were the only guests at a private, royal retreat – the former palace of an erstwhile king – called Chittoor Kottaram. 

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Menus in Western restaurants often focus on dishes from northern India. When these are served restaurant-style and heavy in oil and cream, it’s easy to think that all Indian food is overly rich and oily. But come with me as I take you on a culinary tour across south India and show you over 100 dishes that will change your mind. I will introduce you to the kind and generous chefs and cooks from CGH Earth properties who shared and demonstrated these recipes, patiently waiting for me to take thousands of photos and notes.

100+ Recipes

I have collated all the recipes in meal courses at the end of this article to make it easy for you to find dishes you’d like to try. But to truly share the food joy with you, I’ve also chosen to feature a dish that was particularly special, from many of these gifted people. Each recipe also showcases some of the interesting characteristics of the local cuisine in each district and will give you a snapshot of the diversity and patterns. And I really do think you will quickly understand that it’s not all about the food. It’s about the passionate people behind the food whom I hope you will delight in knowing too.

Do open the Facebook posts fully, in this and the linked articles, to get all the details and photos to help you understand the dishes. Do this by clicking on the time/date at the top of each Facebook post (just under the words Food and Travel Secrets). And if you are interested in having a first hand experience of all this delicious food, why not try my First Timer’s Top South India Itinerary, that makes it all so easy. My article is also perfect for armchair travellers keen to see the rest of the properties behind these culinary teams.

Meet the Chefs and the Dishes

Pondicherry – Palais de Mahe

Chef Kathir’s Parmesan Baked Pomfret

Pondicherry’s French colonial heritage has inspired wonderful dishes that combine both French and Indian ingredients to create lovely fusion dishes.

At Palais de Mahe in Pondicherry’s French Quarter, Chef Kathir’s Parmesan Baked Pomfret was one of the best dishes I’ve ever enjoyed. It was made particularly special as Kathir took me to the local market to select the fish for this dish.

Pondicherry is known for it’s fusion cuisine, but I didn’t really appreciate what this meant until I tasted Chef Kathir’s Rawa Fried Ladyfish and Parmesan Baked Pomfret.

Chettinadu – Visalam

Chef Latha’s Recipe for the Famous Chettinad Chicken

The Chettinadu  region of Tamil Nadu is famous for a different kind of fusion of cuisines. It was the wealthy, trading families from this area who ventured far from India to bring back new spices, ingredients and techniques from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam and Burma. Chettiar dishes have a reputation for being spicier, though not necessarily hotter and using more of the south east asian spices like star anise.

Chettinad Chicken recipe

Kerala

Thekkady – Spice Village

Spice Village, in the centre of the pepper and cardamom growing area, not only highlights how spices are grown and used in dishes, but they are also committed to an local, sustainable focus throughout their menu and property. In fact, Spice Village has created a range of delicious recipes for their 50 Mile Diet Restaurant where all ingredients are sourced within a 50-mile radius. With this genuine earth to plate philosophy, they also make innovative use of the many jackfruit growing on the property in jackfruit season. Eating here is a real treat.

Varikka Chakka Pradaman (Jackfruit dessert)

Fort Kochi – Brunton Boatyard

Brunton Boatyard has taken the challenge of collating Fort Kochi’s melting pot of cuisines for the History Restaurant menu. From Portuguese seafood stew to a whole marinated fish from a local Jewish family. A stuffed chicken dish in cashew sauce from skilled Afghani riders features alongside the subtly spiced roast chicken created for the British officials they served. The menu reads as a historical culinary record and is delight in itself.

Railway Mutton Curry recipe

Pondicherry – Maison Perumal

Over in Pondicherry’s Tamil Quarter, kitchens are cooking another whole different cuisine.  At CGH Earth’s Maison Perumal Chef Couga Baba showed me a very traditional Tamil recipe that is made with 12 whole garlics and a thick tomato and onion gravy. It tasted wonderful! The other very special thing about this recipe is that Couga Baba also gave me the recipe to make the garam marsala (in grams)!

