No.10 Fort Cochin is your one stop shop for your kerala style seafood fix! Mr. Vinoo Vijayan of Karthiyayni Hotel fame in Cherthala is also the co-owner of No.10 Fort Cochin and all of that experience definitely shows once you dine at this new restaurant on St.Marks road.

The artwork here is quite fascinating and if you’re lucky, the owners of the place would probably walk you through the various destinations that are showcased in the form of tiny paintings on the wall.

Buttertheory was here even before this was open for the public and tried some of the most exotic pompfrets, pearl-spot, red snappers, crabs, and prawns. Please step inside only if you’re a hardcore seafood lover. This is no place for the vegetarian folk, although you do get a vegetarian kerala sadhya, everyday for lunch. You have been warned!

Appetizers

There are plenty of choices in the appetizer section of their menu. You could try some of the freshest seafood that you could possibly get in Bangalore. They get it delivered almost every alternate day, straight from Kerala if not for every single day!

For starters, they have a winner in their Butter garlic prawns. It was oh-so-buttery and light in spice, mostly pepper and garlic.

For those of you who like their prawns with more of a spice rub, could go for the Prawns Tawa fry.

If you’ve had calamari (squid), you’d know it could taste completely different depending on whether it’s deep fried or prepared in the tandoor style. No points for guessing which one’s tastier 😉 However, we did try the tandoor version, Chilli Squid rings, which surprisingly wasn’t as rubbery as it usually is elsewhere – big thumbs up 🙂

Last but not the least, we tried the Pompfret Fry, which is an absolute treat for the eyes and your soul. I loved every bit of this and would probably come back for this and the butter garlic prawns 🙂

Main Course

We started with Prawns Ularthiyathu, which is a semi-gravy based prawn dish. The main ingredient in this prawn dish is turmeric. This just sets it apart from the rest of the prawn dishes that are usually in the chinese preparation.

We then tried their Duck curry (which may or not be there on the menu) with puttu. This is an exciting combo and although I don’t quite eat duck, I took a bite to see what it’s all about and I must say that the curry was pretty good to taste.

Prawns Pollichathu and Fish Pollichathu are their signature dishes that speak volumes of their skill and understanding of the cuisine.

After searing the meat (prawn/fish), it’s wrapped in a banana leaf and then slow cooked. The banana leaf is smoked and only opened in front of you to retain the flavor. This one sure would be a crowd pleaser 🙂

Vegetarian Special Kerala Sadhya

If you’re friends with some die-hard seafood lovers and you’re a vegetarian, a visit to this place isn’t such a bad place after all 🙂

You could pick their sadhya, which is a wholesome meal for a very good price. It’s got some authentic kerala curries like kaalan, avial, pachadi, red rice, puttu, iddiappam, buttermilk, payasam, papad etc.

It was about 4PM, which in God’s own country means some Pazham Pori time! We had these delicious (although sweet to taste) treats and headed out feeling satisfied!

That day, I could proudly say, I know where to get some kerala food. Next time I meet some Keralite, I could totally start off a conversation with this restaurant as the topic 🙂