Off late, it has become quite easy to find Punjabi and Gujarati and other cuisines in tourist places and rather difficult to find local cuisines. However, with a little digging and looking around, I was able to uncover a few places where traditional Kerala meals could be had. I being a huge fan of curd rice, and I ate quite a lot of that. So, for a change, a different taste was welcome. And since Punjabi was abundantly available, I thought let’s take that.

In one of the by-lanes on the beach-side path along the Lighthouse beach, I bumped across a small hostel with a restaurant on the roof. The hostel owner told me that they get a lot of Punjabi and other north-Indian kids, who come to Kovalam to practice rifle shooting on the firing range nearby. Up on the roof, I settled into simple plastic furniture, ordered my favorite Rajma Chawal. Simple, easy, no-nonsense comfort food.

A good welcome change after all the curd rice and lemon rice and coconut oil I had loved all along, this was something I thoroughly enjoyed.