Ajman | Weekend ideas for the UAE

The location and the incredible food flavors are Nalukettu’s pride and joy.

This, in fact, will most probably be your view from the table, through the window – more seaside than this, and you’d actually be in the Gulf!

Representing Kerala outside their native land, Nalukettu presents a menu of astounding deliciousness and quality.

This is not your regular, run-of-the-mill Indian restaurant in UAE…

Nalukettu in fact deserves five stars for the flavors of their dishes, and for the location directly on the corniche of Ajman – although perhaps not quite for the facilities, which however are commensurate with the menu pricing.

Here’s your five stars!

Konchu Porichathu – marinated prawns with curry leaves and coconut!

Besides the brilliant and surprising presentation, with lovely contrast in colors, the actual flavor was out of this world!

I cannot claim any Indian DNA, and so my taste buds are white western expat as any other, but I do appreciate Indian food and I’ve been eating it enthusiastically since I was a child – and Nalukettu blew my mind away!

Red with fresh chili-based paste, intensely marinated, this style of “fry” heralds from India’s south.

While each Chef has their secrets – and certainly Nalukettu wasn’t about to tell me! – it starts something like grinding together chili powder, kashmiri chili powder, black peppercorn, fennel seeds, garam masala, turmeric powder, maybe ginger, garlic, who knows!

And then let the coconut oil do the talking in the pan – simple, but when that morsel hits the tongue, it wakes up your heart and spirit, and you want to dance!

And then you realize that at Nalukettu the flavors reign supreme, and all the rest comes second to taste.

Even the amazing location just happens to be a backdrop for enjoying the delicious foods. It could have been located in an industrial warehouse, and still Nalukettu’s customers would happily come to enjoy the taste of home!

You look around and you can feel the culture, and the patriotic love.

Above all, Nalukettu is a humble restaurant, one that simply focuses on very very delicious Keralite cuisine.

But there’s more than meets the eye.

The main entrance is stately, even majestic from a carpentry point of view.

Yes, simple and humble, and welcoming, but there is a depth, a nobility, a sense of pride in the air. As an Indian you would recognize it immediately, I suppose, but for me I couldn’t quite place it, but I could feel it. There was something quite special about this Nalukettu…

And as you enter, directly in the middle of the walkway, candles are lit at chest height.

And some offerings are placed.

And look at the woodwork on the ceiling – how extraordinary.

You see, Kerala natives have been coming to UAE for centuries, and in recent times many of them have spent decades working and building the UAE into a modern country while sustaining their families back home – Nalukettu has a specific meaning.

Nalukettu is in fact a traditional homestead in which many generations of matrilineal family lived; only found in Kerala, these types of building construction are designed and built to a specific and traditional style, by master carpenters, and usually for noble families – and therefore Nalukettu restaurant in Ajman is a celebration of this important cultural abode, and all the more important as it connects back home.

In a sense, Nalukettu restaurant is like Kerala’s culinary ambassador in the UAE, linking back to the aromas and tastes of the origin of the proud people of Kerala, particularly those from the seaside.

Oh, and it’s fully licensed… also connecting back to home…

… as well as serving fresh fruit juices.

Other dishes hit the sweet spot as well!

A magnificent Special Beef Fry – again enhanced with coconut, and secret spices!

Generous on the chilis, yet not spicy, unless you intentionally take a nibble…

The flavors in those strips of dried beef were incredible!

Not too dry, not too stringy – and crunchy, and totally flavorsome, and then boosted also by roasted garlic, and of course fresh curry leaves. A masterpiece, and for certain a beloved bar snack for the connoisseurs of liquid gold!

Chicken also was featured, in numerous dishes, actually, but it was the boneless Nalukettu Chicken Fry that carried the crown.

Just look at the richness of this dish!

I wish you could put your device to your nose and smell the fragrance…

…richly coconut.

The aroma and taste of this dish will bring tears of joy and memories of childhood to Keralites – I can imagine these were the cooking scents of grandma if you were a kid growing up in southern India.

Back at Nalukettu in Ajman, quality chunks of fresh chicken, masterfully marinated and fried crispy, and garnished with coconut and onions, whole chilis, and fresh curry leaves.