Kerala Kitchen never fails to dish up award-winning curries

Owner Sabuji Rocky clearly has the recipe for success having won numerous awards since he opened Kerala Kitchen in 2006 and can add Wirral’s Best for Curry 2023 to his Best Restaurant 2022 accolade this time last year.

Each week, we will be searching for the best Wirral has to offer in different categories and we’ve given out 21 awards for 2023.

The winners so far:

Best for Hair – The Hair, Beauty and Nail Lounge

Best for Pies – Pies4U

Best for Nails – Ebony J Nails & Beauty

Best for Roast Dinner – Fox and Hounds

Best for Cocktails – Shaker Shaker

Best for Breakfast – Twenty Sixteen

Best for Fitness – Matt Colligan

Best for Fish and Chips - SelFish

Best for Tattoos – Nomad Ink

Best for Pizza – Pizza Mamma

Best for Pets – Sanderson Vets

Best Independent Shop or Business – Bromborough Flowers

Best for Dessert – Our Coffee Shop

Best for Beauty – Glow Aesthetics

Best for Kids – Spanish Tots and Bebes

Best Gym – Dream Body

Best Beer Garden – The Red Fox

Best for Afternoon Tea – The Coffee Shop

Best for Burgers – Chuck Wagon by Taylors Kitchen

Best Café or Coffee Shop - Aroma

Voting for Wirral’s Best Pub or Bar is currently taking place and we’re also looking for nominations in our latest search - Best Restaurant.

Next on the menu was the search for Wirral’s Best for Curry and Kerala Kitchen took the latest Best of 2023 crown making them double award winners after being named Wirral’s Best Restaurant last year.

Head chef and owner Sabuji Rocky

Sabuji first opened Kerala Kitchen 17 years ago on Woodchurch Road in Prenton and moved to the current premises on Arrowe Park Road in 2011.

Sabuji and his wife Jisha Sabuji were born and raised in Kerala, south India, and moved to Wirral for Jisha’s job at Arrowe Park Hospital in 2001, living in Bidston.

The 64-seater restaurant is fully licensed and operates a takeaway service as table service.

Inside Kerala Kitchen South Indian Restaurant & Bar

Sabuji, who is 49, said: “We want our customers to eat the same healthy and nutritious food that we grew up eating with our families.

“Kerala food is naturally vegan and we have many happy vegan and vegetarian customers.

“We specialise in south Indian cooking and our menu satisfies the regular korma and tikka masala lovers as well as medium to very hot curry lovers such as madras, jalfrezi to nigiri and chettinadu.

“People travel from far and wide to taste our home cooked dishes like masala dosa, Kerala parotta and the village specials.

“I knew there was a huge market for south Indian, home cooked food when I arrived in the UK as friends said the food wasn’t what they were used to having in India.

“Everyone was craving the authentic food and the only place we were able to get something similar food at that time was in London.

“One of my friends had travelled to London with his pregnant wife who was craving a masala dosa and he said he wished there was something nearer to home.

“And so Kerala Kitchen was born.”

Jisha Sabuji with a chef's special in a banana leaf

Sabuji has a post graduate masters degree in business administration and has many years’ experience running businesses at home in India so he decided to open his restaurant.

Due to the rising demand for Kerala street food, he added a village collection section on the menu earlier this year, which is proving popular.

Sabuji said: “We used to get customers travelling long distances for masala dosa - an authentic Kerala pancake served with a special vegetable curry and coconut chutney.

“These customers are now coming to our restaurant for the village collection menu, which has dishes served in clay pots and real banana leaves, as they would be served in Kerala.

“Our customers have been a huge part of our family for many years and we get new customers visiting every day, who are not just here to taste the authentic food but are also passionate about the colourful culture and tradition of Kerala in India.

“We celebrate all traditional festivals of Kerala in our restaurant and we recently celebrated Onam - Kerala Harvest Festival - with 28 items making up a vegetarian and vegan mega feast served on banana leaves.

“It was a huge success.”

Some of the tasty dishes on the menu at Kerala Kitchen

What are the popular dishes on Kerala Kitchen’s fine-tuned menu? What do customers like to order?

Malabar lamb, Kerala parotta and Kizhi biriyani as well cabbage thoran and fish pollichathu all get the thumbs up from hungry visitors.

And what do the customers think about the food? Why did they want Kerala Kitchen to win the latest Best of 2023 award?

One nomination said: “Kerala Kitchen is by far the best.

“Being a chef for 35 years, the flavours and tastes are amazing.”

Kerala Kitchen moved to Arrowe Park Road in 2011

Sabuji said: “My wife Jisha Sabuji, son Pranav Sabuji and daughter Athira Sabuji are also involved in the business, in between their work and university studies, which gives our business a real family feel.

“Our head chef Jino Joseph is specialised in Kerala food and has many years of experience in star hotels from Kerala.

“We have become more popular nationally since our appearance on channel 4’s Come Dine With Me The Professionals in 2022 and winning last year’s Best Restaurant award with the Wirral Globe.

“When we heard we’d made the shortlist for Wirral’s Best for Curry 2023 we were so excited and felt so humbled to be recognised as one of the important curry houses in the area.

“Winning the competition gives us more energy and enthusiasm to continue to serve our growing customer base.

“It is a great honour for us to receive this special award and we would like to thank all our customers, well-wishers and Wirral Globe readers for joining us on this challenging but hugely enjoyable journey.

“Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all your continued love and support.”

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