Breaking the food taboo: Be a fan of Pazhampori-beef combo at Sree Muruka
At a time when eating beef is seen as a sin by some section and as a political stance by the liberals, Sree Muruka Café at Poonithura in Ernakulam is offering an unlikely food combo of beef that has managed to create a loyal fan base in the city.
Pazham pori(fired banana) is one of the most loved snacks in Kerala.But eating it with Beef fry/roast has been unlikely to have much takers until. Muruka Café broke the taboo many years ago.But Muruka café is proving that the discrimination against the food is unnecessary and if we open our minds to anything new we can enjoy any
food which is not in the mainstream menus.
Sathyan, the proprietor of the café, says the idea to serve Pazhampori with beef is not his brain child. The unusual combo attracted his curiosity when the lorry drivers who used to visit the café, Sathyan thought it could be an innovative idea to serve the fried bananas with beef roast. That was a bold step considering the typical Malayali mindset which is not open to new experiments. The experiment clicked and more and more people began to throng to the café to try the unusual combo. As word spread, even people from the far places started to visit the café just to taste pazhampori with beef.
Cine actor Jayasurya was a regular at the cafe much before he became a celebrity. He frequented the café even after making it big on the big screen. It was during one of his visits that media took note of the café resulting in its widespread fame.Now the café has a much devoted cult following mainly because of the rare dish. However, other dishes like puttu are also famous .
The café is open from 6 in the morning and closes by around 8pm. But if you want to eat pazhampori-beef combo wait till 11am . If you have a thing for eating Kerala food in a traditional ‘chayakkada(Tea shop) Sree Muruka should be the first choice.