I had a nice dinner at the bar at Copra. Copra is a restaurant from chef Srijith Gopinathan, formerly chef at two Michelin starred Campton Place and also chef at Ettan in Palo Alto. Copra’s menu is influenced by the cuisine of Kerala in southern India and surrounding regions, where chef Gopinath is from. The name of the restaurant refers to the dried meat of a coconut. It’s on Fillmore and Post near Japantown, where Dosa used to be. Eater blurb here with more info:
It’s a nice space with very high ceilings.
I had a couple cocktails:
CLARIFIED LASSI PUNCH ($18)
SCOTCH, RUM, PINEAPPLE, CAYENNE, MANGO, WHITE PEPPER
On the rock. Nice and tropical.
ORANGE RUBY ($15)
LEMONGRASS, WILDERTON LUSTRE, VIBRANTE, ORANGE BLOSSOM, TONIC, MAKRUT
This is a non-alcoholic mocktail. It had a nice bitterness and was not too sweet. Very refreshing.
Since I was solo I just had some things off of the first and second sections of the menu.
SIX OYSTERS ($24)
fermented chilies, white soy, tamarind
Miyagi oysters, nicely shucked. There was an interesting sauce that came with the oysters that was salty and a little sour. Very good with the oysters.
SHRIMP VENNAI ROAST ($18)
chili chutney, brown butter, curry leaves, lime
Perfectly cooked shrimp, with a nicely spiced paste that had only a bit of heat, and a lime wedge. Delicious.
SLOW-COOKED OCTOPUS ($19)
jaffna curry leaf rub, yogurt, pomelo, mint
This was good. One super tender octopus tentacle, with grapefruit like pomelo slices and a yogurt sauce drizzled around it.
THATTUKADA FRIED CHICKEN ($16)
fennel seeds, red chilies, black pepper, shallots, masala crumbs
Some nicely fried lightly coated moist boneless chicken, spiced with only a bit of heat, with some crispy fried curry leaves and little “masala crumbs” that tasted a bit like seasoned shredded coconut. With a lime wedge to cut through the fat. Very good. This was the most substantial of the dishes I had.
CHARGRILLED BONE MARROW ($20)
chukka masala, roast gravy, shallot, pickles, mustard, Kerala parotta
This was great! My favorite dish of the night. The delicious meaty gravy had I think cardamom, maybe tamarind? The many layered parotta on the side was super flaky and crispy and soft in the middle. I dipped pieces of the parotta in the gravy and scooped some of the fatty marrow on top of them.
For dessert I had a cup of ginger-cardamom chaya ($5) which was a nice cup of chai.
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