Under a “Something Special” heading in the guidebook, there is a mention of the Kadalivanum Family Restaurant, which serves meals to a “strict naturopathic formula”.
Thought we’d give that a try so jumped in a rickshaw outside our guest house – the driver seemed to know where we were talking about and headed up the main road. About half way along he seemed to lose confidence and stopped to ask another couple of drivers, who seemed to think it was down a side road. On our map it was definitely further up the road, opposite the main mosque:
so I insisted: “No, no. Carry on – near mosque”.
The driver dropped us off near the mosque and of course we couldn’t find the bloody restaurant. Someone says something that makes us think it’s moved and puts us in another rickshaw and tells the driver where to go.
Fie minutes later we arrive almost exactly where we started. The
Kadalivanum Family Restaurant has moved pretty much right next to our hotel.
Anyway, once inside we sit down and wait to be served. Pretty soon it’s clear that there are no menus – you get what you’re given.
Pretty soon someone turns up with what looks like seven shot glasses filled with different coloured liquids – not disimilar to the rack of schnapps you order after a blowout at Belgos – and we’re given strict instructions on the order in which these are to be drunk.
We both agreed that the first one was rather nice, kind of yoghurty, but after that it all got a bit random: nutty and spicy, sweet and beany, earthy, very tart. Between drinks three and four we had to eat a small plate of paste, which was like a kind of savoury apricot chutney. Although that makes it sound nicer than it was.
After downing that lot it would have been nice to clean the palate before the next course, but water is not allowed because it dilutes the stomach’s digestive juices we are told.
Next we are given a banana leaf each, onto which is spooned six dollops of food, again with a strict order in which they should be approach. Somewhat confusingly Jess is told to eat hers in a different order to me. Has our naturopathic guide made a mistake or are girls’ insides just different? It wasn’t at all clear. In the end we both decided to do it the same (possibly, boy) way.
The first dollop was of a kind of earthy powder that tasted of sweet molasses and had laxative written all over it. After that it was another random selection of flavours, some okay, some not so okay. The order turned out to be crucial. It was not great getting a mouthful of something nasty and diving into the next portion to take the taste away, only to find it was even worse. The last ‘course’ was rice, because it’s apparently the hardest to digest.
Overall I think we agreed it was an interesting experience rather than a taste sensation. But we certainly felt healthy immediately afterwards.
We left with a promise that we would not drink any water for at least an hour, and then went straight to a coffee shop, almost certainly destroying the naturopathic harmony in our stomach, but leaving us with a much nicer taste in our mouths.
Original post by Glen and software by Elliott Back