taste of Kerala

that one night of laziness to cook, and googling where to eat, led us to Salkara Restaurant in Lulu Hypermarket's foodcourt in Qusais.

ive always been planning to go to Kerala. for now, this is the closest i can get to it. Kerala cuisine for this lazy, hungry girl. 

Kerala cuisine is influenced by it's abundance in seafood and coconut. well, that and of course it's spices. Salkara focuses on the classic Malabar cuisine, which is found in the north-eastern part of Kerala.

the foodcourt was quite busy. there were only about 3 restaurants in that big room, but it was obvious everyone was there to eat at Salkara. even their take out counter was full. 

lucky to find an empty table, the friendly staff approached us. he was happy to recommend a few dishes. same dishes i already had in mind, after my research.

although i wanted to have the karimeen pollichathu, or let's just call it the spicy whole fish. im not entirely sure what kind of fish it was, from the picture it looked like tilapia but it was covered with spices, so i can't really be sure. the waiter advised us that it would have too much fish bones so we should have the hammour fillet instead.

my fiance seem to have a phobia with fish bones, i spared him the agony. hammour fillet, it is. then we got the chili chicken, which the waiter warned us it would be too spicy, we nodded with delight. had the appam (fermented bread made with rice batter and coconut milk). looked like string hoppers to me, the ones i had in sri lanka. i think they're the same. or at least of the same kind.

it's like pancakes. but the middle white part really tastes like puto to me.

the waiter wasn't kidding with the chicken, it was really spicy. and this is from someone who can tolerate her spices. my first bite took me aback. but after i knew what was dealing with, i was gorging on it non stop.

the yogurt went perfectly with it. any dish that comes with yogurt, two thumbs up for me.

the spicy hammour fillet, wrapped in banana leaves stole the show.

usually hammour for me is bland, but the spices and the way they cooked the fish made this dish so flavorful. i had to drop my cutlery and use my hands. everything tastes better when we use our hands. plus i wanted to blend in with all the others in the room eating with their hands. except my fiance of course, i've learned to accept he can't eat with his hands. diva. works for me, someone can take my photos.

everything on their menu looked good, i wanted to try them all. but ill save room for next time. 

the mutton soup, fish curry, spicy prawns, beef dry fry, whole spicy chicken and even their special tea are already on my list. their lunch combo looked promising too. more reasons for us to come back. dinner for two for roughly 60 aed (675 php). this place, easily is one of my top indian restaurants in dubai. 

Salkara also have a branch in Sharjah, Al Ansar Mall on the 6th floor.