A Nibble At The Seagull, Mattancherry@F&B

Last year when I visited Mattancherry I was alone. It was something of an adventure for me as I went there alone by bus. I crossed the railway tracks from the Amrita Hospital and, asking around, I caught a bus to the Marina. It was unbelievably cheap and I was also told that there are more comfortable buses, also very reasonably priced. Alas, it's a little hard to ask around and get such relevant information.  

"The Orange Bus are low floored and air conditioned. They are comfortable and cost Rs 10 for first 5 km and then Rs 2 for every km. The Yellow Buses are non air conditioned low floor buses. They link almost all the suburbs to the city centre and are ideal for budget travellers. "

It was mainly to enjoy the ferry that day.

 I ate at a very humble place, a very reasonably priced meal. I can't say it was memorable but neither do I feel that I would get anything I would really like in a fancier place. That's just fussy old me!

However, this time, we were told about The Seagull. 

Satvic Food, Kochi, August 2016

Though I appreciate all kinds of world foods and have realised that tastes are formed early on and by many individual factors, I tend to most relish Indian vegetarian food, especially the South Indian variety. Even in this narrow definition there is diversity as the foods of Andhra or Karnataka are quite different from those of Tamil Nadu or Kerala. 

By and large the cuisine of Kerala is equated with seafood delicacies and, in the mood of the present times, with a particular kind of meat. And it is true that these preparations are often quite tasty, albeit with high chilli quotient. 

In contrast, it is rare to find samples of benign "home food" type meals in restaurants. Thus, I was lucky to get to eat at the Amrita School of Arts and Sciences, Kochi. The food is tasty, simple yet always diverse in content. The one steady factor is the superb amla pickle.

Compared to the 80s when I used to visit Kerala frequently, the variety and quantity and quality of vegetables has increased. The brown things in the foreground are called elephant-foot yam. 

Gourds of various kinds are also popularly used in the cuisine of Kerala. 

While, once upon a time, bananas were almost the only fruit served at the average home in Kerala, today fruit stalls line the roads and routinely offer exotic varieties such as the hairy red rambutan you see in the front row.

Breakfast and Coffee at Pune Airport, August 8, 2016

Most often I prefer to pack food for a travel, given my tummy woes. Those picnic meals have been delightful!

However, this time round, our gas cylinder ran out and the spare cylinder insisted on leaking.

I was quite grateful as it prevented me from embarking on a wild cooking spree. 

And so it was that the first thing we did on reaching Pune airport was to head for the new restaurant: Sugardough.

The place is quite nice but the food (idli, vada) was quite indifferent.

The decor is cheerful enough and it's quite relaxing to sit around there with a group of friends and chat the time of day away as some Air Asia staff were doing.

Service is slow though there seem to be enough people to handle the work. You can get all the very same stuff you see all over the airport - nothing new or unique to Sugardough.

I'm always tempted to buy something out of the above kind of offerings but am worried that I'll be paying more.

After breakfast, we checked in and then it was time for some coffee. Not too bad but how delightful it would be to be able to have some Indian filter coffee. Why can't we have an Indian Coffee House at every airport in India?

So far, Pune airport has not proved itself much in terms of F&B.