The signboard piques our curiosity – Apple, a pure vegetarian restaurant. Now what connection does apples have with vegetables, I have no clue, but the name and the ‘pure vegetarian' bit attracted us. Also parking is plentiful. The restaurant, on the Kowdiar-Nanthencode road, is cosy. We decide to sit al fresco and not in the comforts of the air conditioned section. The menu is expansive and a haven for vegetarians with a choice of Indian and Chinese cuisine. We order puri (Rs. 30), a rava masala dosa (Rs. 35) and a ghee roast.
As we wait for the order, I take in the surroundings – simple yet elegant. Thin bamboo curtains shield the dust from the road. There is a crowd waiting.
The service is reasonably quick and we dig into our food. The puri thankfully is not dripping in oil and the potato masala that is served along with the puri melts like butter.
While we expected the rava masala dosa to be like a regular masala dosa (with a potato stuffing folded into the dosa), the potato masala was served in a katori. The ghee roast whetted our taste buds with its strong aroma of butter. The chammantis that accompany these dishes has me wondering if Shylock is working in the kitchen due to the small but tasty serving, which makes it worse. Yeh dil mange more – chammanti. All said, the restaurant with its good, piping hot food is bound be to the apple of the eye for many a gourmand.
Apart from the regular dosas and puris, Apple has traditional delights such as Ada aviyal and wheat doshas. However the availability depends on your luck! There is also a choice of Indian breads and a choice of vegetarian Indian gravies such as dal makhani (Rs. 40), peas masala (Rs. 35) and channa masala (Rs. 45). Indian flavoured rices such as jeera rice and ghee rice are available too. Traditional Kerala vegetarian meals are served during lunch hours.
Chinese menu
The ubiquitous noodles, fried rice, Manchurians and 65's make their way into the Chinese section of the menu. The chilli garlic noodles and gobi Manchurian come highly recommended from this section. Fresh juices, fizzy drinks milk shakes, tea and coffee feature in the beverage section while there are interesting combinations of ice cream flavours with equally interesting names in the dessert section. Message, one of the interesting names on the menu, for instance, has two scoops of Spanish Delight with chocolate fudge. The restaurant is open from 11.30 a.m. to 10.30 p.m. on Mondays to Saturdays and from 8.30 a.m. to 10. 30 p.m. on Sundays.
