Malabar House

by The Balloon

The difference between spoiling and cuddling is in the amount of personal thinking put in the details, and in the personal touch added to them. So, if any big five-star hotel can spoil its customers, only a more intimate, boutique accommodation can reach the level of exclusivity that cuddles require. And one of my favorite places to get cuddles from is Malabar House, in Fort Kochi, Kerala.

With a history dating back to 1755, when Jan Herman Clausing, a Dutchman, purchased the property, Malabar House is an important part of Fort Kochi's historical fabric and has been home to spice and tea traders before being acquired by Joerg and his wife Txuku.

After purchasing Malabar house, the couple began a renovation process that transformed the large white Indo-European bungalow, then in decay, in the first boutique hotel of Fort Kochi. The renovation was conducted with the goal of conserving the best of the heritage, using only traditional expertise to maximize the sustainability of the construction.

The result of the work, which took about two years, is a perfect combination of traditional appearance and modern sustainable solutions. Each one of the 11 suites and deluxe rooms is unique, elegant and with a strong identity.
The hotel is also home to a fine Indian art collection, which ranges from antiques to contemporary art pieces.

Jeorg and Txuku love Malabar House because, as they say, that's where the world comes to meet them, everyday. This curiosity for the rest of the world - the same that brought the couple to Fort Kochi - makes them the best hosts you could possibly imagine. You can totally feel their personal touch all over the place. I found a delicious plate of fresh fruit waiting for me in my room, and elegant, especially designed, soft cotton kimono for me to wear in the room, or while hanging out at the pool. Even the shampoo and the soaps are special: their fragrance has been accurately chosen, and when you come out of your shower you never end up smelling like hotel soap. Not only, but they made sure that their beauty center offered me the only authentic Kalari ayurvedic massage in Fort Kochi, performed by experts with a background in the antique Kalarippayat martial art.

Sure, you get this kind of treatment in most of the luxury hotels. The difference at Malabar House is, though, that I had the distinct feeling that everything was thought and done especially for my own personal comfort.

And, even if you are not a guest of the hotel, you can still enjoy the atmosphere and the quality of Malabar House by dining at Malabar Junction, the hotel's restaurant. The menu, personally curated by Txuku, combines local tastes from Kerala with Mediterranean cuisine. Pasta is hand-made, and the combination of flavors is to die for. The "Fisherman's Dream", marinated red snapper served with a delicious secret sauce has quickly become my dream as well. One of the best I had in a while, actually.

The restaurant has an in-house baker which makes bread under the close surveillance of Jeorg, constantly making sure that the taste is perfect - not too sweet, not too salty -: as a result, you don't have to be nearly as shameless as I am to devour the whole bread basked before the food arrives.

And desserts are great as well. My pick is the caramelized pineapple served with green and black pepper: I learnt from Jeorg to eat even plain pineapple with green pepper, which now I do all the time, and I absolutely recommend that you follow his example as well.

Eating at Malabar Junction is considered one of the best fine dining experiencse in South India, and you don't need to try many other options to fully believe that it's absolutely true.

Now, if you are thinking that this Malabar House sounds too good to be true, well, it's not that I haven't tried to find something wrong there. In fact, I did try, hard. Which is why I can tell you that, after days of scrutinizing, I finally found something that was not perfect. Really: one of the tastefully selected curtains in one room is a few centimetres shorter than the other. I wish I didn't find it cute, that bit of Indian imperfection surviving in the reign of accuracy and care. But I did.

Anyway, that's all I could find. One of the dozens of curtains of the hotels is shorter than the others. It isn't dramatic, is it?