The mutton walk

A ninety-minute walk through Mattancherry that most people do backwards, and the one lane that makes it worth doing at all.

Written by Shemeer · Mattancherry · 3 August 2026

They call me a “Fraud Mallu”. My father was a crane operator, and our lives moved with the machinery — Cochin Port, then Mattancherry, then back. This is the walk I do when somebody visits and says they want to eat properly.

It starts at the wrong end on purpose. Everyone else begins at the Jew Town side because that is where the taxis stop, and by the time they reach the good stretch they are full and it is hot.

The lane nobody turns down

Halfway along there is a gap between two godowns that does not look like anything. It is not on a map and there is no board. Turn down it.

The families along here have been doing one thing each for a long time. One does beef fry and nothing else. One does only the pathiri. Nobody is trying to feed you a whole meal, which is exactly why you can eat at four places without regretting it.

What to actually order

Ask for whatever is closest to the fire. That is not folk wisdom, it is just how these kitchens work — the thing being cooked now is the thing somebody ordered a minute ago, and it is the thing they make most.

After that the walk turns back toward the water and there is nothing else worth stopping for, which is the point. Finish on the ferry side and sit down.