Wednesday, January 10

At lunchtime we attended the inauguration of a new fish restaurant started by the state government. We dined with the Minister of Fisheries, Shri Saji Cherian.

According to The Hindu, he

inaugurated the first seafood cafe in Kerala led by Kizhil FishFeed under the leadership of Fisheries Department in Azhakulam today at 3 o’clock.

The Fisheries department has opened its first restaurant serving fish dishes, ‘Kerala Seafood Cafe,’ at Azhakulam, near Vizhinjam. Minister for Fisheries Saji Cherian inaugurated the restaurant, which is run by Matsyafed, on Wednesday.

The government has plans to open seafood restaurants across the State. In the first phase, they will be opened in all 14 district headquarters. All major townships will be covered in the second phase and the panchayats in the third, Mr. Cherian said.

A seafood processing unit will be operational at Vizhinjam in two weeks, he said. The ‘Kerala Seafood Cafe’ functions in an air-conditioned, 367 sq ft building which can can seat 60 people at a time. It was built at a cost of ₹ 1.5 crore.

Traditional Kerala fish preparations aside, the restaurant also serves seafood dishes popular with tourists from abroad. Women from families in the coast affected by the Ockhi cyclone in 2017 have been given jobs at the restaurant.

Matsyafed chairman T. Manohara presided. Vengannur grama panchayat president R. S. Sreekumar, Matsyafed managing director P. Sahadevan, Fisheries director Adeela Abdulla, and Sheik Pareeth, Managing Director, Kerala State Coastal Area Development Corporation, were present.

The prawns tasted delicious and we got given a full fish thali with additional fish in various forms. Before we got anywhere near them we listened to an hour or so of speeches, including a barnstorming one by Saji Cherian himself.