Thattu -- Kerala food in Politan Row

I was there recently. It is a food hall place with a VERY limited menu. I had the Appam, Kadala Curry, Ishtu, Ghee Rice and Masala Biscuits. Everything was tasty; and moreover I have had these things for the first time in this country. The food is really well made, fresh tasting and the people running it are really nice. Plus they have a Temple Elephant ornament adorning the wall.

Appam is a Rice flour Crepe and it was cooked to order. It is as good as I remember eating in India. Ishtu is a Potuguese-Indian mashup that works really well (coconut milk based watery vegetable stew). Kadala Curry is a south Indian version of the Chana Masala, made with southie spices and the smaller variety of chickpeas called Kaala Chana. Outstanding. The Ghee rice is essentially a lightly flavored pulav with cardamaom, cashew and raisins along with the Ghee. Again, really tasty. Masala Biscuits is what we called Khara Biscuits in Hyderabad. It is spicy. I would rather get this to go and have it with some Hot Masala Chai rather than eat it at the place.

Everything was fantastic; and I will be going here often. The only thing I can try next time; along with the aforementioned; is the Egg Curry. I am a vegetarian so I did not try the Chicken curry.

Thattu
111 N Aberdeen St.
Hours:
SUN-THU 11AM-10PM
FRI-SAT 11AM-11PM

Website:https://chicago.politanrow.com/thattu

Sula wrote about this place back in June and that got me pretty excited. He's actually written favorable things about a number of places in the Politan Row Food Court. Your post just moved Thattu even further up my 'must try' list - thanks!

=R=

I have only been to Politan Row food court in the West Loop 1 time last month and tried LaShuk Street Food, the place right next to Thattu was the best hummus I have tried in Chicago.. Although the price point is very high for what you get which is the target audience of this more high end food court. Next time I am in the area I will make it an effort to try out Thattu.

I had a fantastic maiden outing to Politan Row recently. We tried a few things from Thattu that were interesting and tasty. We started with Kerala fried chicken. It had huge masala flavors with a definite burn. The texture left a little to be desired– the style is not breaded and our order did not seem fresh from the fryer, so it was a bit chewy. The thin coriander chicken curry had deep spicing too. The star of the show was definitely the appam, which was a first for me and had a delightful range of textures from pillowy/bubbly to toasty on the bottom. I look forward to sampling more of their vegetarian dishes, sopped up with that amazing flat bread.

I will save this for another thread, but the beef rendang at Bumbu Roux was the best thing I've eaten all year.

Cool place, finally one of these newfangled food courts features new concepts by enterprising chefs from a wide diversity of backgrounds (vs. the usual suspects at the other joints.)