Checking today's hours… Catch of the day lands from Vypeen by 11 AM · free delivery above ₹899 WhatsApp: +91 98470 31245
Kerala fish moilee in a black pan with tomato, curry leaves and coconut, on a dark wooden table
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Fort Kochi · Kerala · Since 2009

From the boats of Vypeen to your banana leaf

Meen pollichathu steamed in banana leaf, karimeen fried whole, prawns simmered in coconut and kudampuli — the Malabar coast, cooked the way our ammas did, a hundred metres from the Chinese fishing nets.

16Years on the Fort Kochi shore
4.8Google rating · 2,900+ reviews
45Dishes · 14 pure-veg
11 AMDaily catch lands at Vypeen

Current offers

Weekday lunch

Kadal Fish Thali

Matta rice, fish curry, fish fry, thoran, sambharam, pappadam and a small payasam. Mon–Fri, 12–3:30 PM.

₹399per person · dine-in
Fridays

Catch of the Day

Whatever Rafeeq brings back from Vypeen at dawn — seer, pomfret, red snapper — grilled or pollichathu, at boat price.

Marketpriced by weight · Fridays only
Direct order

10% off on WhatsApp

Order straight from this page and we pass the aggregator commission back to you. Code KADAL10.

10%off on orders above ₹899

Curated experiences

More than a meal — book the tide

Set menus and seatings for when the occasion deserves more than à la carte. Reserve below or message us directly.

Traditional Kerala houseboat on the backwaters under a grey evening sky
Golden hour

Sunset Table on the Jetty

Four seats at the end of our backwater jetty, a five-course seafood menu timed to the sun going down behind the Chinese nets. One seating a day, 6 PM.

₹2,450per person · 4 seats · book 24 hrs ahead
Reserve the jetty
Colourful Kerala sadya feast laid out on a banana leaf
Sundays & Onam

Sadya on Banana Leaf

Twenty-six items in the proper order — from the pickles at the top-left to three payasams at the end — served on a banana leaf by Ammini Chechi's team. Every Sunday lunch, and all ten days of Onam.

₹695per person · pure veg · 12:30 & 2 PM seatings
Reserve a leaf
Toddy-shop style plate of fried fish, tapioca and spicy curries
Evenings

Toddy-Shop Tasting

The kallu-shaala menu without the kallu — kappa, meen curry, beef fry, mussels, crab and pepper squid, served in enamel plates in the courtyard with sulaimani and sambharam.

₹1,150per person · Wed–Sat · from 7:30 PM
Order this table
Elderly Indian woman in a saree cooking at the stove in a home kitchen
Mornings

Cooking with the Amma

Three hours in the home kitchen with Ammini Chechi: grind a masala on the stone, temper a meen curry in a chatti, fold a pollichathu. You eat what you cook, with the team.

₹3,200per person · max 6 · Tue & Thu, 9:30 AM
Enquire on WhatsApp
Smiling Indian chef in a navy apron holding a tray in a bright kitchen
Est. 2009Fort Kochi, Kerala

Our story

A fishing family's kitchen, a hundred metres from the nets

Kadal started in 2009 as six tables on the verandah of the Kuriakose family home in Fort Kochi, cooking whatever the family's boat brought back from Vypeen that morning. Jose's mother Ammini ran the chatti; his brother Rafeeq's crew ran the boat. The verandah is still the best seat in the house.

Sixteen years on there is a jetty, a courtyard and a proper kitchen, but the rules have not changed: fish is bought at the harbour before eleven, never frozen; curries are cooked in clay with coconut oil and kudampuli; and the sadya is served on banana leaf, by hand, in the correct order.

