The name sounds inviting – Curry Chatty. Envisioning bubbling Indian gravies served in earthen pots, I head to the restaurant that is located near the Police Training College at Thycaud. The restaurant stands in place of the defunct Let's Barbeque. The décor of the place has not changed much. The quaint nadumuttam is still intact but the lights inside the restaurant have gone dimmer but not so dim that you can't see what you are eating.
Curry Chatty has been divided into three dining areas, Buddha's Creek, which serves Oriental cuisine, Akathalam, which serves ‘country' food, and City Da Dhaba, which serves Punjabi dishes. And although the restaurant has these three sections (the Chinese section is decorated with Chinese lanterns) you can dine anywhere as the menu is common.
The menu is quite innovative. The front cover is in the form of a newspaper with pieces of news strewn all over and the back page has recipes for potato cake, tomato rasam and the like.
To be honest, I was hoping for hot lacy appams with perhaps creamy fish molly but was sadly disappointed as I noted that were hardly any Kerala dishes on the menu.
The menu is divided into Indian and Chinese and is rather extensive. Everything looks good. For those who are new to Indian and Chinese cuisine, a brief of the dish is given in brackets, so you know the main ingredients that go into that dish.
Extensive menu
I have a look at the soup section. In the Indian side of the soup menu there is Roasted tomato and coriander shorba (Rs. 80) and American corn and dhaniya shorba (Rs. 80) while the Chinese section contains Lemon coriander soup (Rs. 75) and Mixed seafood soup (Rs. 100). Tawa pita ghost (Rs. 270), Fried Wonton (Rs. 155) and Salt n Pepper Vegetable (vegetable tossed with salt, pepper, onion and garlic), Huli Chicken (shredded chicken breast and spring onion) and Sesame toast (chicken minced with garlic, ginger, chilli and sesame) are some of the starters.
While Adraki aloo gobi (Rs. 120), Murg rara (Rs. 240), Kheema mutter (Rs. 260), Machi tariwala (Rs. 240) and Pinde Chole (Rs. 135) are some of the side dishes that go well with the Indian breads available at the restaurant, Sweet and Sour Vegetable (Rs. 155), Thai Wok Chicken (Rs. 185) and Chilli fish (Rs. 265) go well with the rice and noodle preparations in the Chinese side of the menu.
We order a plate of momos, aloo paratha, tandoori roti, dal tadka and prawn tikka masala.
The momos come piping hot in a traditional bamboo basket. There are six small pieces in the basket. The filling of shredded chicken and spring onion is tasty and goes well with the thick sauce, which tastes faintly of coriander.
The aloo paratha could have done without the pieces of tomato in the stuffing as it lends the paratha a bit of sourness. The dal tadka with its generous use of coriander is delicious and complements the tandoori roti.
The prawn tikka masala had four juicy jumbo prawns tucked into a medium spiced thick gravy. Unfortunately none of our accompaniments are served in chatties (earthen pots) as expected.
Deciding to end our meal on a sweet note, we order gulab jamun. The jamun is still warm and the syrup has just the right amount of sweetness. A sweet end to our meal.
