Kochin Kitchen

Kochin kitchen :
I don’t really review restaurant online. This may be my first review for this restaurant– Kochin Kitchen.
[I have seen MANY South Indian restaurants and OR so called South Indian restaurants. But, this one reminded me of one in particular that was located across my college in mangalore Karnataka India. When I was in university (during ’98-’03) I used to visit that restaurant on a regular basis which offered authentic South Indian food for cheap prices. I had always look for that taste everywhere until now.]
We went there Saturday looking for food– specially the LUNCH BUFFET (another restaurant that we used to go was closed for the morning) so my wife and my daughter chose this one. Being skeptical at first I agreed. As soon as we entered I couldn’t believe that place like this exist in Ottawa. I mean, it was so nice to see that South Indian ambience. everything was perfect, food was really good. Salads and pickles were my favourite. Dosa and sambar were amazing — we enjoyed every bit of authenticity within it. «I have never felt that warmth in my belly and taste on my tongue since we visited India last year «my French-​Canadian better half added at the end.
This will be my go to South Indian restaurant from now
On.
Only suggestion is to fix their men’s washroom Kleenex dispenser — I had hard time using paper towel roll from it at the end.

Best Indian food I had in Ottawa.
The tandoori chicken was perfect with excellent spices and the best I had.
The parota’s were too good.

I’m just here to validate the current 5 star rating for Kochin Kitchen and up their review count. Passing through Ottawa, slightly hungover, the lunch buffet turned out to be a spectacular choice.
Highlights for me include both soups (tomato and sambar), Kerala salad, and the salmon curry (one of the best curries I’ve had!), but everything was quite tasty with great spice.
I don’t just hand out 5 star reviews — go here!

Love Indian food!
Do not get many good ones in our hometown, if there’s any, they are seriously toned down on the spiciness to suit a bland local palate.
We love the full fledged flavours and texture of good Indian cuisine.
Typically, you cannot find such quality at an Indian buffet place. Tried over and over again only to be let down most of the time.
Here, at Kochin Kitchen, they got it and they got it good.
Good flavourful, spicy Indian food like it is meant to be.
The service very attentive, rarely do you to talk Indian cooking with a passionate pro and this was fun.
Do we recommend this place? Of course, without hesitation. Will we go back next time we are in town? to quote the infamous Sarah Palin: «you betcha!»
See you there!

Kochin Kitchen
We had been meaning to trial Kochin Kitchen for some time and with a few nearby alternatives closed for lunch on Saturday, it provided us with the perfect opportunity. The restaurant is located in the Byward Market and has been in operation for just over a year.
Entering through heavy double doors ensures a warm and inviting introduction to the simple but modern décor. Seating is more than adequate to accommodate singles, couples, or small groups.
A generous lunch buffet included a variety of options such as sumptuous butter chicken, mouthwatering pepper lamb, vegetarian and fish curries, tasty parotta and a range of rice, soups, and salads. For only a few dollars extra on weekends the buffet also includes freshly made masala dosa, vada, and a special item that changes each week. Today it was Appam, a sweet type of pancake made with fermented rice batter and coconut milk. For desert there was lentil payasam and gulab jamun in rose water chashni that warmed and filled us with fond memories of Goa.
The dine-​in and takeout menus include a far greater selection and if the quality of the buffet is any measure, they are sure to not disappoint.
The service was friendly and extremely attentive with plates cleared and water glasses filled on a regular basis. A second order of freshly made Appam was generously offered and greedily consumed. We have found our new favourite Indian restaurant.

We were pleasantly surprised to find a Kerala style restaurant in Ottawa. We had the Kerala thali, Parotta and Biriyani — all of them were excellent!!! The owner Anil is very passionate about his place and you can see it in both the great tasting food as well as the excellent décor…

The kerala chai tea was perfect, like what we get back home in India. Kodanadu chicken curry with parotta, was delicious. Great ambience and it’s a big place inside, even though it may seem smaller from the outside. Service was fast and staff were friendly and professional. Will be dining here again.

Full disclosure: I am from Kerala so my review might be a bit biased. I went for their lunch buffet and thought it was excellent. Make sure you try the porotta and the lamb pepper fry

Kochin Kitchen is the first restaurant I have been to where I have been surprised at how good it is EVERY TIME I go there.
There are lots that are great, even consistently great. Lots that you remember having a great meal at, and when you go again can give you exactly what you had in mind. But «How can it be SO GOOD???» is not something happens more than once normally.
Funnily enough, the Ottawa Citizen’s Peter Hum seems to be experiencing the same thing. He recently reviewed them and said «I’ve been twice and each time was wowed by the potently spiced yet varied and nuanced dishes».
Anil Oorkolil and the rest of the Kochin Kitchen crew: whatever you are doing, keep doing it!