  • Fish landed at Vypeen the same morning, never frozen
  • Clay chattis, coconut oil and kudampuli — no cream, no colour
  • Coconuts grated in-house every morning
  • Fourteen pure-veg dishes, a full veg sadya on Sundays
  • Spice level adjusted per dish, on the spot
  • Zero-commission direct ordering on WhatsApp
Chef Jose Kuriakose
Founder & Head Chef

Timings & getting here

Open every day, lunch and dinner

Daily · 12:00 PM – 3:30 PM · 6:30 PM – 11:00 PM

Hours of service

Tide table · Fort Kochi
Weekly opening hours
Day

Kitchen last order 30 minutes before closing. The jetty and courtyard close in heavy monsoon rain — indoor tables stay open.

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Delivery & pickup

Within 7 km of Fort Kochi — Mattancherry, Thoppumpady, Willingdon Island, Marine Drive and Ernakulam South. 35–45 minutes on average.

Avg. delivery
Delivery fee
Minimum order
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Getting here

Bastion Bungalow Lane, off Vasco da Gama Square
Fort Kochi, Kochi 682001

Two minutes' walk from Vasco da Gama Square. Ferry from Ernakulam jetty to Fort Kochi, then a short auto ride. Limited car parking by the church; two-wheelers by the gate.

Get directions

Good to know

Kid-friendly all day. Wheelchair accessible ground floor and courtyard; the jetty has three steps. Pets welcome in the courtyard.

Why Kadal

What the tide teaches you

Same-morning catch

Rafeeq is at Vypeen harbour before dawn. What is on the menu tonight was swimming this morning; what did not land is struck off the board.

Cooked in clay

Every curry starts in a meen chatti seasoned for years. Coconut oil, kudampuli, curry leaf — nothing that an amma in Alappuzha would not recognise.

A real veg table

Fourteen pure-veg dishes, avial and olan cooked separately, and a complete banana-leaf sadya every Sunday.

Direct, not through apps

Ordering here means no 25% commission, so we can afford better fish and a fairer price for you.

The kitchen

The people at the chatti

Indian chef in a white cap and apron standing in a restaurant kitchen

Chef Jose Kuriakose

Founder & Head Chef

Learned the chatti from his mother and the knife from the Vypeen fishmongers. Still tastes every meen curry before it leaves.

Smiling elderly Indian woman in a green saree

Ammini Chechi

Sadya & Payasam

Jose's mother and the original cook. Runs the Sunday sadya line and the Tuesday cooking class with a wooden ladle.

Young Indian man in a white shirt smiling outdoors

Rafeeq Kunhali

Fish Buyer & Grill

At Vypeen harbour by 5 AM, at the charcoal grill by 6 PM. Knows which boat caught which karimeen.

Smiling Indian woman in a white blazer with arms crossed

Anitha Menon

Restaurant Manager

Keeps the jetty bookings, the ferry timings and the monsoon plan in one notebook, and remembers your last order.

Guest stories

Word of mouth

4.82,900+ verified reviews
4.7dining reviews
96%Orders on time
The karimeen was fried whole on a banana leaf and tasted like my grandmother's house in Kumarakom. We ordered on WhatsApp for the next night too — the meen curry travels beautifully.
Smiling Indian woman in a maroon saree
Meera PillaiErnakulam · Delivery regular
Booked the jetty table for our anniversary. Five courses, the sun going down behind the nets, and Anitha remembering that my wife does not eat crab. Perfect evening.
Indian man in a printed kurta smiling
Sajid HameedMattancherry · Sunset table
Came for the Sunday sadya with my parents. Twenty-six items on the leaf, served in the right order, three payasams. My father, who is very hard to please, asked for seconds of the olan.
Young Indian woman in a pink kurta smiling
Divya NairKakkanad · Sunday sadya
Taste of Malabar AwardsBest coastal restaurant, Kochi · 2025
City Food & Nightlife AwardsBest seafood, Kochi · 2024
Gold Dining PartnerConsistently rated 4.5+ since 2018
Kitchen Hygiene Rating5 stars · independently audited kitchen

Reservations

Reserve a table

Tell us when and how many; we'll confirm on WhatsApp. Walk-ins are welcome, but the jetty and Sunday sadya fill up early.

Tables are held for 15 minutes past the reserved time. The jetty seats four and books out first — for groups above 12, message us for the courtyard.

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