Overall Rating
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8.0 / 10
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Well among the Keralite community, this name would strike a lot of reminiscences of the movie scenes and the spectacular acting by Sir Thilakan. As it was one of the last movies before his death it surely caught the hearts of many. The restaurant came soon after the release of the movie, and thus the name of the restaurant attracted many. The Nahda outlet is located near Carrefour express on NMC Hospital road.
“Well, why Ustad Hotel”, just as the movie, the restaurant depicts a similar ambiance. In the movie, it portrays the restaurant being located as a Traditional Malabar diner on a beach. Similarly the outlet portrays a similar ambiance with a combination of bright blue chairs and white tables that definitely was an add on to the simple charm. The interiors also included a section serving some unique street juices and live cooking stations. The salted gooseberry and the basil seed juices would surely take you back to the authentic cool bars in Kerala. The menu offers traditional Malabar dishes with a touch of fusion food as well. I visited Ustad Hotel with my family for a weekend lunch, every aspect of the meal was remarkable compared to other joints offering similar cuisine! Starting from the hospitality to the ambiance and the food. Although, we visited during the busy lunch hour, the staffs ensured to provide us seats within 15 minutes of waiting. |
To start with, we ordered Ustad Prawns Cocktail priced AED 28. This was no unique dish like the name suggested but rather it was the usual Japanese style crispy Tempura Prawns with sautéed onion served in most popular food joints in town. Although this item from the menu surprised each one of us because the fusion flavours were so rich and juicy just like the servings from the popular joints and was way above our expectations .
Following for the main course, we ordered Chicken biryani, Kerala non-veg meals, porotta (flatbread) and kedhara kozhi. The Malabar biryani is a must try when trying the cuisine. The Ustad hotel Kozhikodan Kozhi biryani was prepared with the finest Malabar spices and ingredients that’s utterly delicious in each bite. Even the rice grain (khaima) which is thin and aromatic was used in the preparation and was identical to homemade biryani. This was priced AED 13. The flat bread aka, porotta in the Malabar region was flakey wheat bread served warm golden brown. Each porotta was priced AED 2. A portion of gravy was served with the flatbread
The Kedhara kozhi was the traditional spicy marinated chicken fry; deep fried in rich coconut oil flavors and served with roasted crispy coconut flakes. The non-veg / fish curry meals priced AED 12 served portions of various traditional vegetable curries and fish curry prepared in special coconut gravy. The meal is served with fried bites on the sides like pappad, dried chilly and sweet banana chips. A payasam (Keralite dessert) was also served with meal.
For drinks, we ordered the signature Kuluky Pink drink from the menu. This is a popular refreshing drink in the Malabar region with a blend of sweet and spicy chilly flavours in each sip. The kuluky drink is mixed with sweetened pineapple syrup and cuscus seeds (aka; black poppy seeds)
#MoplahCuisine
#MalabarJoint
#Musttry
#MoplahCuisine
#MalabarJoint
#Musttry