Pothichor—that square, tightly wrapped parcel of banana leaf with rice, a couple of curries and pickle—is a meal and the stuff of nostalgia. The banana leaf, wilted over fire so that it doesn’t tear, lends a subtle flavour to the rice. Back in the day, before lunch boxes, this is how lunch was packed and carried, later for the sake of convenience, a newspaper sheet served as extra wrapping. It was easy to carry, and dispose off.
It is also an answer to ‘ undo? ’ (Have you had lunch?) A question that 28-year-old Justin K Abraham decided to capitalise on. He started an exclusive ‘pothichor’ delivery service, Undo? It was the first time somebody branded pothichor , “Probably it is my background in branding that got me thinking,” says Justin, who is also involved in branding. Although he launched it in November 2016, before food aggregation platforms were the norm, he couldn’t sustain due to manpower issues affecting the delivery.
“The response, even then, was good. But the logistics were impossible to work out. But this year, platforms such as Swiggy have made it easy.”
KOCHI, Kerala, 23/08/2019: Justin K Abraham has branded his 'Pothichoru' under the name 'UNDO'. He also has a restaurant by the same name. Photo : Thulasi Kakkat/The Hindu
He restarted in July last year, with a cloud kitchen in a house on Kulathunkal Bava Road (Thamanam); encouraged by the response he has opened a restaurant, Undo Home too in May this year. “There was no point with just pothichor , I wanted to do more.” Initially open for lunch, till recently, it is now open for dinner as well. Like for lunch, it serves pothichor and biryani, but has more choice for dinner with a comparatively elaborate menu that includes puttu , idli , dosa , and Undo special (veg) sandwich.
He had initially planned to continue with a cloud kitchen, “Then I realised the brand has value and why not capitalise on that.”
Undo Home is an upmarket take on the ‘homely meals’ places. The restaurant is a refurbished old house, complete with wooden rafters. In order to emphasise the ‘feel’, Justin has done up the walls with sepia photographs “of nobody in particular”.
“This traditional infrastructure gives Undo Home a feel of home, rather than a commercial space.” He uses the compound to cultivate vegetables such as green chilli, string bean, lady’s finger and brinjal, the rest he shops personally in order to ensure quality.
Unlike most other pothichor services, he doesn’t use plastic for the gravies and sides.
“I wanted the packing to be eco-friendly and any way pothichor , packed from home in the old days, never has plastic packets.,” he says.
He has a chef and five women to assist in the kitchen, and around five waiters.
Even now a majority of the sale is via delivery platforms, but the weekends and evenings work well for the restaurant. The reason for getting into the food business, he says, is his love for cooking. “I am passionate about cooking and I experiment at home, the dishes I introduce here are often those that I’ve tried making at home. ‘Do-Bi’ masala is one such, it is a take on the masala dosa with a beef filling.” Another brainchild is ‘ karinkalam biryani’, biryani made of grilled chicken, cooked in a mud pot.
Social media, especially Instagram, has helped greatly in spreading the word, “there are people who come here for a meal straight from the airport.” Though pothichor is available, usually only for lunch, Undo Home serves it for dinner also. Still working as a branding consultant, and encouraged by the popularity, he intends to open outlets.
