Anjappar: Chettinad Cuisine Comes to Cochin!

Anjappar Restaurant Review

Anjappar is the most recent addition to the food scene at LuLu mall. With tempting Chettinad style cuisine on offer, the restaurant adds some new variety to what is available in the mall and even Kochi in general. Nestled in a cozy corner on the 2nd floor, Anjappar is isolated from the main shopping area & offers privacy in the midst of all the mayhem. Service is good and most of the staff are Tamilians.

We were seated in the area closer to the entrance, which has good seating capacity, with around 15 tables. There is also an inner seating area which happened to be closed at the time we visited, so we couldn't go there.

The decor consists of really rustic carved doors & wooden craftsmanship. Paintings depicting daily life scenes from Tamil Nadu's countryside adorn the walls. The ceiling has a sloped-roof effect typical of the inside of a traditional house, complete with woodwork which is really pretty to look at. It literally makes you feel like you walked into a house [with a lot of tables though!]. One of the other things that strike you is the attention to detail and quality in the tableware they utilize. The glasses are metallic and of a unique shape; akin to a standard tapered glass with a spherical area towards the bottom and had a petal shaped mat. The sauce/chutney holders are also of metal. Even the bill comes in a pretty little carved metal, velvet lined box. All these little points add a touch of class which is sorely missing in most places these days and is a welcome departure.

Fish Fingers

The fish fingers were accompanied by small bowl of garlic dipping sauce and were decorated with shredded red cabbage and a sprig of coriander. King fish was used, so they did not have any excessively strong fishy flavour which we liked. 

The coating was fried to a nice medium brown colour and was satisfyingly crisp and crunchy. The fingers themselves were seasoned to perfection with the mild flavour of the garlic dip providing an extra boost in flavour. 

Chicken Pakoras

Chicken pakoras arrived on a plate adorned with a few raw onion rings and a sprig of parsley scattered on top. As the photo below would indicate, they were fried to a uniform golden brown colour. 

The pakoras were crisp & tasty with detectable shreds of chicken among the mild spices. We would however, like to mention that they were somewhat smaller than expected in terms of size.

Anjappar Special Chicken Curry

As main dishes, we decided to opt for Anjappar chicken curry, which can be either dry or with gravy. We opted for the latter. In terms of quantity, the curry was enough for 2 people [or one really hungry person!]. 

It consisted of a dark brown, masala style gravy typical of a Chettinad style dish with a few whole spices like red chilly too. It was not excruciatingly hot and the typical Southern taste was notable. 

Karaikudi Kal Dosai

This dish was not unlike a set-dosa. It was thinner however, with a uniform thickness and lots of characteristic holes. 

The dosa itself was mostly soft and had a slightly crisp outer layer. Served with lentil stew [read: sambhar], it makes for a tasty and reasonably healthy dinner or breakfast dish.

Virudhunagar Fried Parota

As its name suggests, this turned out to be a layered flatbread which was deep fried to a golden brown colour. 

This item can be summarized in two words: crisp and oily. 
It was really crisp all over, almost like biting into a papad(om). To be honest, we do not know how this parota is actually supposed to be but we felt it was probably a bit too crisp, like it was fried for too long. Definitely not for the calorie conscious either as it was absolutely drenched in oil too; being a layered item it absorbs a lot. If you want something really crisp however, this would be your bet.

Kutralam Parotta

Highly comparable to the Kerala/Malabar Porotta, the Kutralam parotta was similarly soft and had layers. It differentiates itself a little in terms of texture, which was slightly stretchy thanks to all the gluten and required you to chew well. We unanimously felt that it was not as good as the regular Kerala porotta. It was good but just not distinct enough to differentiate itself from a good Malabar Porotta and we may give this one a pass next time.

To sum it all up, Anjappar offers pretty decent Chettinad items that you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else in Kochi. The quality of the food is good. Not to mention the unique ambiance and interesting table layout. We are happy to report that the prices [as of July 2017] were reasonable too and we came away feeling quite satiated. We feel it has potential and look forward to trying out new bits from the menu. Worth another visit for an experience that is out of this "state"! 

Type of Cuisine: Chettinad, South Indian non-vegetarian and vegetarian

Location

Second floor of LuLu Mall, Edapally.

Parking: Mall parking at LuLu [Chargeable] is fine except on very busy days and weekends when it may get full and you might have to wait to find a spot.

Ambience: Very Good: Discrete from rest of mall, good seating capacity, nice utensils, adequate spacing between tables, well lit. 

Service: Good.

What we liked/Recommended for:

• Good variety of Chettinad food on offer. 
• Reasonably well made dishes. 
• Very good ambiance. 
• Decent value. 

Potential Shortcomings:

Some items seemed more oily than needed; may not be much of a problem.

Taxes: Included in price, no fat tax applicable.

Phone Number: +91 484 272 8305

Timings: 11:00 - 23:00

Restaurant Website: https://www.anjappar.com/

On Zomato:
      

Have you tried out Chettinad food at Anjappar? Do share your experience in the comments below!