A medley of coastal flavours

God’s own kitchen is now satiating taste buds in Bangalore. Started by S Somaraj and his wife TV Aswathi, ‘Hot Kitchen’, on Horamavu Agara Main Road, has been serving authentic Kerala food for a few years now. Regulars, who walk in with a smile and are more than pleased to frequent the eatery, are proof of the personalised service provided by Somaraj and Aswathi.

And the food, of course, is the prime attraction.

The couple live in Hebbal but they zeroed in on Horamavu Agara, eight kilometres from their house, for want of a good place that serves homemade food in the locality. And sure enough, ‘Hot Kitchen’ not only has its loyal customer base but lures newcomers as well.

Apart from serving authentic Kerala cuisine, the eatery dishes out food that is exclusively made for its vegetarian customers. “We have Tamilians, Kannadigas and people from Andhra Pradesh frequenting the eatery and we tweak all the dishes to suit their taste,” explains Somaraj.

There’s an enviable variety in paneer such as paneer masala and paneer chilli. There’s also gobi manchurian. The eatery opens its doors at 7.30 am and there are people waiting for breakfast.

There’s puttu and kadala, nool appam, appam, chapati and other vegetarian curries to go with it.

The non-vegetarian spread includes chicken curry, fish curry in Kerala style, ‘beef dry’, spiced with lots of coconut and curry leaves, chilli chicken, kappa biryani and  pork-pepper fry. The fish dishes include fish moilee, fish fry and garlic fish.

“We also make fish biryani, where the fish is first fried and later mixed in rice to make dum biryani. The same is done with chicken biryani as well,” adds Aswathi, who not only personally supervises the cooks but gets into the kitchen herself and cooks when they are short-staffed.

‘Hot Kitchen’ has also extended its menu to include Arabic and Chinese dishes just to make sure they don’t fall short of variety.

The clientele comprise college-goers and the working lot. The price is easy on the pocket and the customers vouch for the hygiene of the place.

“The food is served hot and is cooked fresh as and when the order comes in. Nothing is made earlier and kept,” says Somaraj, who has a line of expert cooks, all locally sourced.
Breakfast and lunch apart, there are people streaming in even at tea time for a quick bite of the vada, cakes and banana fry that’s made to go with a cup of tea.

Prince Jacob, a regular, says, “I usually order a parcel since I live close by. The price is easy on the pocket and the taste is quite like what I get back home.” Ajit, an employee with ANZ, who has been living away from home for a long time, says, “I usually go in for a biryani. What I like most about the place is that it is clean, the service is quick and the food is very tasty.”

‘Hot Kitchen’ is open between 7.30 am and 11 pm. It is located at No. 397/117, Horamavu Agara Main Road, Kaveri Nagar, Bangalore- 43. For details, call 9663366944.