At the corner of New York’s buzzing East Village, diners are discovering a taste of Kerala — not the postcard version of backwaters and beaches, but something more intimate, more visceral: the fiery, rustic spirit of the state’s iconic toddy shops.
Chef Regi Mathew, a pioneer of modern Kerala cuisine and co-founder of the acclaimed Kappa Chakka Kandhari in Chennai and Bengaluru, has brought his vision overseas with the opening of ‘Chatti’, a restaurant inspired by the communal taverns that dot the coastal villages of his home state.
The name, which translates to clay pot, is fitting. The menu at Chatti offers more than meals; it offers memory — a bold attempt to preserve and translate Kerala’s working-class food traditions for an international, urban palate.
Inside, the ambiance blends casual charm with cultural texture — rattan chairs, banana leaf motifs, dim lighting, and murals of Kathakali dancers cast a mood that is both nostalgic and new. The space is intimate, the music restrained, and the menu unapologetically rooted in spice and story.
“This is not about fusion,” Mathew said in an interview. “It’s about honoring where I come from — about letting the food speak in its own language.”
The dishes — referred to as touchings, a colloquial term in Kerala for bar snacks typically served with toddy — include beef fry with coconut slivers, steamed prawn pouches in banana leaves, and pan-fried anchovies. Every plate is small, meant for sharing, reminiscent of the communal, no-frills dining ethos of the toddy shops that inspired them.
Mathew, who trained at culinary schools and spent decades elevating South Indian regional fare, sees Chatti as an act of culinary diplomacy. “For too long, South Indian food abroad has been reduced to dosa and idli. It’s time people tasted the real stories.”
The restaurant’s opening is timely, riding a growing wave of curiosity around regional Indian cuisines in Western food capitals. But Chatti is not just a restaurant; it is an invitation — to slow down, to taste deliberately, and to experience Kerala as it is: complex, communal, and cooked with fire.