Street Food in Kochi: 15 Must-Try Foods for Every Traveller

The street food in Kochi is so diverse that you can feel overwhelmed by its culinary roots. You will need a guide to the best Kochi street food if you are visiting Kochi. If you are also one who is looking to find the street food places in Kochi, then this Kochi street food guide will be of great help. The next time you ask the question “What should I eat when I visit Kochi?” you will not have any difficulty in finding a restaurant, café, or locality to find the dish you are looking for. Even if you have visited Kochi before, you will find something surprising to relish on your next visit.

Why Kochi Is a Food Lover’s Paradise

Kochi is a coastal city, and therefore, the ocean is the biggest factor in the cuisine of Kochi. You will find the best seafood in Kochi. Other factors have also shaped the culinary heritage of Kochi. One of these factors is the trade routes that resulted in traders and sailors landing in Kochi and bringing their own culinary dishes to Kochi. But nothing has influenced the cuisine more than the colonial rulers. This city has rich influences of Jewish, Portuguese, Arab, Dutch, and British rule. It is reflected in the cuisine also. It is therefore no wonder that Kochi has such a surprising variety of cuisines and street food.

Street Food in Kochi

You can relish a huge variety of street food in Kochi. Apart from Kochi sightseeing, you can enjoy a variety of Kochi street food also in our Kerala Tours from Varanasi Excursion. The dishes come from a variety of cultures and carry their distinct cooking styles. The coastal cuisine of Kerala is, of course, the determining factor in preparing the dishes.

You will find extensive use of coconut and curry leaves in preparing these dishes.

• The coastal people of Kerala have developed unique cooking methods to prepare these dishes. They cook seafood after wrapping it in banana leaves and then pan-grilling it.
• Rice is another dish that is popular in Kerala, and you will find rice as the staple diet of Kerala. It is eaten daily along with fish, coconut, and vegetables.
• Seafood dishes include fish, prawns, shrimp, sardines, mackerel, crab, and squid. These are prepared with spices, coconut curry, roasted, fried, or baked in banana leaves.
• The Muslim influence is seen in dishes like Malabar Biryani, steamed rice, grilled or roasted meats, deep-fried snacks, and the use of figs, dates, cashews, and raisins.
• The Christian influences are seen in a variety of meat dishes. Here, the traditional Kerala cuisine is combined with European, West Asian, and Middle Eastern ingredients like duck, beef, pork, and fish dishes.
• Kerala cuisine uses a wide range of spices like cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, black pepper, turmeric, and cinnamon, along with tamarind, curry leaves, and ginger. It imparts fragrance and spice to the dishes of Kochi.
• Local tea shops and small eateries offer a range of fried snacks and spicy beef and meat dishes. This is in addition to the sweets, filter coffee, tea and fish dishes.

15 Best Street Foods in Kochi You Must Try

Pazham Pori – Kerala’s Favourite Banana Fritter

This is a snack that is prepared from bananas. This dish is a fritter and is commonly made in Kochi. Ripe bananas are dipped in a batter made of flour and sugar and then deep-fried in oil, which makes it golden and crispy. It is served with tea and coffee and is a light snack. Pazham Pori is usually served in the evening along with tea. You can find tea stalls offering this snack along with a piping hot cup of tea.

Puttu and Kadala Curry

In Kerala cuisine, this dish is enormously popular. Puttu is a rice dish that is made with coconut and is usually served with a curry called Kadala curry. What is unique about this dish is that the rice is rolled into balls, or simply rolled into a cylindrical shape, and then cooked with coconut. It is like a rice cake, which is then served with kadala, which is chickpea curry. The soft and mild taste of coconut rice when paired with the spicy chickpea curry makes a delicious dish. Puttu Kadala curry is a traditional Kerala food ad kochi breakfast item.

Appam with Stew

This particular dish is a local favorite and has become famous all over India. Appam is a soft and fluffy pancake made of rice flour, and the stew is actually a curry with a gravy-like consistency. Appam is best served with stew and is a traditional food in Kochi. The stew is prepared with coconut milk, and vegetables are added to this milk. Chicken is also used to make the stew, and spices are added to bring spiciness to the gravy. You will find Kerala Appam and Stew featured in many local eateries and restaurants in Kochi.