Era Poondu Thokku

Fort Kochi – Eighth Bastion

Like Pondicherry on the far eastern coast of South India, Fort Kochi on the far western coast has a rich colonial heritage. Traders and rulers from Europe came to build wealth and this attracted workers and business families from around the globe, creating a melting pot of cultures and cuisines. And like Pondicherry, Fort Kochi does fusion cuisine beautifully too.

The East Indies Restaurant at Eighth Bastion has taken a Dutch colonial themed approach to their dishes. The menu has been thoughtfully constructed with dishes sourced from countries where the Dutch travelled and traded. Here you find a delicious use of peanut and sambal or cognac and cream to create innovative dishes with the local seafood and old Dutch favourites.

Chef Shinto’s Prawn and Mango in Banana Leaf

Wayanad – Wayanad Wild

Wayanad Wild in the rainforest of the Western Ghats uses local foods and produce, like Bamboo Rice, to create traditional regional dishes. But the menu is also a testimony to the South Indian love of fish and seafood no matter where you are in southern India.

Chef Vishnu’s Malabar Fish Curry

Kumbakonam – Mantra Koodam

Deep in the spiritual pilgrimage temple region of rural Tamil Nadu I was expecting to find mostly vegetarian dishes but in fact discovered many Tamil dishes including chicken or fish. Here I was introduced to Kalpasi, a species of lichen used as spice, curry leaves used as a paste and an amazing hibiscus raita using urad dal, a common Tamil spice. This is the place to try the famous ‘degree coffee’ a very special south indian filter coffee where the quality of the milk is measured with a lactometer.

Chef Murutharanan’s Tamil Nadu Curry Leaves Pepper Chicken

Nearly half a century ago, in 1961, the marketing office of National Tyre & Rubber Co. of India Ltd, where I was working, shifted to Willingdon Island, Cochin. We were temporarily accommodated in E Shed near the wharfs since the construction of our new office building was not yet complete.

I was staying in the Ernakulam part of Cochin, 10 kms away from the office. I used to drive home for lunch every day. That turned out to be quite a strain. Then somebody told me about Casino which was a short distance from our office. Mr. Nair, the manager, welcomed me as though he had known me for long. It was the beginning of an association that lasted decades. National Tyres’ new office building was even closer to Casino than E Shed. Lunch and dinner with friends at Casino became a pattern. It soon became the place to meet and develop bonds.

A popular dish at Casino in those days was the Tandoori Chicken. It used to be served on a bed of ‘masala’ that included a generous quantity of cashew nuts, mashed eggs and other things that went well with the chicken. It was unlike any other tandoori chicken I had ever had. So tasty too, served with Ceylon parota. It became a top favourite even among the skeptical.

Casino was silent witness to an event which was important in the industrial history of Kerala. I was with Apollo Tyres then. We had located suitable land for the plant near Chalakudi. It was at Casino that the major landowner of the block we had earmarked agreed that we could acquire the land. That saved a great deal of time in implementing the project.

The staff at Casino was always pleasant and efficient. Some of the names that I still remember are Augustine, Vincent and John. And of course Verghese who was the Steward. He had such a wonderful smile while dealing with guests. It was so genuine that it made one feel happy to be there. I don’t stay in Cochin anymore, but it is so gratifying to see how beautifully Casino has grown over the years.

So way back in the 14th century, when the Rajah of Cochin shifted his capital from Perumpadappu to Tripunithara, he set out to build a Lord Krishna temple as grand as the one in Guruvayoor in his old kingdom. The tiered edifice called Chittoorappan was built in a quiet hamlet called Cheranelloor, fringed by the backwaters of Kochi. The king would return to the temple time and again to soak in the peace and spiritual calm of the place. Soon he built a palace, just 50 yards away, where he would rest, after paying obeisance to the family deity.

Like him, we too arrived regally at the Chittoor Kottaram palace in a boat; but ours was not a royal barge steered by 18 oarsmen. The welcome, however, was regal enough as a small group of ‘retainers’, headed by Milton who now manages the palace-resort, stood at the jetty to receive us.

We clambered up and saw the white facade of the mansion unravel on glistening green lawns — a pillared one-storied structure with a red-tiled roof.

