East Indies Restaurant

If you go to the Eighth Bastion Home on Napier Street, that is where we are. We're situated on Fort Road in Ernakulam, which is a busy area near St Francis Church. There are always people walking by looking at the old buildings. East Indies Restaurant isn’t a massive place, but we have enough room for folks to sit comfortably. The building has that old Fort Kochi feel to it, with thick walls and high ceilings. We don't use a lot of fancy decorations because the building itself has enough character. The kitchen team works in a space that gets pretty warm, especially when we’re busy cooking the local dishes. We use a lot of spices, and you can usually smell them as soon as you step inside. Our servers are mostly local guys who know the history of the streets around here. We don’t have a scripted way of talking to people; we just say hello and bring the menu. The floors are old tile, and they have some scuffs from all the years of people walking on them. We don’t try to hide that. It’s an honest place where we serve food that we grew up eating. Sometimes the fans on the ceiling creak a little, but they keep the air moving. We aren't trying to be the most modern place in town. We just want to serve a good meal and keep the place tidy for the next person who walks in.