Kerala Parotta with Curry

The Kerala Parotta is also called Malabar Parotta. It is a specialty of Kerala cuisine. This is a flaky flatbread and goes well with spicy curry. This curry can be made with veggies, meat, or beef. You can find this dish on most menus across restaurants and eateries in Kochi. The layered and flaky parotta, when eaten with the curry, makes a great dish to eat. This is easily one of the most famous foods in Kochi.

Kerala Banana Chips

This is not a dish but a teatime snack, and it is very popular not only in Kerala, but in the whole of India. Kerala Banana Chips are made from sliced, raw bananas and deep-fried in coconut oil. Then it is salted, packed, and sold in local eateries across Kerala. It is a crunchy snack, and you can get it in salted or spiced variations. It is one of the most popular travel snacks and is eaten at any time of the day. Kerala banana chips are one of the popular Kochi snacks.

Idiyappam with Egg Curry

You will hardly find a restaurant in Kochi that does not feature this dish on their menu. Idiyappam is made from rice flour, formed into noodles, and steamed. It is then sprinkled with grated coconut and prepared with gravies. Idiyappam is best served with egg curry, and this combination is very delicious. This is a typical Kerala food and one of the best items for Kerala breakfast. You can have this Kochi street food item at famous restaurants in Kochi.

Kappa and Fish Curry

If you want to taste authentic Kerala cuisine, then you should eat this Kappa with fish curry. This dish is also called Kappa meen curry. Kappa is made from tapioca, and the tapioca is boiled and mashed. It is then cooked with various masalas like ginger paste, chilies, garlic, and coconut. It is then served with fish curry. Kappa fish curry is a dish that reminds you of the coastal connection of Kerala. Local spices are also used to make this dish. This is an authentic Kerala food that you must try on your visit to Kerala.

Kerala Fish Fry

Another coastal delight of Kochi is the dish called Kerala Fish Fry. Here, the fish which is used are Pearl Spot, Seer Fish, or Lady Fish. The fish is first marinated in garlic paste, Kashmiri Chilli, ginger, lime, and turmeric. Then it is shallow-fried with coconut oil and tempered with curry leaves. This turns the dish into a crispy texture. Kerala fish fry is one of the most popular Kerala seafood dishes and is available in most restaurants in Kochi.

Karimeen Pollichathu

This particular seafood delicacy in Kerala is made with Pearl Spot fish. The unique thing about this dish is its cooking method and use of banana leaves. The fish is marinated with local spices, then shallow-fried in coconut oil and coated in tangy tomato and tamarind masala. Then it is wrapped in banana leaves and pan-roasted to make it crisp. The ingredients that go into making the dish are sometimes sourced from local regions of Kerala. This is one of the traditional Kerala fish dishes.

Kochi-Style Biryani

The special thing about this rice dish is the preparation. Long-grain rice is used to make this biryani dish. A gravy of tomato and onion is made, then it is layered with fried chicken, mutton, fried onions, and then another layer of rice is added to this. This makes the dish layered with different ingredients and makes it tasty. It is served with papadam, onion raita, and pickles. The dish has a taste of Malabari culture, and meat or chicken is also used to prepare it. You can try this best biryani in Kochi on your next visit.

Thattukada Snacks

If you want to have the real Kochi street food, then you should taste the roadside snacks. These roadside stalls are called thattukadas and serve a variety of local snacks and comfort food. The popular ones are banana fritters, thattu dosa, kappa with spicy curry, Parippu Vada, and lots of other foods. You will find popular Thattukada places in many places in Kochi. There are vendors offering egg dishes, fried snacks, sulaimani tea, chicken dishes, parotta, etc. This roadside food in Kochi is even more popular and a must-try.

Ela Ada

This is a traditional Kerala snack and is made from rice flour dough. The dough is filled with jaggery and grated coconut and then steamed in a banana leaf. The banana leaf imparts a fragrance to the sweet. Ela Eda is one of the popular Kerala sweets and is a steamed dish, not fried.

Unniyappam

This Unniyappam is a sweet snack that is made out of rice flour or wheat flour. It is sweetened with jaggery and mixed with ripe bananas. Cardamom powder, fried coconut pieces, and sesame seeds are added. Then it is fried so that it becomes crispy on the outside and soft inside. You will get this sweet in local bakeries, sweet shops, and food stalls in Kochi.

