KOCHI: At the outset, Fuse Box Takeaway Restaurant at Edachira in Kakkanad is just a small outlet serving food like any other, but look closer at the menu and you will be surprised to find options that a fine dining continental restaurant provides. Started in July last year by 27-year-old Meera Ramkumar, the takeaway joint serves Mexican food with a twist. This is of course apart from a range of Indian dishes of which the fusion poha (flattened rice) selection is extremely appetizing.
An architect by profession but a cook by heart, Meera has put her soul into curating the menu. “I have been cooking for many years and I enjoy coming up with new dishes. On Saturdays, I can be seen here experimenting with taste profiles. That’s why I named the outlet Fuse Box, a fusion of dishes, cuisines and flavour profiles,” says Meera. She recommends the most popular item on the menu, the tex-mex chicken taco. “I have a thing for tacos, I just love them. I wanted to give Kochites a taste of a well-made taco unlike mass-produced ones.” True to her word, the tex-mex is a revelation.
The crispy corn tortilla made in-house is filled to the brim with chicken fajita, hot sauce, mint mayonnaise, salsa verde, cheese sauce and freshly chopped tomatoes, avocado and jalapenos creating a riot of flavours in the mouth. The other crowd favourite is taco rice. A hearty rice bowl which brings together Chinese fried rice with Mexican chicken fajita and nachos. Impeccably presented, the bowl is a marriage of grab-and-go and gourmet food. The mildly flavoured fried rice works perfectly with the tangy fajita curry. The nachos give a crunch to the dish that you didn’t know it needed.
Notwithstanding her self-taught expertise with Mexican cuisine, Meera is also proud of her Asian preparations. She recommends momos in soup. The dumplings are made in-house and immersed in a thick garlic-infused broth, perfect to have on a cold, rainy day. How does she find the time to run the outlet while being a practising architect? “Most of my friends are doing what they love, that inspired me to do the same. I ventured into the business by partnering with two other people for a food truck but I realised I wanted something completely my own. I didn’t have the capital to start a proper restaurant so I set up a takeaway instead. The reception was not as good as expected initially but since I have been putting up kiosks at flea markets, people have been coming from different corners of the city,” says Meera.