Tigers Experience - The Youth Brigade - Mahabelly

Mahabelly By Chance - Yes By Chance - Client meeting got over at the bar next door , had read a few reviews about this new entrant by the Youth Brigade , so landed up there . The Food mall behind DLF Mall in Saket is very interesting corner ,has seen a number of changes ever since it opened , today it has TC Cafe , Rajdhani , BBQ nation etc and Mahabelly .. earlier used to be a food court . The funny part is that i have had two meals there and both i have eaten alone .. i know my nature can never eat alone wonder why Tiger became so greedy all of a sudden and ventured to eat at Mahabelly all alone .. well i did and i loved it . The first time i went was just a couple of beers down hence  had the guts - tho  before entering i called a couple of Mallu friends to accompany me ,but who comes last minute .  Anyway entered only a couple of table occupied . serious mallus feasting , the manager recognized me greeted me and made me feel at home . like always never checked out the menu just blatantly told the manager "Please get me one chicken , one mutton and maybe some beef too " hehehehehehe So what he gets me is chicken roast , erachi (beef)fry and the mutton moplah biryani . And the second time i went was for the greed of the amazing cuisine. 

The ambience nice not very mallu influenced but modern trendy with the touch of youth playfulness , the chairs and tables made from wood from down south ,not very comfortable .. hard wood - need to loose weight i guess, the music thankfully not the typical carnatic drag .. upbeat and nice . The menu simple black n white easy to read an understand , the team small but all there. Quite an simple art gallery with a whole lot of "CurryCreatures ".

So while the order is getting ready i see two lanky looking dudes walking in going to the cashier desk , i understood these are the men behind mahabelly - post reading so much about the Mallu Educated dudes. Anyways i got this opportunity to interact with the these two Stephenians who have ventured into restauranting . Very open to suggestions , super belief in what they are doing , a bit nervous - anyone would be when you have a the axe of the rent hanging on your head . Very creative  and determined .  So Thomas Fenn sat down with me and answered by several questions thru the course of the meal . 

So here is what they have to say about 'Mahabelly'.

The Concept

A specialty restaurant serving authentic Kerala cuisine fuelled by a wide variety of flavours , textures, and tastes. Culinary influences include Syrian Christian, traditional Nair, the Malabar region’s Moplah, coastal cuisines, and the ever famous fare from the toddy shops of Kerala. The restaurant offers an exquisite menu staying true to its traditional roots and heritage that will excite and captivate a South-Indian, local as well as a cosmopolitan audience.

The theme of the restaurant draws its inspiration from Kerala pop culture such as Malayalam cinema, performing arts, traditional lore and artefacts.

Why/How did Mahabelly come about?

Zachariah & I came to Delhi in 2006 to study at St Stephen's College. Over a period of time, we increasingly missed the food that we grew up on and couldn't find a place in Delhi that came close. Sure, there were small shacks in the INA market that served some decent fare, but they weren't places that you could take your family and friends to. There were also a few mid level to high end restaurants that served food from the southern states as a whole rather than specialty restaurants. The idea was perhaps conceived as early as then. Post college we went on to pursue our respective careers, but the idea of an authentic Kerala cuisine restaurant kept niggling at us. It also helped that there was a mini revolution of sorts in the Delhi food scene with new restaurants, concepts and consumers mushrooming all over. The time was ripe.Neither of us had any experience in the F&B industry but we had a clear idea about what the product should be and more importantly what it shouldn't. We figured that starting up something would be a very exciting journey if nothing else. 

A lot of brainstorming, hard work, blind luck and three months later Mahabelly was born.

Regional Cuisine is slowly catching up in Delhi , and high time it did. Education of the foodies is very essential , India has so much to offer and learn from in the culinary bracket that one could spend a lifetime doing so . The idea is to be open to the food , the flavours , cooking styles . Kerala cuisine is found in places like Sarai Jullena , Khari Baoli , RK Puram etc .. and aren't we glad that we have places like Mahabelly now in upmarket areas and more accessible to us foodies . I personally think it is a slow climb for regional cuisine but definitely here to stay .

The Entrance

Backgrounds

Thomas Fenn is a graduate from St Stephen's College, New Delhi. He has worked as an Analyst with an infrastructure consultancy Feedback Infra Pvt Ltd for two years before taking over Operations, Marketing & Business Development for the Stellar Children's Museum, Ambience Mall Gurgaon since it's inception in 2012.

