Did you know that there’s a restaurant in Kulamavu, Idukki, that dishes up what’s, arguably, the best fish pickle ever? Or that at Murali hotel, near the KSRTC Bus stand in Haripad, you can sip on ‘magic tea,’ while feasting on Kuttanadan treats such as Karimeen pollichathu and Duck mappas? Further up the road, at Muhamma, is Smitha Hotel, known to locals as Vaidyarude Kada, famous for its seafood treats such as crab roast and chemmeen curry. Far away in Tholpetty, Wayanad, meanwhile, it’s unniyappam on the menu at the nondescript, rather aptly named, Unniyappakada...
Curating all these treats and many more of Kerala’s favourite dishes and ‘food spots’ is the food app TastySpots. The app that’s just over two months old has apparently been downloaded 1.5 lakh times (and counting) and it’s developer, Kochi-based TastySpots Infoway, a collaboration by a bunch of young entrepreneurs, was awarded the best start-up at the recently concluded TiECon 2016.
“It all started during our bachelor days in Kochi. All of us are foodies and we’re constantly in search of good, different places to eat. Many of us know of popular restaurants and dishes like biriyani from Paragon in Kozhikode, Hotel Buhari in Thiruvananthapuram and Ramassery idli from Palakkad. Real foodies, though, are always in search what/where the locals eat,” says social media entrepreneur Abdul Manaf, CEO of TastySpots, the brain behind the app.
“For example, in Kumbalam, on the outskirts of Kochi, a joint, known locally as Puttu Kada, is renowned for its flavourful combo of puttu and beef curry. Actually, it was actor Asif Ali, quite the foodie himself, who told us about this particular joint. It’s open till late at night and he apparently frequents the place, especially when he has a shoot nearby. Another friend told us about Hotel Kailasam, in Kadalundy, Kozhikode, that serves ethnic delicacies made with river fish. Most foodies in Kochi know of Sri Muruga café in Tripunithura, which dishes up lip-smacking combo of pazham pori and beef, and those in Thiruvananthapuram know of Hotel Afzal in Vizhinjam that has only chicken fry and porotta on the menu. We wanted to take these places beyond word-of-mouth publicity and make the best of such authentic, local cuisine to be known to all, with just a click,” adds the entrepreneur.
Manaf co-founded the company along with entrepreneurs Amarnath Sankar, K.M. Mehboob, Chachu Jacob, Real Prad and Shamal, all of them in their late 20s and early 30s. The app was developed as a collaboration among Cat Entertainments, Kerala’s first media start-up, programming specialists Sayone Technologies and Manaf’s own company, Easysoft Technologies, which is into IT solutions. “To make it a top-notch app we needed expertise in technology, digital marketing and creative media production and that’s what we each bring to the table,” says Amarnath of Cat Entertainments. They’ve been working on the app for three years now.
However, TastySpots is not just a free listing of restaurants in Kerala. “We curate the content that appears on the app. We choose places that have a reputation for maintaining the quality of food for at least two years,” says Manaf. They have research teams, comprising a photographer, videographer, writer and a foodie, that travel to each restaurant to review it on the parameters of food, ambience and service. “This way users can get a full picture, a virtual experience of the place - that’s one of our USPs,” explains Amarnath. Users can search top joints and signature dishes under drop down menus and they can also review the places and upload photos. “We already have 350 plus restaurants from all districts of Kerala on the menu and are in the process of adding 200 more. We keep monitoring and take them off, if standards dip,” adds Manaf.
TastySpots is planning to expand its database outside of Kerala, beginning with food joints in Bengaluru and the United Arab Emirates. “Eventually, we’d like to have the best restaurants and dishes in all major cities across the world on one platform,” says Manaf.
The app is available for free on iOS and Android platforms. Also, you can log on to tastyspots.com
