VEMBANAD Seafood Restaurant at Kumarakom Lake Resort in Kerala, India makes room service spectacular(2/1/23)

 The other day we discovered that there are multiple "dry days" in India such as holidays when alcohol is not sold, and in this state of Kerala the rules are even stricter where hotels, restaurants and bars cannot sell any booze! When we headed to the mountains, we also discovered that many of the small hotels don't have liquor licenses as they are so costly, so we grabbed some local wine to consume in our room, as you cannot even bring it to dinner!

After our first two dry days during this trip, we also were advised that since many people get their paychecks in Kerala on the first of the month, every 1st of the month is also a dry day in this state. I was pretty upset and contacted our tour operator in Kochi and she figured out a brilliant bypass. We would order the wine the day prior and have it delivered to our villa and then order room service, as private consumption in the room or at home IS allowed.

We arrived at the magnificent Kumarakom Lake Resort on the shores of Vembanad Lake just south of Kochi yesterday and the white wine(Paul Banyan--produced by the hotel under their own label-Big Banyan 2018 Sauvignon Blanc) was already chilling! We were blown away by the menu and Vishnu came to the room to help us order in advance and agreed that each course would be served at a specific time. It went as smoothly as could be and

 we told the head of catering that we were mightily impressed. The photos are on Facebook and we had an extra treat as there was a theatrical Kathaliki performance right before dinner for a private couple that we could see from our porch; this was followed by some very nice English pop music performed by a live musical group while they dined on the lake in a small pavilion right next to our villa.

Will started with the Njandu Elaneer, a peppery soup made with crab and coconut milk, while I adored the very spicy Prawn Rasan, a broth of spicy Kerala shrimp with lentils, tomato and intense black pepper. We had to share the starter of Chemmeen Peer as it was so novel, and Vishnu said it was a unique dish to this region. The shrimp are dried and then mixed with coconut, green chilies and served with pot tamarind and steamed tapioca all cooked in a clay pot. The dish reminded us of the veggies we had in Malaysia and Singapore served with fermented shrimp paste as the dried shrimp are really intense, funky and indeed novel. Think of a soft shell shrimp served with spices and fermented. We had some paratha and garlic naan with our two mains which were both divine dishes:

Meen Politchathu (again cooked in a banana leaf) is the local kingfish (or pearl spot) in coconut milk with spices and the

Malabari Prawn Biryani was a yummy mix of tiger prawns served with raita and pickled dates as well as pappad(a lentil based and spicy pappadam). The pickled dates were interesting, and the raita was the best ever indeed. Even though this is a fish dish, the menu suggests red wine and we opened our own bottle of Grover Cab Sauvignon/Shiraz that we bought the day prior as well for $13!

The timing of the service, the friendliness of the staff, servers and team and the food made this a truly memorable meal.
Tonight, we shall dine at Ettukettu, the hotel's other restaurant as we hear they serve local duck and quail, and wine is once again available!

We opted for a western and less sweet dessert of Coconut Pannacotta with fruit and berry compote that was very refreshing.

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