Chittoor Kottaram is the only living palace still owned by the Cochin royal family. Today it is a single key heritage hotel where only members of one family may stay. Milton ceremoniously handed us the keys of our kingdom and suggested that we play king and queen for a day. No one would be allowed to disturb us or enter the palace without our permission! No longer should we regard ourselves as commoners but as royalty and our every wish would be his command, he stated with a grand flourish.

Nature’s influence

We explored our temporary fiefdom, charmed by its nooks and crannies, its intimate spaces where one could commune with nature and each other. The entire estate was awash in the molten honey-gold rays of an end-of-the-monsoon-sun. White wrought iron chairs and a table on the lawns would be ideal for a bracing cup of tea the next day, we decided, while at the ground level veranda or on the upper one which commanded views of the glittering backwaters and a bank of water lilies, one could sit and read a book.

The mini palace had two bedrooms on the ground level and one above. We opted for the king’s room on the upper level where the spacious bathroom even had a bookcase with tomes that were royal favourites and a skylight through which natural light filtered through. Everywhere there were expanses of polished wood, red hibiscus flowers, spacious four posters draped with flowing mosquito nets, quaint writing desks and portraits of royalty that looked at us usurpers with a frown.

As a nod to royal traditions, we padded around the palace barefoot and enjoyed subtly spiced Kerala-style cuisine. That first afternoon, we savoured a royal sadya of 24 Kerala delicacies in the spacious dining room which was located in a separate, red-tiled roof cottage. It was prepared right in the adjacent kitchen.[1] [2] 

That sultry afternoon, a hammock strung between two trees beckoned. As we swung in it, a Brahminy kite with magnificent wings outspread cleaved the air and soared upwards; a blue kingfisher skimmed the backwaters and triumphantly swooped away with a fish dangling in its beak; a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed squirrel bounded away. The world was a hushed spectator to it all.

Later, a sunset cruise on the backwaters was on the agenda and as our boat chugged past idyllic villages snuggling amid coconut groves, tall palms leaned across to kiss the waters. A Shiva temple rose against a darkening sky, the spire of a church stabbed a crucifix at the heavens; coconut palms fanned the sky; paddy fields stretched away to the horizon; large spidery Chinese fishing nets filtered the rays of a dying sun. Everything had a leisurely pace. Soon the sun set in fiery swirls of golds, reds, softening to mauve and pink, like nature’s own laser show.

Evening glow

On our return, we found the lawns were studded with diyas and the palace exuded a soft mysterious glow, rivaling the post-sunset sky. Post dinner, eaten off our thalis, replete with honest-to-goodness fare, a cultural performance awaited. Two priests from the Krishna temple – performers of traditional Kerala arts – arrived, bearing a drum and a brass thali. With these simple instruments and the rich baritone of the singer, they wooed the gods Krishna and Shiva, singing songs of praise in Sanskrit, much as their forefathers had done to a royal audience in another era. As we drove away the next day with many a backward glance at the palace and the temple, we resolved to return one day to “reclaim our kingdom.”

The company has seven boats; four with two bedrooms and three with one bedroom each. All are skillfully constructed in natural materials the traditional way, yet are not lacking in comfort, with separate bathrooms and plenty of space. We were given the smallest boat, which was ideal for us, since we were able to travel along the narrower backwaters. This gave us an unending panorama of rural life, on and beside the water and across the fields. People paddled their canoes, fishermen cast their nets, children were ferried to school and birds were everywhere. Back on the lake a family of otters swam right past us. It was all very peaceful.

We had a crew of three, who could not have been more skilled and hospitable. We own a canal boat in England, so know something about handling and living on a boat. It was sheer luxury to have all the tasks done for us this time, while we could relax and enjoy every moment. The quality of the meals, prepared in a small space above the engine, was superb. Everything was fresh and beautifully presented, from the vegetables to the grated coconut and, of course, the fish. We are glad we chose to go for more than one night; it merits at least two or even three. In this way you can cover quite a large area and go ashore too, as we did when we visited a temple. Now that we know how lovely a Spice Coast Cruise can be, we shall definitely be recommending it to our friends, and we ourselves would happily do it all over again.

