Hungry in Zamorins land ---Calicut hotels

You can be hungry  in the Sahara ,  thirsty in the Atacama desert  but one place  you shouldnt starve  is  ......Calicut   ... The  land of Zamorin Kings  .....Strictly speaking the cuisine of present day  Calicut is not the Zamorin Kings cuisine ,.  But  that is  ok  ... for  its a great cuisine  of its own  " the malabar cuisine  "  .  I personally  like good vegeterian food as well as non-vegeterian food  . But  in Calicut  the  AUTO mode in my stomach  goes into non vegeterian  and the settings  are set by theMalabar cuisine which is 99 percent nonvegeterian unless you count the sweets  as vegeterian  ... So here it goes 

Paragon  Hotel  ...  Seafood, Biriyani  ,  you name it you get  it in paragon  around  100  metres from the famous mananchira  maidan  ( ground)  .  Be it  the prawns masala or the  "Ayakkoora "  fry  (  claims  to be the sister  of  the Nemmeen  (seerfish  ) available in South Kerala )) their fish items  are good each one better than the rest  . Which to choose  ?  Dont ask me  choose all:)  . Their biriyani  is good  but  i feel  not as classy compared  to their  seafood  curries or masala with  any of the main dishes --parotta or idiyappam  or appam  .  And please  ... please  dont try to be a chinese here  ordering  fried rice  at paragon  ( though  avialable  )  . This is a Malabari hotel  and  stick  to your malabari dishes 

Sagar  ............hotel  ...  its  near the  bus stand  ....When  i was a tutor  in Calicut Medical College  when i came back from trivandrum  first  thing in the morning is  i used to go to Sagar hotel for  tea  .  And  coming from South Kerala i was shocked to see people  having Hot  Ayakkoora curry  and Appam  at  7 am  .  Used to  dosa iddali etc in the morning  eating  a  FULL breakfast of hardcore  nonveg food early in morning was unthinkable  .  Then slowly  i  too  started to  have  this  combination from Sagar  Hotel  .  (but not at 7 am  )  . Yes  their  Ayakkoora curry is  too good  .....  best in town  .  And the competing dish  is  their  Biriyani   ...  i dont know  whether the best  in town  but i like it the best  ....And  here also  a word of caution ... dont be  a  chinese  here  (i think all these malabari hotels  have   a chinese connection due to it being a seaport  with trade  to China  ((my view  :  no references))

Al  Bake  .....Arabian  food  ... authentic  minus  the  belly dancers  .,   their broasted chicken  which  is  prepared in a special  imported  device  ( something like  a  cooker  ... but more sophisticated  )   .  The  chicken which goes inside  comes out with a personality  of its own  called  Broasted Chicken  .And you have  it with  Kuboos  ( yes  the same one  which u get in middleeast  )  .The other specialities are Shawarma  ,  Shaway  chicken , kapsa rice  etc  and their milkshakes are worth every dinar  ....And  my personal  comment  is  their arabian food is better than the arabian food i had in the middleeast  . 

Zains Restaurant  (near  the beach  )   .........Zainu thatha  .... and her  husband    Hmmm ... In malabar  it is  ladies first ... seriously  ... if in doubt  check the restaurant name  ...This  restaurant is really  ethnic  .... So you may like it best  sometimes  ....  All  the  malabari  goodies  which are not available in other  hotels are available here  ...  Arikkkadukka  ... Its  seafood mussel  which is baked with  pulverised  rice  served  inside  the shell of mussel  .  is delicious  .  And unnakkaiii   ...a  sweet dish made with  eggs and  banana but which looks  much different from both its parents  is good  .  These are  the starters  ... If you are lucky and  in the right time you will get muttamaala  called garland of egg  which is  a  1 mm  thick  fried  with sugar  dish  made only  from egg yolk  (  cholesterol  yes  .....rich   ...health  conscious  beware  )
Main food you have all the  seafood  (take  ur pick)  or Mutton Estew   with  aripathiri  ...  my favourite  .
tender mutton stew  with  a  soft  chappathi like thing made of rice  ....but  leagues away from chappathi  .
(  You can challenge anyone that u can eat  20  of these  ...... they r so soft  when mixed with  milk of coconut  )   .  And dont challenge me  .... i can eat 40  if im  really  starving  ...

Ok  ....  so  you have  had  a sumptuous  food from any  or all of the above  ... then what to do  .... ?  If you read  carefully  .... i gave you two landmarks  .... the choice is urs  ..... The Calicut  beach which is historic or  the Mananchira Maidan  (equally  historic  )  ....

And please say thanks to  me as  a comment ...