Kadal Fish Thali
Matta rice, fish curry, fish fry, thoran, sambharam, pappadam and a small payasam. Mon–Fri, 12–3:30 PM.
Fort Kochi · Kerala · Since 2009
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.
Matta rice, fish curry, fish fry, thoran, sambharam, pappadam and a small payasam. Mon–Fri, 12–3:30 PM.
Whatever Rafeeq brings back from Vypeen at dawn — seer, pomfret, red snapper — grilled or pollichathu, at boat price.
Order straight from this page and we pass the aggregator commission back to you. Code KADAL10.
Curated experiences
Set menus and seatings for when the occasion deserves more than à la carte. Reserve below or message us directly.

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.

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.

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.

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.
Our story
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.
Timings & getting here
Daily · 12:00 PM – 3:30 PM · 6:30 PM – 11:00 PM
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Kitchen last order 30 minutes before closing. The jetty and courtyard close in heavy monsoon rain — indoor tables stay open.
Within 7 km of Fort Kochi — Mattancherry, Thoppumpady, Willingdon Island, Marine Drive and Ernakulam South. 35–45 minutes on average.
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 directionsKid-friendly all day. Wheelchair accessible ground floor and courtyard; the jetty has three steps. Pets welcome in the courtyard.
Why Kadal
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.
Every curry starts in a meen chatti seasoned for years. Coconut oil, kudampuli, curry leaf — nothing that an amma in Alappuzha would not recognise.
Fourteen pure-veg dishes, avial and olan cooked separately, and a complete banana-leaf sadya every Sunday.
Ordering here means no 25% commission, so we can afford better fish and a fairer price for you.
The kitchen

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

Gallery






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