Fabulous Indian. Everything we ate was authentic and delicious. Staff was friendly and attentive. Definitely not a touristy location.

Very good food. The scallop appetizer was not worth the price, but everything else we ordered was very good. The best sag paneer I’ve ever had. Good service. It does not look like much on the outside, but inside the décor is quite nice.

I went there for a late dinner on a Thursday night with my best friend. He had been walking by this place everyday since it opened and thought I’d like so he invited me along. I was very excited to try it. Especially after having read the Ottawa Citizen review and because I know next to nothing on Kerala/​South Indian cuisine besides 1 – 2 dishes a coworker told me about.
I arrived there before my friend so I got a table and waited for him letting myself get absorbed into the décor while reading the menu. I thought to myself: «Finally an Indian restaurant in Ottawa that doesn’t look like a dump!» This place is very pretty and very clean as well as very bright from all the huge windows. A VERY nice change from the usual dark, smelly, sticky, grey-​carpeted basement curry joint. I would even dare say it is upscale.
Then I thought: «OMG I don’t know any of the dishes on the menu! What am I gonna do?» I think this is what I liked the most about the place. Going to an Indian restaurant and being confronted to choices other than butter chicken, korma, tikka and vindaloo with either naan or pulao is refreshing. Having said that, they do have an item on their menu called «real butter chicken» and the beef vindaloo’s description does specify it is a vinegary dish. I’m thus assuming they must be very authentic as well as different from what you get elsewhere. They are, however, the only two options you’ll be familiar with on this menu on a total of over 70. I swear.
What did we order? As appetizers I got a very yummy uttappam. It’s a rica and dal pancake – very similar to a Korean jeon – with onions and cilantro on top. It was served with a very tasty, bright green coconut chutney with curry leaves on top (which, after some research, might have been Malayali pachadi) and an equally tasty and very comforting sambar – a thick potage-​like soup. My friend got the masala dosa, a very filling, thin, crispy crêpe filled with spiced potatoes – which was a lot larger than he anticipated! For our mains, I got the elayil pollichathu (salmon with masala grilled inside a banana leaf) which was superb and my friend got the house special, the Kodanadu chicken (big pieces of chicken in a dark rich gravy with a very intense fennel aroma), this was the «wow» dish of the evening. We accompanied these dishes with a very fragrant and bright lemon rice and very flaky and tender parotta bread. I will have to go back to try all the different dishes. I did see they make dum biryani on Fridays and Saturdays and they are the only ones around here to make it so I have to at least try that.
Some more thoughts? Had we thought better about or choices (appetizers portions) we probably would have tried desserts but we were pretty full. I also didn’t see any on their hardcopy menu but I know it’s on their website so I’m not sure what’s up with that. They also didn’t ask us if we wanted any because I think they were trying to get us out. They close at 9pm. On a Thursday night. In the summer. Next to the Market. WTF? It’s WAYYY too early. That’s the only thing I have to say that’s negative about them. It doesn’t really bother all that much though we could have gone there earlier and Indian desserts are usually not that good anyway.
I will definitely go back. Multiple times. A day. Until I weigh 700lbs.
Highly recommend!

Lunch buffet for under $ 17. The food is so flavourful and not spicy at all. Excellent value and quality.

Just had a fantastic dinner here! Best Indian food I’ve had in Ottawa in a long time, and excellent service!

Came here for dinner on a Sunday night the weekend of Winterlude with my boyfriend. Wasn’t crowded and the service was very good. We ordered 2 dishes, and appetizer, and naan. We were stuffed by the end but managed to finish everything.
Great South Indian food, it’s a very warm and hearty meal – perfect for the cold Ottawa weather!

Though I had to wait for 45 minutes for the takeaway which pissed me off. But when I tasted the food I was blown away by the authentic tastes of the food. Sambhar was just what you would want it to taste like. And forgot to mention the great neat interior ambience.

We went twice already, once for dinner and once for the lunch buffet. Loved it both times. The dishes are very tasteful and different from one another. Can’t go wrong for the food and the service is very friendly. We’ll be back. Long live Kochin Kitchen!