People with discerning palates can have a field day if they step into the rather quaint Mattathankadavu Shappu (toddy shop) in Ernakulam district. The exhaustive menu of the outlet is a dream come true for connoisseurs of good food. The toddy shop serves some delectable dishes such as the flavoursome fish head curry, the tasty buffalo meat fry and the sapid duck curry. Moreover, the dishes made of prawns, crab, clam meat, rabbit meat and chicken stand out for their taste and flavour.
This modest food joint, which is situated at Mattathankadavu near Paravur in Ernakulam district, attracts foodies and others from far and wide. People going past the shappu may lose their bearings for a while with the sweet smell of yummy food being prepared at the outlet wafting through the air. The busy commuters and staff of private and KSRTC buses plying through the area make it a point to take food parcels from the sought-after food joint. Once you have food from this shappu, its taste will definitely linger in your mouth for a long time.
You can buy a packet of lip-smacking meal with fish curry for just Rs 55. The meal consisting of side dishes and pickles is more than enough to make your day. But if you want to know the real taste of shappu delicacies, go for the Rs 130 meal that comes with beef fry, chicken roast and duck curry. And if don’t want to have rice-based meals, then you can have puttu, appam, tapioca or idiyappam with fish head curry, beef curry, chicken curry, beef ‘potty’, rabbit meat roast and prawns roast, among others. The fish-based curries are prepared according to the availability of fish. The dishes made of fish such as ‘varaal’ (snake head fish) and ‘kera’ (tuna) are on the joint’s menu throughout the year.
The toddy shops of Kerala are traditionally known for their spicy and tangy fish curries but now they have a wide range of dishes on their menus. Now people are visiting these outlets in the countryside not only to have a glass of bitter-sweet white toddy but also to savour the traditional cuisine of Kerala. Mattathankadavu shappu is one such food joint that satisfies your palate with some mouth-watering ethnic dishes.