The vintage bungalows of Fort Kochi, under the shade of huge rain trees, give you a vivid sense of this historical coastal town, and leave an indelible impression. You could spend a day wandering around the quiet streets looking at heritage abodes with colonial roots, donning the distinctive features of their times. Portuguese houses were painted a sepia yellow; white was used only for churches; tiled roofs were introduced too. Dutch bungalows had sloping roofs built in typical Dutch style, so that the snow could slide off, and English villas were painted a stunning white. Beach Gate Bungalows is an extension of this illustrious period of Fort Kochi’s exciting colonial history. Located on a drive lined with grand private homes, with sweeping driveways and shocking pink bougainvillea, it has two elegant, identical bungalows, separated by a low wall.

A Colonial Affair

The houses were designed in the fifties for Brooke Bond & Co, a famous tea plantation company. It was designed so that company executives could continue to experience the feel of life on the plantations while they were on mainland. The bungalows display top architectural quality with Art Deco elements, such as a pillared rounded veranda.

It is the ideal holiday home for long relaxing vacations with the family or close friends, offering complete privacy. Each villa has three spacious bedrooms, a living room, a study, a terrace, fully equipped modern kitchen, a dining room that opens onto your private pool, and a surrounding tropical garden with jackfruit, sapota and tamarind trees. There’s also free Wi-Fi, and the option of alfresco BBQ dining in the garden. The kitchen is kitted out with all the modcons, so food can be prepared by the guests with fresh produce from local markets. Alternatively, they can request the services of an on-call private chef, at extra cost. Isn’t the joy of unwinding and dining in the company of birds and butterflies in your garden, surrounded by fruit-laden trees, something else?

While the houses were architecturally sound, years of neglect was bound to cause significant damage. It might have viable to pull down the dilapidated structures and built anew, but CGH Earth were passionate about “restoring to retain”, not destroying this slice of history and heritage. Today, the bungalows may have a new sheen, reflecting a fusion of styles and modern contemporary accents, but have conserved its innate charms.

Cycles are available at the villas, for instant access to the port city’s historic monuments, art cafes and galleries, and beautiful beach. Fort Kochi is the only place in India, where the Portuguese, Dutch and English have held power, and they have left influences in this charming area. As you cycle past the other bungalows, it is not difficult to picture the lives lived here in the past; you could almost imagine a Gatsby-style party taking place here. And then, after you have seen the sights, you can retire to your own planter’s bungalow.

This is prepared by the guests and chef in a local style at a small, traditionally thatched area near the vegetable patch. “We like eating and we love cooking, so this was a very interesting experience. Also, we realise that the Indian cooking we tried back home was quite different.”

The meal that was brought to the table was a hearty, herby stew, a main course of banana curry, amaranth, mixed beans, fish wrapped in banana leaf, along with rice, and a dessert of coconut milk with hibiscus, freshly made and served hot.

At the 50-Mile Diet restaurant in Spice Village, where fragrant spices grow in abundance, all ingredients are sourced within a 50-mile radius, in an effort to cut down our carbon footprint. Each dish has a unique compelling evocation which is particularly adapted to the place or cultural interaction. The Kerala hotels provide innovative regional variations on the state’s trade-influenced cuisines. In Brunton Boatyard, the cuisine features Jewish and British influences from its trading and colonial past. The Eight Bastion, also in Fort Kochi, has a menu designed to include the distinct Dutch flavours.

Marari Beach Resort’s proximity to the sea and the natural beauty of the fishing village means that the catch of the day, in several delectable avatars, is a star attraction on the menu! Spice Village, set on the fringes of the Periyar Tiger Reserve, showcases influences of the local tribes, while Coconut Lagoon, that also harvests most of its produce (such as the red Kerala rice) within the property, boasts central Tranvancore cuisine, such as coconut milk-based ‘mappas’, and duck specialties of the Kuttanad region. Similarly, aboard Spice Coast Cruises, the food is deeply reminiscent of local and cultural interactions, while in at Chittoor Kottaram, the n ‘sadyas’ (meals) are fit for rajahs.

At wellness resorts Kalari Kovilakom, Kalari Rasayana, SwaSwara and the new Vanavasaa, the food is dosha-specific and typically Sattvik in nature. Your diet is determined by the in-house Vaidya after a detailed consultation. We also serve seafood.

