At the start of this year, during my weekend getaway to Cochin, I spent a lot of time around cafes in Fort Kochi mainly to get away from the heat of the Cochin day. Of course, I also tried out some local specialties when doing so. Here are my special six tastes of my first visit to Cochin:

(1) Cold cardamom coffee at Loafer’s corner:

The cosy corner café on Princess street was a place I enjoyed going back to, a couple of times. Their cold cardamom coffee was especially lovely for the hot and humid weather.

(2) Fish mango curry at Oceanos:

On my first day at Fort Kochi, after arriving there in the morning, checking into Fort Bungalow and then exploring the fort museum, I was very hungry and decided to have a proper Kerala lunch at nearby Oceanos, which had great reviews for its seafood. I tried out their fish mango curry, which was delicious.

(3) Unnakaya at Farmer’s cafe

After walking around for a couple of hours exploring the cute little shops lining the old streets of Fort Kochi, I stopped at the Farmer’s café on Ridsdale road. I had marked this organic café as a place to visit, but since I had stuffed myself at lunch with the fish mango curry, I settled for a snack called unnakaya, which was fried steamed bananas filled with coconut. I had thought it would taste more like pisang goreng (the Indonesian fried banana snack) but I guess steaming the banana before frying it changed its flavor.

The café is my favourite in Fort Kochi and I wished I had time to revisit the café again.

(4) Cold coffee at Mocha art cafe

While exploring Mattancherry with two people from my bed and breakfast place, we decided to take a break and have something cooling. Since I had marked this café as a place mentioned for its good coffee, I suggested we stop by Mocha art café, and have some cold coffee.
The café is a lovely place, opposite the Jewish synagogue, with an art gallery and a little area for people to enjoy a drink or some food.

(5) Chai at Passage Malabar

With all the coffee I had been drinking that weekend, I decided to switch to some tea after my early morning walk around Fort Kochi beach area. I had actually wanted to go back to Farmer’s café for some breakfast, but it was not yet open at 7am so I decided to stop by next door Passage Malabar for a tea break before returning to my guesthouse for some breakfast. I enjoyed the masala chai in the leafy courtyard of the restaurant.

(6) Ela ada at Cochin airport

Having checked out of my hotel early on my last day in Cochin, without breakfast, I decided to get a bite to eat at the airport while waiting to board my flight. A little outlet called the L’il Tiffin attracted me and I saw that it had lots of traditional breakfast food and something that I had wanted to try but not found in Fort Kochi. Ela ada is a steamed rice flour parcel in banana leaf, filled with a sweet coconut mixture. Anything steamed in banana leaves always has a special flavor and this one had it too.
Fort Kochi is dotted with lots of interesting cafes and the above are just some that I visited and enjoyed during my weekend getaway to the city.

What is the Keralan food that you would want to try, during your visit to Kerala?

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