If you're going to try The Cochin (review spoiler: you absolutely should), you should be aware that is isn't your normal generic Indian. If you're not feeling adventurous or want your 'go to' English Indian dish, go elsewhere. However, if you want incredible flavours, a real twist on your standard Indian, and are happy to explore Keralan cuisine - you will not be disappointed. Indeed that seems to be a widely held opinion with many of our lovely followers saying The Cochin was close to their hearts.
Kerala is a region in South West India, with its cuisine based around coconut, rice, tapioca, and spices like black pepper, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger. With the Arabian Sea running down one side, fish is also a key ingredient. The Cochin is brave and embraces this cuisine - so you won't find your generic Indian food staples on its (slightly confusing) menu. There are a few things you'll recognise, but by and large this is incomparable to a standard Indian like Olive, which we tried.
We went for a Kingfish curry, lamb curry with sides of banana boli, lamb coconut fry, okra masala, paratha and a chapatti. This would have been £40, but during lockdown there is 25% off collections - so we ended up with a lot of food for £30 - plenty of leftovers.
The first thing I noticed when I unboxed it all, was it smelt amazing. It didn't smell like an Indian at all, the fragrance and aromatics was enticing. It also wasn't oily, a real bug bear of mine.
As we started to dig through the food you could tell this was flavoured differently. The spices were cooked beautifully, we found cinnamon bark, chilli skins, curry leaves, cardamon pods and mustard seeds. This felt crafted, fresh and natural, versus many Indian takeaway dishes that rely on chilli to hide otherwise bland or generic dishes. Interestingly The Cochin tends to serve food mild unless requested otherwise - again showing they don't need to hide behind chilli powder.
Each dish felt like it had a distinct personality - they were so different and had such unique flavour profiles.
The lamb curry was our favourite: the soft, tender lamb chunks were served in a beautifully fragrant sauce, with a lingering spice that dances on the tongue. Several sweet aromatic flavours come through without it affecting the spice too, quite possibly brought out by the coconut milk it is cooked in.
The fish main was probably our least favourite. The King fish is quite a thick fish. Think of white tuna steak with a mackerel flavour; quite a dense fish. The sauce was cooked well and hugely flavoursome, but the fish was slightly dry. I was hoping for it to be a bit more moist when you bite into the sizeable chunks.I think if this had been with a tilapia or monkfish it would have excelled. Both the mains were mild, which suited C's inability to handle spice, but don't get us wrong-there was still a heat there!
My fave was the the lamb coconut fry - which was AMAZING. It's got a kick, so beware if you're not a fan of spice. The tender lamb was dominated by the black pepper, but like all of The Cochin's food, it felt like just the dominant note of a complex profile, rather than just a ton of black pepper.
The okra was also flavoursome, silky soft and well cooked, with a soft lingering kick.
As for the sides, I was a bit miffed at the banana boli - because it was plantain not the banana you and I would think of. Not that it wasn't nice, but plantain and banana taste pretty different and The Cochin should label it as such. But given that, it was a really interesting batter to flavour the interesting appetizer dish.
Another very minor quibble with the sides, was that we thought the paratha was a little too doughy and rubbery, rather than being flakey, buttery and soft.
But these are incredibly minor quibbles. We were really impressed with The Cochin. It would be tempting for them to make their dishes a bit more familiar to the Indian staples us Brits have come to know and love. But they pushed the boat out, stuck with what they wanted to do, and as a result offered a regional Indian cuisine quite unlike any you'll taste for quite some time. We will be back and we recommend you try if you haven't already.
Service:
The service was wonderful and we were well looked after. The menu could be clearer, but we called up and they were happy to talk us through the options.
Quality: Outstanding flavours. The Cochin produced a really impressive selection of food - and their level of care with the spices was amazing.
Value and price: £40 will comfortably feed two and leave enough for the next day - and they have a 25% off collection offer on at the minute - which is well worth taking advantage of. As a result we saved £10 (£40 to £30)
OVERALL- OUTSTANDING- Genuinely something very different to your standard Indian takeaway, executed beautifully. Each main was spiced brilliantly and offered flavours that really stand out. Original, bold and well worth your time and money.
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