AL BAIQ

A restaurant which I had visited earlier with two of my vegetarian friends but had to leave without placing an order as they weren't serving anything vegetarian since we arrived late night. This visit was with the girl gang which will be missed and remains in my heart for life. We were a group of five girls with one of us, a vegetarian, and like all other restaurants in Calicut, Al Baiq as well has very few options for vegetarian food. Probably, the last restaurant to be tried and reviewed in Kozhikode, Al Baiq, is located at the by-pass road (next to the signal) and is very crowded on weekends. Like most restaurants in Kozhikode, Al Baiq appears huge from outside but has both limited space and menu. We ordered Paneer mutter masala, Chicken Vazhattiyathu, Mandi, Al Fahm, Falooda and  Icecream with fruit salad (Oxymoron loved by some). Paneer mutter masala was to our surprise delicious, Chicken Vazhittiyathu was great but spicy to my taste, Mandi wasn't that great, Al Fahm was just fine and Falooda shouldn't be tried here. The pricing is as usual and ambiance is very simple though it looks amazing when you stand outside the restaurant. We had a great time here, discussing the time spent at the campus and annoying one of our friend from Delhi about how people from there show off. LOL!

Women in WHITE

The GANG :) I messed up the rule to wear white :| Pratima Reddy you were missed :*

Will miss these CRAZY PEOPLE!

Thanks to Astha's Photography :P

Ali Bhai's Thattakada

This might be the last restaurant which I guess I am visiting before leaving the campus but for sure not the last one in Calicut. After my friend insisted me to be part of the bike rally for Calicut marathon, we decided to go and try their famous fried ice-cream. It was around evening at 6 pm and the restaurant wasn’t crowded. Their AC section was closed and the ambiance on the ground floor didn’t seem as exciting as it seems in the picture. It was dark and the staff didn’t seem interested enough to even carefully listen to what we asked for. But no matter what, the ice-cream was great and worth the price of Rs 100. Comparing it with the cream stone ice-cream, I feel fried ice-cream finishes ahead in the race.

Dhe Puttu

A place I have been long trying to visit and finally did it just before leaving Calicut for good. Just as the name suggests, you see puttu all over once you enter this place. The wall has a nice painting of a train caring puttus and the ambiance is subtle but I felt the staff wasn’t that friendly or tired/bored, for the first time in a place like Calicut where everybody is very excited and sweet. The server didn’t even seem interested in answering questions which we had asked on the food items as we were unaware of many of the Malayalam words. The menu is something interesting with things such as Veg/Chicken/Mix Biryani puttu, chocolate puttu, and banana puttu. They serve masala tea (without milk) with every meal that can be refilled as many times you demand. Their staff t-shirts look similar to the designs IIM Kozhikode has for its sports event. I chose Keema puttu and egg curry, while my friend chose to have Chemba puttu with kadala curry. Both were really good and they serve it with some banana sliced with honey and the combination tastes brilliant.

HOTEL RAHMATH

This place is a 'heaven' for many people in Kozhikode and especially those who love Malabar biryani. This is one restaurant which I forgot to review and I had multiple people asking me "How could you forget the iconic Rahmath ?". This restaurant by far is considered the most reasonably priced. I have tried their chicken, beef and mutton biryani and I honestly didn't find their mutton biryani that great but beef and chicken was really awesome. It is a very simple place with simple interiors including a family space upstairs. It is located at Mananchira, a crowded area but I think it is easy to locate as there is surely no one in Calicut who isn't aware of this place. Though I have been there twice now, I prefer to visit them again for their Kada Biryani ( Quail biryani, read about it online and hope they still serve it) and Mutton Stew. The service is absolutely quick and staff is very friendly. Overall this place is must try when you are in Calicut.

ALCHEMY

A newly opened place which we just discovered and a place which seems to have the potential for becoming a good dating spot among the students of Kozhikode due to its location and ambience. It is located along the Kozhikode beach, opposite again a newly opened restaurant Neerayi and next to Lions Club Park. It was a Christmas night and we had already relished on a heavy dinner and were thinking of treating our sweet tooth. There were no customers as it is very new and is yet to be fully constructed. It has more space outdoors over the space available indoors with lighting most suitable for dates but I am not sure how will it look like during monsoons.  It has the view of Kozhikode beach on one side which I don’t find very exciting. The menu is just that of any regular café in Calicut with burgers, sandwiches, mocktails and faloodas. They have something called ‘Choose what you like!’ falooda which our server could barely explain what that exactly means, but I guess it’s just to choose the flavour of ice-cream you would like to have as a topping. We chose their Special Alchemy Falooda which was nothing but I would still visit this place again to try more stuff once it is fully prepared to accept customers.

HOTSPOT

The name of this restaurant must be changed from ‘Hotspot’ to ‘Everything Loud’. The lights are too flashy; the interiors, the outdoor lounge, the indoor fountains, the uniforms of servers and everything else is too loud. I think they forgot to make only one thing too rakish and that is the menu, it is too limited and is a single laminated page. It is definitely a family restaurant with tables for four or six and the entire restaurant is divided into small rooms consisting of two six seater tables. They also forgot to manage the height of chairs and tables so it’s very difficult to have a comfortable dinner. The washrooms were overused as it was a Christmas night and weren’t clean enough, I suppose even that matters a lot. Regarding the menu, it was a regular one including biryani and mandi with very limited curry options. This is the only restaurant in Kozhikode I have come across where they serve duck. They also serve Ambur Biryani which I wanted to try really badly but unfortunately biryani is served only for lunch in this restaurant. Finally we boiled down to Mandi, though very Indianised and different, it was really great, the fried onion slices made all the difference. The portion size is good and prices are quite reasonable. I would want to visit this place again to try more of their dishes. 

COFFEE TRIBE

The location is an advantage as it is placed at a closer distance for us compared to all other cafes. I could see at least three tables occupied by our students and for a moment I felt like I was attending a combined lecture with both the batches. It serves food that is most suited blend for Indian taste buds and every friend of mine just loves it. The ambience is simple and the staff is very friendly. Not much to say about it, as it is just a regular café with a standard menu. They also had a Christmas menu which included a chicken burger, chicken nuggets, fries and coffee and it was priced very reasonably. They offered us a complimentary sizzler, while we had tough time gulping the first one as it was neither appealing nor as tasty as we expected. We also ordered pasta, one Arabiatta and one Alfredo. Both were again not appealing or tasty, the Arabiatta was as good as Maggi pasta and Alfredo was like “No Idea what it was”. I would just end up saying that this is a small café where you would go and hog without thinking or expecting too much, and definitely not a place for someone who has already tried authentic cuisine.