Kochi's first organic eatery... Solar Cafe is a quiet restaurant serving Indian and continental food... Check it out!

Tucked away in the bylanes of Kochi, close to the famed Chinese Fishing Nets, is the quiet Solar Cafe, the first & only organic eatery in Kochi. While it started in 2006, by a foreigner, it was taken over in 2008 by Farukh Benziger, Anthony & Shihab, who continue to manage it.

The walls are adorned with poetry and the decor is minimalistic... soulful music played in the background, and books were scattered across in a couple of nooks & bookshelves. We arrived on a quiet day, and apart from us only one other person was there, enjoying her coffee in peace!

The food is the primary draw of this place... While some of the produce is sourced from known & trusted local sources, the Organic bread comes in from the Elite store. Most of the local fruit comes to Kerala from Tamil Nadu, and chemical usage is more rampant there than in Kerala, so sourcing chemically-free grown produce is difficult, and important. Luckily, the owners have a farm called Lunar Gardens in Munnar, from where they get their own supply of tree tomatoes, honey, some fruits and vegetables. With 2 acres of fruit orchards, and 3 fresh water springs, it also doubles up as a homestay for people looking for peace and natural surroundings in the hills.

While a lot of the target audience to Solar Cafe does remain the foreign tourists who are scared of the stomach bug, there are always a lot of curious Indian tourists who turn up there after reading fabulous reviews on TripAdvisor! In fact, many of the tourists even come again, and leave behind glowing testimonials in the Guest Book. The owners are humbled to receive gifts of gratitude from them! The smallest group of people to frequent the cafe, remains the local crowd, which just shows that the Cafe still has its work cut out for it!

We had a Green Salad Solar Signature which was fresh and flavourful, a vegan Mixed Green Sandwich, banana lassi (the bananas were so sweet that the lassi didn’t even need extra sugar ) and an exotic looking yummy solar mix lassi. While the menu focuses on healthy foods, the Cafe will soon have an extended menu with egg recipes in too!

In all, it was a fantastic meal!