Melo Villareal
Previous Post: Overnight at Tea County Resort in Munnar
A Pleasant Lunch at East Indies Restaurant by Eight Bastion Hotel
It’s really hard to leave a place when you are just starting to appreciate it. I really like Munnar. The site reminds me of Sagada, but instead of beautiful rice fields, you see a vast tea plantation. While I wanted to stay, I knew there was more to explore in this country.
A Quick Stop at Valara Waterfalls
We started moving to our next destination after a quick breakfast at the Tea County Resort. We passed a vast tea plantation, shortly stopping by the Valara Waterfalls. The viewpoint was located just next to the highway, providing an excellent view for motorists.
Aside from the monkeys waiting for tourists to feed them, the Valara Waterfalls viewpoint also has several restaurants and refreshment stores where we bought snacks for the long road trip. After 4 hours of traveling on land, we finally reached Kochi (or Cochin), the largest city in Kerala State.
Once we arrived in the Old Port of Kochi, we headed straight for the Eight Bastion Hotel (hotel info). This will be our official home for two nights. Its located on Napier Street and is ranked 7th out of 170 hotels in this historic city.
After getting our keys and settling into our rooms, we gathered for lunch at the East Indies Restaurant—Eight Bastion Hotel’s in-house restaurant.
A Delicious Feast at East Indies Restaurant
Our lunch was different after all those buffets we’d been gorging on for the past few days. The restaurant prepared a la carte dishes. Compared to buffet spreads, I like a la carte meals, as I tend to overstuff my plate. (Haha!)
They served Stuffed Calamari with ground fish, fried onion, garlic, ginger, and shrimp for appetizers. I thought it was a bit too spicy, but after all the other meals we’ve been having lately, our palate was already getting used to spicy food.
After the appetizers, they served a Shiitake Bisque. This is a delicious thick mushroom soup with cream on top. The chef prepared Herb Roasted Chicken with Portuguese stew for the main dish. It was the first chicken dish on this trip that was not heavy with spices.
We enjoyed a Flourless Chocolate Mousse with a seasonal fruit compote and caramel sauce on the side for dessert. The chocolate mousse was the perfect dessert to clean our palate while satisfying our sweet cravings—it wasn’t too sweet at all!
More Good Food
On our second day, we were again treated to another delicious meal. This time, our starter was a sweet Honey Roasted Pumpkin soup. It was very nice. It was then followed by another beautifully plated dish. The main entrée was a tender and tasty Beef Loin with Mashed Potatoes and Sautéed Vegetables on the side. As for dessert, we enjoyed a Citrus Semifreddo—a delightful complement to complete our lunch.
I was pleasantly surprised by the meals from this restaurant. It’s not that we’ve had enough for fish curry, but enjoying familiar dishes for a change was nice! To tell you frankly, I’m not addicted to curry, but you will probably see me crawling through some of the famous Indian restaurants in Manila.
East Indies Restaurant by Eight Bastion
259 Napier Street
Fort Cochin, Kochi (Cochin) 682001,
Kerala, India
Read:
- Exploring Kochi
- Hotel Review: Eighth Bastion Boutique Hotel in Fort Kochi, Kerala
- Top 15 Best Things to do in Kochi, India
- Lunch at Kopi Bali House in Bali Indonesia
