What is common to puttu, appam, idiappam, idli, ada, kozhukatta and idli ? That is apart from having rice as a main ingredient? Yes, they are steam-cooked.
Sitting at Aavi, which means steam in Malayalam, one realises, as brothers Franco Jose and Geo Jose talk about their Kerala specialty eatery, that steamed food has been a part of our diet before it became fashionable as a medium of cooking diet food. Franco and Geo are promoters of the restaurant which is part of the Focuz group.
The Panampilly Nagar outlet at Itty’s (where Favourite’s used to be) may be a month-old, but the Maradu outlet is more than a year-old and has its many fans which includes actors such as Manoj K. Jayan and Poornima Indrajith. Aavi also has a take-away at Vazhakkala. It was a love of Kerala food which got the company rooted in the automobile business to venture into the food business.
The logic is fairly simple, Franco says, “The Chinese have made us eat noodles, the Italians pizza so let’s take puttu and appam to the world,” Franco says. The group hopes to open a chain to naadan specialty eateries across the country. They have stuck to the resolve despite temptations and the occasional frustration.
He says it is tough watching people leave on finding out they don’t serve the eating-out staples chicken fried rice and/or aerated drinks. But they adamantly refuse to budge. They want to bring in the concept of healthy eating, which is how our eating habits were traditionally. The Kerala parotta is another story altogether; under duress they included the wheat variety.
The talk about healthy food is intimidating. For the foodie that is. The anxiety dissipates at the sight of gloriously browned meen chuttathu on a bed of vegetables, read the salad-kind – cucumber, tomatoes, carrots and others – gravy of fish curry, a bowl of fruits, a tumbler of rasam (which aids digestion), a chapathi and a glass of fruit juice.
There is balance (diet-wise) and taste-wise too. The fish is fresh and perfect. There is something to be said about mouthfuls of meen chuttathu washed down with tangy rasam . One forgets the chapathi and the gravy. The chapathi is complimentary; if you want differently, you can order.
Salads (sprouted green gram at times) accompany the orders, initially left untouched these are also consumed, Franco says. The fork and spoon, I am told, are an exception. Usually it is eating with hands here. The pacha manga juice (a Thalaserry import) is a must-try.
The menu is straight-forward – aavi appangal ( appam, puttu, dosa , chapathi etc), aavi karikal (fish, egg, chicken, vegetable stew, kadala curry, beef and duck), aavi specials ( kappa biriyani and thaalichathu , erachi varuval , poricha kozhi , meen - chuttathu , elapothi and varathathu ), aavi palaharam which are a few traditional snacks such as pazham pori , cutlet (chicken and veg), vada and aavi kudikkan (tea, coffee, lime juice and green mango juice. No confusion and to the point.
“We wanted to focus on consistency rather than stretch ourselves in terms of an extensive menu,” Geo says. The menu, he goes on, is a mix of influences. Beef is cooked like it is in Thrissur, fish is done like how it is at Alleppey and the duck dish, of course, has to be Kuttanad.
Aavi is open for breakfast and serves up a delectable breakfast combo with choice of appam (idiappam, appam or puttu), egg ulli roast or kadala curry or chicken stew with fruit cuts and fruit juice.
And for the lovers of kanji , the old favourite too can be had for dinner with a long line of accompaniments which includes kappa, payar , dry prawn fry, chutney, crushed onion, pickle and papadam. There are the meals options (vegetarian and non-vegetarian) and biriyanis for lunch.
Desserts are few, but then traditionally for us dessert was only payasam, on special occasions. There is, however, payasam with meals.
