We love eating out and thanks to the Bangalore's Restaurant website we are doing a lot of it. But there are days for us when we want to eat out but just stick with the basics, nothing fancy. One Saturday evening we headed to Roshita's home at Jal Vayu Vihar in Kamanahalli. Roshita is Sudhakar's cousin and like us shares a passion for good food. She gave us a lot of choices - Kamanahalli seriously has a decent collection of interesting restaurants. One of the last options was of a Kerala food joint. She described it as a really small place that had fixed menus for the day and which dished up some seriously good Malayali food. And so we decided to head there and parcel us some goodness. 

We piled into the car and headed there. Appam Corner as the place has been christened is a really small but very neat hole in the wall. There were a few plastic stools strewn about which had a few small families seated. There were scores of bachelors thronging the place. I left the ordering to the Malayali food experts - Roshita, Sudhakar and Reshma. And this is what we brought home.

The best way to start a Kerala food feast is to begin with Kappa Meen curry. This is a mash of tempered tapioca along with a tangy fish curry. In this case it was a sardine fish curry. Tamarind gave it that zing and red chillies the spice. Together with the neutral kappa, the combination was unbeatable. 

The Appams were really soft and tasted like the real deal. But again, my only question is why doesn't anyone use the Appam kadai where you get cotton soft centers and crispy circular edges. No complaints here though since the taste was brilliant. 

To go with the Appam we had the chicken curry and the chicken roast. In both cases, the use of coconut milk was generous. And that is what made the taste great. The chicken was cooked in its respective masalas, till the meat had literally fallen off the bone. My vote was for the chicken curry first and the chicken roast to follow. 

Can appams be far away from a mutton stew. We definitely had that on the table that day. The coconut milk was spiced well and the mutton was definitely cooked in all that coconutty goodness. The tempering of curry leaves was a perfect, finger-licking finish. 

And can any meal be complete without some fish curry. A nice, moderately spicy fish curry it was (sorry, don't remember the name). It went brilliantly well with the appams and would definitely make a great combination with plain, steamed rice. 

While we were waiting for our order, Anoushka heard someone mention parathas and threw a fit for some. That's why we picked a plate of fluffy parathas, which went well with all the gravies we had. And while we were waiting, I was introduced to something new - Chukku Kaapi. This is a hot concotion of jaggery, pepper and a hit of coffee. I am NOT a coffee drinker, but it was quite chilly outside that day and most of us were suffering from the first hints of a sore throat. One sip of this and you will have to fight yourself from having glass after glass. It was fiery hot going down the throat, following which you have this soothing sensation wash all over you. The bill for all of this was astoundingly within Rs 350. It was worth every bite and more. Roshita has graciously agreed to being my food guide in Kamanahalli. Rest assured you are going to see a lot of discoveries from that part of town.