Coconut palms leaning over the Kumarakom backwaters
Backwaterkumarakom

Backwater — Kerala fish restaurant in Kumarakom

Backwater · Kumarakom

Palappam served with vegetable stew
A boatman poling a country boat through the backwaters
A Kerala sadya laid out on a banana leaf
Kappa with meen curry
Fishermen casting nets at sunrise
Red meen mulakittathu fish curry
Dishes on a toddy shop table
Kerala style prawn roast
Brass oil lamps of Kerala
A kettuvallam houseboat on the lake

Breakfast

at first light

Lace-edged palappam, a pepper-flecked stew in coconut milk and filter coffee poured long — a slow start while the mist lifts off the lake.

Lunch

on the leaf

Red rice, avial, sambar and karimeen fried to order, served the old way on a banana leaf and eaten with your hands.

The Catch

straight from the nets

What the fishermen bring in at dawn decides the board: pearl spot, tiger prawns, mussels and mud crab from Vembanad.

Toddy Hour

as the tide turns

Kappa and meen curry, a fiery chemmeen roast and something cold in hand while the light drops gold over the water.

Feasts

for the whole tharavad

Weddings, birthdays and long family lunches — set out on the jetty, lit by brass lamps and cooked for everyone.

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A Chinese fishing net rising at sunrise with birds overhead, Ashtamudi Lake

Sunrise on the nets · Ashtamudi

Come for the kayal

stay for the karimeen

Ways to spend the day

Days on
the kayal

choose your tide

Begin with the nets at dawn, drift the canals, linger over lunch or arrive as the light turns gold. There is no itinerary — only more reasons to stay.

Sunrise nets, canal drifts, long lunches and celebrations shaped around you.

Fishermen on the backwater at sunrise

Sunrise
Catch

Watch the Chinese nets rise at first light, then breakfast on appam and whatever came in with the tide.

Nets / Appam / Filter coffee

Canoeing through a narrow backwater canal

Canal
Drift

Paddle a country boat through Kumarakom's narrow canals, past paddy, coir and kingfishers, before lunch.

Canoe / Village / Slow water

A kettuvallam houseboat on Vembanad Lake

Long
Lunches

Karimeen in its leaf, a pot of meen curry and red rice aboard a kettuvallam with nowhere else to be.

Houseboat / Leaf / Shared plates

Chinese fishing nets at dusk

Sunset
Hours

Stay as the sky softens over the nets and the first round of toddy turns an afternoon into an evening.

Toddy / Golden hour / Music

Brass oil lamps

Your
Occasion

Bring everyone together for birthdays, private dinners and sadyas worth remembering — we'll light the lamps.

Private dining / Sadya / Celebrations

01/ 05

When the tide turns gold

ToddyHour

Toddy tapped from the palms at dawn, tender coconut cracked to order and a plate of kappa for the table. The lake slows down; so should you.

4:30 – 6:30 · every day

The catch · today's board

From the nets

to your leaf

Almost everything here swam in Vembanad this morning. Pick a dish and we'll tell you where it came from — and which toddy to drink with it.

Crab and tiger prawn at market price. Ask about today's karimeen — fried, in the leaf or in a moilee.

Karimeen pollichathu on a banana leafKerala prawn roastMeen mulakittathuFish curry in a clay potKappa and meen curryFish moilee with appamKarimeen cooked in banana leaf
01 / Pearl spot / shallot masala / banana leafour signature
A houseboat drifting on the Punnamada backwaters in daylight

Afternoon

Day drifts

into golden hour

Chinese fishing nets lit by lamps over the water at night, Ashtamudi Lake

After dark

Night unfolds

lamps, toddy & the tide

DayNight

Reservations

a seat by the water

Sunset over the Kerala backwaters framed by coconut palms

by the backwaters

Reserve a tableWhatsApp us

Open daily 12 – 11 pm · Free boat pick-up from Kumarakom jetty