At our hotels in Tamil Nadu, the cuisine is rather specific: while Maison Perumal in Puducherry brings you gourmet Tamil cuisine, Palais de Mahe serves it to you with an international twist, and the café offers fresh, continental salads and sandwiches. Visalam, a home in Chettinad, serves the popular local and distinctive Chettinad cuisine. Everything is prepared gourmet style, with a lot of finesse and flair, by skilled local chefs.

The ‘most romantic getaway in India’ (according to Conde Nast Traveller), Coconut Lagoon, along the banks of the backwaters in Kuttanad, uses its traditional, scenic setting to full advantage, offering a dining experience like other. From paddy hut dining with a great view of the birds, to eating a Curry Lunch on a long table, the experience is atmospheric, connected and wholesome.

Finally, our guests always point out that the food experience is always made more memorable for them by the warm staff, several of whom become their friends.

Here, I share experiences and lessons from a journey that we, as an enterprise, have undertaken.  

In 1988, when we were offered the contract to reconstruct and run the resort on Bangaram Island in the Lakshadweep Islands, we were a single hotel enterprise based in Kochi with limited resources. The contract also stipulated regulations to conserve the fragile ecology of the coral atolls and protect the interests of the island’s inhabitants. Then there was the issue of remote access (that continues to this day). Making matters trickier was the fact that both the destination and offering were new and unknown in the market.

Our only solution was to attract travellers who would see the immense value in the wholeness of the offering, knowing nothing was added that could take away from the inherent beauty of the island. In fact, we only enhanced it. The advertised facilities of the hotel came to be the absence of ‘facilities’, such as telephone, television, and air-conditioning. Instead, we showcased local culture, architecture, and cuisine and provided a chance to engage with nature in its spectacular and pristine form, while treading gently. Every guest invariably came back, and wanted nothing changed.  

The success experienced initially at Lakshadweep and later in Kerala clearly indicated the growing strength of the AIT (Alert Independent Traveller) demographic. The approach we took was to ‘do just enough’, with the belief that true luxury was more than the conventional meaning of `opulence of built space’. The lessons in preservation we learnt were not only the foundation of our growth but also instrumental in the decision to change our company’s name from Casino Group of Hotels to CGH Earth, to better represent the non-negotiable core values – respect for the environment, community, and the local ethos.  

“More than an escape. It is about fulfillment” 

Today, after 18 years and several hotels and resorts across South India, the Bangaram experience continues to inspire us. Apart from the discovery that less is more, this journey revealed that sensitive tourism does not mean restrictions; in fact, our experience showed that ecological and cultural sensitivity can be a part of the experience, making it all the more enjoyable. So it’s more than an escape. It is about fulfilment. 

The water world of Coconut Lagoon is a paradise for birds and birdwatchers alike, offering a wealth of charming sights and sounds.

Paddy fields, like forests and mangroves, attract vibrant, seasonal bird life during the different stages of its cultivation. When the field is waterlogged after the harvesting, the Little Grebe (Tachybaptus Ruficollis) and Indian Coot (Fulicaatra) are its visitors. Filled with water plants such as lily, lotus and Eichhornia, the field has welcomed a new guest: the Jacanas (both bronze-winged or Metopidius Indicus and pheasant-tailed or Hydrophasianus Chirurgus). They probably have the most unique nicknames in the bird kingdom! Called the Jesus Bird and Christbird, jacanas have elongated toes and claws that help spread their weight when moving across floating vegetation, and the water plants enable them to walk over the surface foraging their prey and offer a place to nest. The impression that they walk on water, especially when the vegetation is submerged, gives them the nickname. 

Different species of ducks also like to accompany them at this time, namely the Lesser Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna Javanica), Cotton Pigmy Goose (Nettapus Coromandelianus), Garganey (Anas Querquedula) and Pintail Duck (Anas Acuta). The Whistling Duck and Cotton Pigmy Goose are residents. They like to breed on the dead coconut trees and other tree holes near the fields. Chicks swimming around their parents in the post monsoon season is a common sight in the fields. The Whistling Duck or Tree Duck, as also it is known, has a wheezy, whistling “seasick, seasick”, call, uttered in flight, and roosts can be quite noisy. The migrants can be seen from October to May from different parts of the world. They are attracted here due to the warm weather – a welcome escape from the freezing European winter!  