Zachariah Jacob is a graduate from St. Stephen's College, New Delhi and completed LL.B from Faculty of Law, University of Delhi. He has been working as Manager (Law) with IFCI Ltd., New Delhi which is a Govt. owned Public Financial Institution since 2012. He is also a Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Banking and Finance (CAIIB).

WOW what a youth Brigade , Educated , Talented , enterprising , visionaries , determined and top it all adventurous .. absolutely amazing . With such backgrounds , getting into the food business and that too in a punju dominated city .. its incredible . Dumping a job for a passion is a wow and then making a success of it is the cream .

Brilliant Interiors

Family History in Food

Zachariah's family has a rich history in the food business. His father Jacoby Jacob is a founding partner of Hotel Aida in Kottayam in Kerala with over 30 years of experience in the field of hospitality, food & beverages. The wisdom, support and mentorship that Mr Jacob provided was indispensable in the project especially when it came to defining the business side of things.

Beautiful Wall Art

Amazing Wall art what an collection of Mallu Sketches .. each worth taking a picture off . This keeps you busy while the food is being prepared.'Currycreatures'.

Chefs

At Mahabelly, we don't have any celebrity chefs or the like. These are men and women who have put their nose to the grind at small restaurants and cooked their way through.My sister Ann Thomas (who's a home cook herself) took a month off work to help us

conceptualise the menu and standardise the recipes of almost all the items that we serve at the restaurant today. The result is a certain uncanny honesty that we bring to the table.

So while the dishes are cooked homestyle they are the popular dishes one would eat down there in Kerala. They mentioned a word above called standardise - now this is an art ... You have to keep in mind the portions , the cooking time in mind while being in the food business . 

Erachi Double FRY

Erachi Double Fry

Outstanding .. actually outstanding , beef well cooked , no smell , amazing coconut flavors , chewy  .The meat so well cooked that it could shred so easily . Have you heard the lastest fad about healthy eating they say coconut oil is the healthiest and one must have a tea spoon of it everyday .. and the mallus are proved right .The dish was a winner and i could see the other two tables also gorging on it .

Chicken Roast

Roast is a crazy word in a foodies dictionary - everyone interprets it differently - the brits , the muslims all do it differently and the  Punjabis also they put a lot of Pyazza in their roast to make a chicken do piyazza  or dry subzi but how this was handled by the chef is just fantastic . Onions well roasted perfect mixed flavors , thick gravy , tangy and robust . hehehehe whatever that means lol . It tasted amazing with the malabar porotta .

Appam & Malabar Porotta

A Special mention here the Malabari Porotta was not the usual , was crisp flaky and yet soft in parts .. wasnt the kadak types which u normally get . The appam was crisp from outside soft from inside .. well done .

Mutton Moplah Biryani

The most talked about Biryani in town , so while the hunt for the best biryanis is going on in the country moplah is one of the very different biryanis i have ever had .. a well cooked mutton preparation hidden well under a bed of rice .. loved the sweetness of the combination . Biryanis are solely related tot he muslim dominance in areas , they tried their own versions with the ingredients available locally and that's the difference in a Moplah Biryani 

Veg Stew

Now this was one dish i was so familiar with and TRUST ME THIS WAS THE BEST STEW I HAVE EVER HAD ..... a touch of pepper , a hint of sweetness ,deliciously flavored with coconut gravy a real to die for dish with a nicely made fresh appam .

Caramelized Banana With Ice Cream

Well well like i said earlier a foodie must have an open mind , I had a picture or rather palate looking for ripe bananas - but what iw as served was almost raw caramelized banana - which were good .. kept the desert together . A Nice try , but shud have ordered a payysam .. silly me .

Need to try their Regular Thaali  and also Specials of the Day - the spread looks very interesting for sure . 

Future

We have our hands full with just one restaurant right now :) Our plan is to consolidate Delhi NCR and then span out.

Tigers Overall Experience with the Youth Brigade .. Keep the good work up and do anything to sustain and scale up Mahabelly , you have a winner on hand . Your food excels , the service needs to be tightened a bit , valet parking needs to enforced , fill up the blank spaces , ass some cafe sort of food for the time pass people and the last thing is make noise to welcome people to try authentic Kerala cuisine .

PS - please call me for breakfast one day i believe your chicken dosa is quite commendable . The advise to other foodies with amazing palates is that be open to discovery , dont have pre conceived notions about the food .. let the senses decide .

Mahabelly - MA A-05, Restaurant Block, DLF Place Mall, Saket, New Delhi, India