Located in the busy road of Race Course is the newly opened restaurant, Courtallam Border Rahmath Kadai. We are there for dinner. Painted white and well lit, the restaurant has two floors and we choose the first floor as the ground floor was packed, and we go up a flight of wooden stairs. Red kolam and mirror works decorate the walls and there are old-fashioned glass lanterns hanging too.

The menu is South Indian with several chicken, quail, prawns, fish and egg. The chicken lover in me is already happy.The restaurant is known for its border porotta and poricha kozhi. We order the same to start with. The food is served on banana leaves with no delay. The porotta came with chicken gravy and the poricha kozhi is red and I love the strong whiff of coconut oil. The dish is mildly spicy and the meat is tender. We also order chicken kothu porotta and a generous portion of it arrives with a lot of onion and curry leaves along with soft chicken pieces. It is one of the best I have had so far.

Pichi potta pepper chicken fry is spicy, and the shredded chicken is again redolent of coconut oil, onion and pepper. We then dig into the idiappom, gun chicken (so named because the piece looks like a gun!) and a masala kalakki that is an egg dish. I particularly like the masala kalakki as the egg is gooey and cooked perfectly. The small pieces of cinnamon, pepper, cloves, onion and cardamom add to its flavour.

Satiated we climb down the stairs and meet I.Mohammed Asan, Director of the restaurant. He tells me, “My grandfather started the hotel as a small eatery at Courtallam for lorry drivers 40 years ago. Then it served only tea, porotta and chicken gravy. It was known as Border Kadai as it was situated on the Kerala- Tamil Nadu border. Tourists to Courtallam began flocking to our eatery for our border porotta. The one in Coimbatore is our sixth branch. We have four others in Chennai.” Their speciality is the fact that they use country chicken from their farm in Courtallam and the masala is homemade. “We are particular about maintaining quality.” They faithfully follow the recipes of his grandfather and cook the biriyani and gravies in firewood stove. “It is the traditional way and helps to lock the flavours better.”

As I make my way to the parking space, I see people waiting patiently outside for their turn to get a taste of their food.

Info you can use

Courtallam Border Rahmath Kadai is open from 12.00 noon to 11.00 pm.

Average cost for two : ₹500

@ Courtallam Border Rahmath Kadai, 74, Race Course Road, Gopalapuram.

Call 0422 4203777 for more details

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Life & Style> Food / by Susan Joe Philip / January 04th, 2018