Nadan Kadayum Veetile Oonum in Trivandrum

When we are on our travel, we would be looking to have food from restaurants by the roadside. Each of these restaurants might be popular for serving different kinds of delicious food items. If we are lucky enough, the lip-smacking flavours of some recipes would remain with us for many years to come. In most of these instances, we wouldn’t be in a position to know the signature dish of these restaurants in advance. Whether we can consider this to be a drawback or a blessing in disguise is something for us to decide. Recently I visited one food spot by the name of Nadan Kadayum Veetile Oonum in Trivandrum which is famous for seafood delicacies. The heavenly flavour of the Prawns Theeyal recipe along with a vast collection of seafood recipes I had from this restaurant has stayed with me ever since.

The food spot is run by a group of women and is exactly located at a place called Vanchiyoor in Trivandrum. Close to the famous Vanvhiyoor district court, the restaurant is having quite a rush when it gets to lunchtime. Many people who visit the court would make use of this restaurant to have traditional seafood meals for lunch. When we got to the food spot, we witnessed the preparation of some of the recipes like Fish curry, Beetroot thoran and Fish fries.

Prawns and other seafood items were cleaned and marinated with masala for frying. Pure coconut oil has been used in the preparation, and we have witnessed the use of a freshly opened oil can for cooking. Two fairly old ladies were taking care of the cooking part and they would be helped by a group of women in washing, cleaning and slicing the vegetables and seafood varieties. In fact, these women will also be leading the way in serving the food for the customers.

Our vlog at Nadan Kadayum Veetile Oonum in Trivandrum

Food is served traditionally on banana leaves and my friend Harri has also accompanied me for lunch. The gravy items like Sambar, Pulissery, Buttermilk, Rasam and Fish curry were all kept on the table. We can use any of these with hot steaming rice according to our preference. I chose to go with Sambar and Hari has opted for Pulissery. Mashed tapioca curry was also available for selection. Avial, Beetroot Thoran and Gooseberry pickles were the other vegetable recipes served along with the rice. All these make up the regular meals. Apart from these, we have made orders for some of the seafood dishes like Fish curry, Chemmeen Theeyal (Prawns), Prawns fry, Avoli Fry (Pomfret), Neymeen Fry (Kingfish), Mathi fry (Sardines), Natholi fry (Anchovy) and Kanava Masala (Squid).

I have Sardines fry for starters along with its crispy fry masala and it was awesome. The oily flavour of sardines combined with the natural taste of curry leaves and coconut oil have made it a special dish. Although Sardines was really good, among all the fry varieties, Neymeen Fry (Kingfish) was my favourite. It had a top-notch flavour which was truly amazing to have with rice.

Of all the seafood recipes on the table, Chemmeen Theeyal (Prawns) was the one which caught my attention. It had a delicious sour flavour which combined really well with the sauteed coconut and the masala used in the dish. The gravy of the dish was so tasty to be had with rice and it was truly an outstanding signature dish from the food spot.

As we were having our food, we could see almost all the seats were occupied by customers. In fact, there were people waiting outside for these seats to become vacant to have their lunch. Apart from the seafood recipes we ordered, several other seafood dishes were available on the menu. If you are on your way through the capital city of Kerala, Nadan Kadayum Veetile Oonum in Trivandrum would prove to be an amazing choice for a traditional seafood lunch.