Our final evening in Trivandrum, so we decided to try out the cityโs premier dining hotspot - the multi-award-winning ๐ฉ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ฎ ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ.
Here, traditional Keralan repasts were elevated to the sublime, served amidst the sumptuous setting of a 300-year-old ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ถ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ถ mansion, first built for the Maharaja of Travancoreโs consorts. Later, Dutch architectural extensions were added.
Our dinner spread:
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๐๐ฑ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐น- consisting of a variety of tandoor-grilled items like ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ช (tandoor-cooked chicken), ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฅ๐ช ๐๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฃ (Awadhi chicken drumsticks), ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ฉ ๐๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฃ (minced mutton skewers), and grilled king fish.
The tandoor-grilled items were served with mint chutney, spiced pineapple chutney, and a banana-apple chutney.
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Stuffed crab - ultra-fresh sweet crabmeat, served in their shells with mesclun salad and lobster-butter. These were absolutely divine.
I was actually full even before the mains arrived, after this selection of appetizers:
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๐๐ฐ๐ป๐ฉ๐ช ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ถ ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ช ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฉ๐ถ - tender chicken, pot-roasted with spices, herbs and shallots), served with Keralan appam and ๐๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฌ๐ข (split lentils dal gravy).
Some of the most tender chicken weโd ever had. Full-flavored spicing really hits one in the face.
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๐๐ข๐ข๐ฃ ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ณ๐ช - creamy turmeric-spiced prawn curry, served in a whole coconut. This dish was, simply put, the best-tasting prawn dish Iโd had for this trip! Super-fresh and very tasty prawns, in a lightly-spiced, coconut milk-enriched gravy.
I surprised myself at how much I could actually eat here - but everything was just too good to resist.
A meal is never complete without dessert - we couldnโt make up our minds on which to have, so we opted for the Villa Maya Dessert Sampler Platter- Left to right: Chocolate Fudge Cake with Hot Caramel Sauce, Tender Coconut Creme Anglaise, Sri Lankan Wattalappam (custard pudding), Phyllo Banoffee Pie, and Dulce de Caramelo (buttery-caramel-enriched cheesecake).
Now weโre really done!
But the Villa Maya folks were not finished with us yet. They plied us with hot ginger tea as digestives, accompanied by some really delicious little batons of honey-glazed watermelon.
Superb cooking, and some really exemplary service. Manager, Sarath Mahesh, runs a tight ship.
Address
Villa Maya
(Near Muthoot Skychef) 120, Airport Road, Injakkal, West Fort, Trivandrum, Kerala 695008, India
Tel: +91 471 257 8901
Opening hours: 11am to 11pm daily