A Chartered Accountant by training, Jose Dominic is the Managing Director and CEO of CGH Earth, a hotel group that is known for its pioneering new approaches to resort development. Dominic has served on several national and State advisory panels on tourism and has also been a speaker at major international tourism conferences and seminars. Closely associated with the conservation movement, he is the co-convener of INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage). He is also president of TIE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) Kerala chapter and of KTM (Kerala Travel Mart Society), which has acquired a reputation as the most significant travel marketing event in India.

State recognition has come only now — with the government of Kerala anointing it the state fish in July and calling 2010-11 the Year of Karimeen (as though our Marxists were visited by some Chinese almanac-makers) and asking Malayali’s to farm it in little patches of backwaters in their backyard — but respect has always been given to this fish. Code No. 2: you don’t hack your karimeen. You could instead gently daub it with a marinade of black pepper, red chillies, turmeric and salt, slide it into smoking-hot oil and get in five minutes a marvel of tastes and textures. Outside the skin will be wrinkled crisp and carrying the sharpness of pepper; inside will be a lean layer of white flesh that will break in your mouth in creamy bits. And then you will feel it — a faint under taste of clay, a dash of earthiness that smarts out of its exquisiteness striking the back of your palate. And that makes all the difference. (It is all in the mud, they say. Along the backwaters in southern Kerala, people say our karimeen is better than yours. The one caught from the Kanjiracode creek in Kollam? Heavenly. What the hell, comrade, nothing compares to the fish of low-lying Kuttanad in Alappuzha!) Or, you could cook it with red chilly and kudampuli (literally, pot-shaped tamarind, this kokum is sharper than the Goans’) and a whiff of fenugreek. That’s fierce. Or, you could simmer it in a clay pot, letting it soak in a thick sauce of coconut and spices, green chillies, curry leaves and tangy crescents of green mango. Here the curry is creamier and the flavours coaxed out ever so gently. Or, you could wrap it in a banana leaf — and add another layer of flavour and fragrance. But it is the moilee that forms the perfect backdrop for the fish. Here everything else — the sweated onions, the sautéed ginger, the split green chillies, the sprigs of curry leaves, the rivulet of coconut milk — is just a prop. Amid all this the karimeen sings. An elaborate raga vistaram in slow vilamba kalam. How does this black fish fare against the other giant of regional cuisine, the ilish? If there is one fish that can cut through all kinds of riverine nostalgia and lay claim to you at first bite, it is ilish. Its silvery skin coated with golden mustard is culinary Klimt. You tear away its flaky white flesh, unravelling in the process the pink and ruddy layers underneath, and place it on the tip of your tongue. And it takes a trip across the taste buds, tapping thrice on every one of them. You need the arrogance of mustard to stop that kind of ravishing. You need the distraction of teasing out the hoary bones to find some kind of relief.

It is the moilee that forms the perfect backdrop for the fish. Here everything else — the sweated onions, the sautéed ginger, the split green chillies, the sprigs of curry leaves, the rivulet of coconut milk — is just a prop. Amid all this the karimeen sings.

Ilish or karimeen? There can’t be two fish that are more different. One leaves the sea and gallantly swims up the river to spawn and then returns to brine after the monsoon; the other unassumingly lounges in the loam of the backwaters. Ilish knows the splendid assault, but it doesn’t understand foreplay. It dictates when you can have it (when it deigns to swim to the river). And with its unctuousness, this despot determines how much you can have of it. And a dandy of a
despot it is while you are at it, pay special attention to its bony, filigreed structure. Karimeen, though, lets you set the pace. It won’t disturb you with its bones; it won’t distract you with anything but its taste. And if one carries in it the flavours of the river and the sea, the other is elemental symphony — of mud and mossy water. Food is memories. The fish you like says more about what you are than what it is. Karimeen is a black fin that shoots through a sepia mindscape. And ilish, even ilish, can’t do much about it.

This article has been reprinted with permission from The Indian Express

Try the karimeen dishes at any of our resort restaurants,
and enjoy your own memories of it!