Kerala Tea and Local Snacks

You will get the best traditional Kerala local snacks at local food stalls and eateries. They serve a variety of food items like Pazham Pori, Unniyappam, Vada, Banana chips, Ela Eda, fried fish, and prawns. Some of the iconic dishes that they serve are Kappa fish curry, Appam with stew, and others. You can make your Kochi travel itinerary in such a way that you can visit some of these food stalls and taste the Kerala street food.

Kerala Sadya

This is a complete dish by itself and is made of an assortment of dishes. Kerala Sadya is typically served on a banana leaf and is a vegetarian dish. It is normally served during temple festivals, religious festivals like Onam, and special celebrations. Kerala Sadya contains rice, sambar, rasam, dry vegetables, curries, dessert, and side dishes. It is like a Kerala thali dish with various preparations along with pickles and multiple options.

Best Places to Experience Street Food in Kochi

So what are the best places to experience the street food in Kochi? There are many places in Kochi where you can relish the street food. Some of the popular places are mentioned below, and you will get a variety of street food options here.

Fort Kochi

This part of Kochi is famous for its historic monuments and Chinese fishing nets. The street food that you will get in Fort Kochi is no less famous. You get multi-cuisine restaurants, small bakeries, seafood stalls, and local tea shops in Fort Kochi. Here you can eat light snacks or heavy Kerala dishes. The fishing area in Fort Kochi is famous for its seafood dishes, which are made of fish, squid, and prawns. Local tea shops offer snacks like bonda, vada, pazhampori, and chai. You should try the bakeries to taste banana cake, chicken puff, and egg puff. The heritage surroundings of Fort Kochi will add a vintage charm to the dining experience.

Mattancherry

This part of Kochi is where you will find influences of a variety of cultures. The food also reflects the same diversity, and you will find dishes that have Gujarati, Muslim, Jewish, and coastal Kerala styles of preparation. There are vegetarian cafes, local bakeries, seafood restaurants, local Thattukadas, and tea shops to have this food. Old hotels still exist here and keep serving the famous Kerala street food like fish curry, mutton curry, biryani, beef fry, rice meals, etc. You can understand the diverse street food in Mattancherry when you come to know what to eat here. You can eat shawarma, Kerala snacks, puri bhaji, beef biryani, chicken chaap, and Malabar curry among other things.

Broadway and Market Areas

The Broadway and Market area is more like a commercial office area in Kochi. It is different from the most touristy Fort Kochi area. This is the area where you can get a variety of food options. This area has bakeries, Thattukadas, tea shops, vegetarian hotels, shawarma joints, biryani restaurants, Punjabi restaurants, and cafes. You will get everyday local food like idli, vada, dosa, biryani, chicken fry, Kerala parotta, beef fry, egg puffs, Pazham Pori, bonda, and other fried snacks, etc.

Local Thattukadas

You should look beyond just good restaurants and further than that. The local Thattukadas are streetside stalls offering you authentic Kerala street food to you. These are also the best places to eat in Kochi. Thattukadas are roadside food stalls where food is cooked live and prepared within minutes. It offers a live food counter type of feeling, and you get satisfaction at seeing the food being prepared live in front of you. Thattukadas offer you inexpensive food that is priced for the common man. You get the raw feeling of eating at these types of food joints. Normally, thattukadas operate late into the night and early morning for breakfast. You will get egg, beef, fish, and chicken dishes in addition to vada, idli, tea, coffee, puffs, cutlets, and other fast food.

Experience Kerala Beyond Food with Varanasi Excursion

You can experience Kerala through food also. Our Kerala 7-day tour will let you taste the Kerala street food. You can also look at our Cochin 5-day tour to experience the culinary heritage of Kerala. You can enjoy the landscapes of Kerala more if you get the right choice of food items to savour. The restaurants, cafes, street food stalls, and bakeries are the places where you can enjoy Kerala cuisine and street food dishes.

Frequently Asked Questions about Street Food in Kochi

Final Thoughts

So if you are asking the question, “what to eat in Kochi”, then the answer is quite simple. The coastal city in Kerala offers you a diverse choice of food items. You will get to eat food in fine-dining restaurants, chic cafes, and traditional thattukadas. This street food in Kochi is deeply rooted in the coastal culture of Kerala and influenced by a variety of colonial cultures and trade routes. You can start the morning with pazham pori, and have tea and snacks in the evening. Lunch and dinner are best for eating Kerala meals and seafood.