Today’s youth, at least some of them, are passionate about cooking and dreams to have a restaurant of their own. Similar is the story of Kumbamkachi multi-cuisine restaurant in Thodupuzha. As the name suggests it is a unique venture by Thomas Shaji.
With a focus on traditional food in its real sense, Thomas introduced the restaurant’s special dish ‘Kumbamkachi’. According to him, they are trying to bring the food, which dates back to ancient times where the planet was greener and the food was cleaner, to the plates.
Kumbamkachi is a dish prepared and served in bamboo tubes and is brought to the consumer in the healthiest and nutrition rich method possible. The dish prepared in bamboo tubes absorbs flavours not just from the special masala mix but also from the bamboo tube. The dish is also served in vessels made out of bamboo.
There is a story behind this tribal dish coming to the town. Once during an off-road drive, Thomas and his friends met tribal people at Mamalakkandam and happened to taste their ‘Kumbamkachi’ prepared out of freshly caught fish. He went there again, this time to taste and learn the preparation. He learned it and introduced the same here in Thodupuzha and what he uses here is not fish but chicken and beef.
As a reminder of the travelled roads and the ‘teachers’, he has a picture of the man who taught him to prepare ‘Kumbamkachi’ and their setting to prepare the dish done in sand art, framed and hung on the wall, where it gets maximum attention. They also have a portion of the wall decorated with pictures of food items prepared and served in bamboo tubes.
The restaurant was open recently, it’s been just over 3 months and is now a familiar name among the people. The traditional food attracts and satisfies the taste buds of people of all ages. The restaurant has become a fine dining spot for families and a hangout spot for youngsters. Anybody visiting the place never fails to get curious and ask about the special dish and giving the restaurant the name ‘Kumbamkachi’ helped it to gain popularity among the people.
According to Thomas, the research and planning to open a restaurant began 4-5 years ago. Even before that he used to cook on Sundays with his family. The restaurant is still at its nascent stage and he is planning to find out more about traditional food and introduce the same in his restaurant.
Another speciality of the variety dish ‘Kumbamkachi’ is that they do not use anything artificial and every ingredient except salt is prepared in the traditional method which is not familiar to the present generation. The restaurant goes green not just in the ingredients used, but also in the total set-up. The lamp shade and the glass bottles exemplify this.
Another attraction here is the cash counter, which is set up in a classic Premier Padmini car. With the help of his friend Arjun, this was the dream- come- true for Thomas as he is a car enthusiast. The size and shape of the car helped them to easily fit it into the available space.
Like any other ’new-gen’ start-up this restaurant is also active on Facebook and Instagram. The rush here and the increasing popularity is proof of the success of traditional food and tendency of people to spend time with their loved ones in a calm and fine space.
