Ordinary Restaurant; Extra ordinary taste

The ‘Family’ restaurant at Vaniyamkulam



Vaniyamkulam is a small township between Shorannur and Ottappalam, in Palakkad district and the area surround to Vaniyamkulam is famous for Cinema shooting locations, especially in Malayalam film industry. The ethnic restaurant Hotel Jayabharath, situated about 500m from Vaniyamkulam centre on Ottappalam road is famous not only among the localites but also in the Malayalalam film industry too.  


The restaurant is small in size and has a reputation of nearly sixty years. It is run by Madhavi amma and her three sons Jayaprakash, Sathyanarayanan and  Sadanandan, along with her in- laws. All the works preparations, cooking, serving, cleaning etc are done them.  She has one more son and a daughter, but not involved in this activity.



The restaurant starts serving breakfast with the ethnic foods like Dosa, Idli, Masaladosa, Poori, Vellayappam etc from 7am onwards. By 12 noon the lunch will be ready. They serve vegetarian
meals- rice, Sambar, Kalan, Thoran, Rasam etc for lunch, all in plantain leaf. Lunchtime will be usually overcrowded .By around 3pm Dosa, Masala Dosa, Neyroast etc will be served again. The shop will close by sunset. On Sundays they serve only breakfast.

Jayaprakash told that this restaurant was started in 1957 by his father, and he and his brothers got involved in the restaurant activities from childhood. “Now our children are also involved in the activities during school holidays” he added. Jayaprakash is also a classical dancer and trainer. He runs the dance School ‘Gayathri Vidyapeedom’ to train classical dances Bharathanatyam, Mohiniyattam and Kuchippudi.

The family is keen on conserving the small vernacular building, adjacent to this restaurant, where the restaurant functioned earlier. Madhavi amma’s husband died in 2003, and they shifted the restaurant to the new building in 2010. The whole family resides adjacent to the restaurant.

This restaurant can be recommended without any doubt, for those who love to try ethnic foods of Kerala. 

Location/access: Near Ajama Madom Bus stop, Vaniyamkulam, about 10km to Shorannur and 5km from Ottappalam, Palakkad Dt, Kerala (India).



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