Pisharody's Restaurant in Thrissur

When you are on the road in the midst of your travel, what would you choose to have? Will it be a non-vegetarian food like Biriyani and Kuzhimandhi or do you prefer to have pure vegetarian recipes like Sadhya? Even though I have had many instances in the past where I have gone for non-vegetarian dishes, this time around, I decided to have a change and choose to go for pure vegetarian Sadhya. I was on my way through Thrissur town, the land which is quite famous for Pooram festivals. Passing by the famous Vadakkunnathan Temple, I got to know about a food spot by the name of Pisharody’s Restaurant in Thrissur located close to the well-known Thekkinkadu Maidanam, the ground at the centre of Thrissur town which hosts the world-renowned Thrissur Pooram festival.

Pisharody’s Restaurant in appearance resembles traditional architecture and it’s been popular for serving delicious vegetarian Sadhya. As with the custom of Kerala Sadhya, natural green banana leaves were used as the plate for serving the food. The series of recipes starting with Puliyinchi was served by 3 to 4 persons who took turns in bringing the dishes. Banana chips, Sarkkaravaratty, Chutney powder, Fried chillies and Pickles, all came in the initial stage.

Seeing Sarkkaravaratty made me remember one conversation I had with someone in the past during a wedding. According to him, the traditional idea behind starting a Sadhya with the sweet and hard Sarkkaravaratty is to prepare ourselves for the small stones that are likely to have in the rice. Apparently, small stones were so common in rice back in the day. Even though it is not the case anymore, we follow the custom of starting the Sadhya with sweet and hard Sarkkaravaratty.

Our vlog at Pisharody’s Restaurant in Thrissur

Apparently, Sadhya is not the same everywhere. If we move across Kerala, we could see variations in recipes served for Sadhya. In fact, it won’t be the same in each of these places like Trivandrum, Kollam, Palakkad and Kottayam. One of the person by the name Sonia, who served us the food explained that there exist an order for serving the recipes for Sadhya. Recipes like Thoran, Avial, Olan, Kalan and Pachadi were all served in the same order.

Rice will be served towards the end and these will be followed by pappad and Sambar. Even though Sambar was served with rice, I prefer to have Parippu curry more than the Sambar. Pappad mixed with lentil recipe is in fact the favourite recipe combination for many people.

Some of the other recipes like Rasam, Pullisery and Buttermilk were all served in small steel buckets. These were kept on our table and if we choose to have any of these recipes, we can take them ourselves according to our choice. Masala curry and Pazham Pachadi were the two main recipes which caught my eye. The light spicy flavour of the Masala curry and the sweetness of the Pazham Pachadi was something special.

Among all these recipes, the one which really deserves praise was the Avail dish which tasted awesome. The Palada Payasam was delicious with the correct level of sweetness and it will be included in the Sadhya. I have also bought a couple of Payasam varieties like Parippu Payasam and Pazham Payasam which needs extra payment and it was delicious. If you are planning to have pure vegetable Sadhya for lunch, Pisharody’s Restaurant in Thrissur would surely prove to be a worthy choice.