1.12.2011

Restaurant Review: Hotel Tharavattil Plaza.

How to Reach: The exact location name is something that I found now on googling. If you know Trivandrum City (?) pretty deep, then the place name is Kunnukuzhy.
If you dont, here's how you go about to the place. Take the road to Vikas Bhavan from PMG Junction. Go straight, and when you reach Govt Law College Junction, take a left. Hardly 100 metres, and there's the restaurant to your left. Here's a snapshot of the location:

Location from Google Maps

The location, though not very approachable unless you had a vehicle of your own, was cosy and away from the madness of the city. This actually works in the outlet's favor, since people, especially couples and family who're looking for a nice quiet eat out for a night would be wooed by the place.

So, I wasnt very much enticed by the name too. Zinc n Rock, Casa Bianca, Dakhani Degh.. all these new generation fancy names and Tharavattil Plaza seems a bit out of place.

Parking was a bit of a letdown for me. The space in front of the hotel could hardly park more than three cars. The security pointed us to a small empty space nearby where I could rest my bike. Since it was pitch dark there, I wasnt able to make out if there's more space in there for parking. If thats just it, then we have a parking issue here.

The first thing that strikes one when you open that door and get the feel of the place is its ambience. The interiors were nicely done, and seemed to be done by someone who had a taste for it. But even so the impression wasnt that of an extravagant luxury but that of careful elegance. Each table had a privacy of
its own, or so it seemed to me. And the lighting gets a very deserving special mention from me. I'm a sucker for that sepia toned lighting. It added to the elegant feel.

My phone cam be damned for the low quality pic. A snap from Ground Floor.

They played instrumental music, of popular Malayalam songs at just that level that helped the flow of conversation.

The service was fairly good, we were attended to very promptly. I should add I loved the fact that the restaurant wasnt crowded when we happened to visit. Though the owner may not share my feelings, I felt it actually helps in making it an exclusive retreat-kind of an eating outlet. So, I didnt ask for the popular dishes or specialities and just settled for a biriyani and a lime juice. Now this may not seem like the kind of order you would do to review a hotel. But it was end-of-month and I had to play safe.

With the food ordered, I ran through the menu. This was the best part. Quite contrary to my presumption, the rates were very reasonable for almost all the listed items. This gets the biggest star from me. For with my experience, I was justified in presuming astronomical rates for a hotel of such an ambience.

The waiting time was reasonable, but not too much. And unlike many of the popular restaurants, they heeded to the specific mention in my order that I wanted my lime juice along with the food. Many, even the guys at ZamZam think they can decide for me and choose to bring the drink after the food. But not in this case.

The food arrived, and it was, mmm....good. I can vouch for only Biriyani, but I heard good reviews on the food from some people, including the guy who posted about this restaurant on the Bulletin Board, which resulted in apun ka visit. (Talking of which I found a link in foursquare where in a guy recommends his choices.)

So, in a Rajeev Masand-ish tone, I am going with 3.5/5 stars for Hotel Tharavattil Plaza, based on my pleasant experience for the night.
Recommended for people who are in search for a calm, serene place with a reasonable budget tag for eating out. Quite the spot for eating out with your wife/girlfriend/gay partner.
If you think quality comes only along with an astronomic price tag, stay away.