Food freshly made and delicious, staff attentive and friendly. Nice atmosphere. Well worth a visit. Couldn’t sit outside due to weather bit tables inside weeper well part and felt safe sitting apart.

As far back as I can remember I have enjoyed Indian food. Unfortunately, about 90% of so called “Indian” restaurants are owned and run by Bengalis. There is nothing wrong with this, but I can certainly tell the difference in the style of the cooking.
I was very fortunate to spend the last 23 years of my working life in the Sultanate-of-Oman.
The bonus with this was that a large majority of restaurants were truly Indian. Almost all run by people from the state of Kerala. I soon got a taste for Kerala food and cooking style.
So, imagine my pleasure when I found Malayalam, a Kerala restaurant just a ten-minute walk from the Eastbourne hotel where we were spending a few days after the lifting of the U.K. lockdown.
I phoned and booked a table for three at 7 p.m. for my birthday dinner.
We were staying at the Imperial Hotel Eastbourne and, as it was raining, we took a taxi the short distance their door. As expected, we were warmly welcomed and quickly seated.
Menus and a drinks list were brought, and we sat back for a good read. We had our friend Pauline with us, and she and Jean decided on a plain tonic water. I was a bit more adventurous and ordered a pint of Cobra.
The drinks arrived and we ordered.
I was the only one who though he could manage a starter. This was mainly because I knew they had one of my most favourite dishes of all time… “Masala Dosa” … The Dosa is a large crepe made from a batter mix of ground rice and urid dal which is left to ferment and then cooked on a flat griddle or flat pan called a tawa.
The crepe is then rolled around a dry potato curry. This is served with two “chutneys” one based on coconut and the other based on tomatoes and chillies. Both are delicious. A small dish of a vegetable curry is also served on the rather large plate.
The Dosa is eaten with the fingers. A small piece of the crepe is torn off, wrapped around the potato and then dipped in one of the chutneys or the vegetable curry... delicious.
For our main courses the girls both ordered the Kozhikodan Dum Biriyani. This is like the usual chicken biryani but is made with the proper “Dum” method of layering the part cooked rice with the cooked chicken over which a sauce is poured. The dish, in this case a copper pot has a lid fitted and then baked in the oven. This makes sure the wonderful fragrance is retained in the pot. This is served with a lemon chutney and a small bowl of yogurt. The girls tucked in with relish but were unable to finish their portions.
I knew that I had already eaten too much and so decided on a fish dish.
Ammachiyude Meen Pollichathu. This turned out to be four rather large fillets of tilapia baked in a sauce and wrapped in a banana leaf.
This came to the table steaming on a large platter with a nice pile of lemon rice and a mountain of potato and tomato curry on the side. Well… it was, once again, delicious. But… once again… far too big for me after the big starter. But I was brave, and the taste was delightful, so I did manage three of the fillets before admitting defeat.
This was certainly a trip down memory lane and absolutely perfect for my birthday.
We were too full for puddings and so asked for the bill which, Jean picked up and paid.
2 X large tonic = 5.10 Cobra pint = 4.95
Masala Dosa = 7.49 2 X Kozhikodan Dum Biriyani = 25.90
1 X Ammachiyude Meen Pollichathu = 16.49 Total = 59.93
Many thanks to the Chefs and staff of Malayalam for a lovely meal and great service. The rain having stopped we walked back to the hotel… totally “stuffed”!

Difficult to know where to start as it was so good.Five of us turned up after walking The Seven Sisters and were looking forward to a "curry".
From the moment we were greeted at the restaurant, we knew we were onto a winner, whilst the decor isn't flash, its doesn't need to be as the food is so good.
Needless to say we were blown away by Malayalam.Its not your bog standard curry house,its so much more.As stated on their website ,the food is inspired by region of Kerala ,South India, so they are big on fish.Theres none of your boring chicken Korma on the menu, this is real thought inspired food.
As we couldn't decide what to have I asked the waiter to let the chef decide and come up with a mixture of dishes (starter and main).He didn't disappoint ,everything was superb.The flavours were amazing and everything tasted so good.No plates of ghee ridden mush, the food was cooked to perfection.
Ive been Lucy to have sampled India food all over the world especially across Asia from Mumbai to Cambodia and can honestly say that this is the BEST Indian food I have ever had.In fact without prompting all my friends said the same.
If you want to have the finest food at a moderate price plus great service then you MUST come to Malayalam...everthing else will be a let down.
I'm 100% coming back when Im next in the area.
Thank you everyone at Malayalam.

Really top curry - Fresh and authentic flavours & the staff where lovely. I would recommend the Biryani.

If you are in search of Indian food and Indian classics this is a must try one. The hotel interior is great and the service is at its best.

First ever visit to this restaurant .. Greeted at door by a lovely young trainee!<br>The dishes were not known to us but fully explained on the menu!<br>I had the pepper chicken with plain basmati rice!<br>Well .. the food was amazing; great flavours, good portions and very good value!<br>I have never tasted food like this .. and will definitely be back and good luck to the trainee member of staff<br>Thank you for a great post lock down evening

First ever visit to this restaurant .. Greeted at door by a lovely young trainee!
The dishes were not known to us but fully explained on the menu!
I had the pepper chicken with plain basmati rice!
Well .. the food was amazing; great flavours, good portions and very good value!
I have never tasted food like this .. and will definitely be back and good luck to the trainee member of staff
Thank you for a great post lock down evening

We were visiting Eastbourne from Maidstone for my husbands birthday and decided to give this place a try after seeing excellent reviews on google. We are picky about Indian food but were so amazed by the food here !! They are absolutely deserving of the 5 star rating and more !! All the dishes we tried were full of flavours and delicious. We even packed takeaways of the beef starter and dosa!! We will be back in Eastbourne again just to eat here and would recommend them to anyone visiting !!

#1 Trip Advisor restaurant for a reason!<br><br>I’ve been here in person a few times. However, with covid I’ve been ordering online. Each and every time I have ordered, they have exceeded expectations with the food and service.<br>I highly recommend you try this exquisite restaurant, especially the Ammachiyude men Pollichatchu 😋.<br><br>Thank you very much 🙏

#1 Trip Advisor restaurant for a reason!

I’ve been here in person a few times. However, with covid I’ve been ordering online. Each and every time I have ordered, they have exceeded expectations with the food and service.
I highly recommend you try this exquisite restaurant, especially the Ammachiyude men Pollichatchu 😋.

Thank you very much 🙏

We arrived rather late and decided to try some new food, thankfully they were kind enough to seat us out the front of their lovely restaurant. The waiter was kind and very helpful. Told us all about the southern Indian cuisine and helped us choose to. You can tell they are very passionate about this place and it shows in the food to everything we tried was delicious. My and my boyfriend had never tried any of the dishes before so both got different things. It all tasted great. And with s lovely bottle of red too. Definitely recommend and we will be going back for sure
Only picture i could get where of the curry's and Rice with rice bread. So good we where just eating right away. Lol thanks to the lovely man that helped us choose l, and for the great service.

Excellent food best Kerala food I have had since I visited Kerala. Staff outstanding a must if you’re in Eastbourne

We spent a month in India 2 years ago. Having just moved here we decided to try a takeaway from Malayalam and it did not disappoint. This was the best curry I've had since leaving Kerala. I had the Malayalam Fish Feast - absolutely brilliant and I haven't found anywhere serving Kayar Parata since leaving India. I will be trying all their dishes! My husband had the Malabar Coastal Chicken Curry and was singing its praises too. Definitely worth a visit here. The staff are very helpful and polite too.

We spent a month in India 2 years ago. Having just moved here we decided to try a takeaway from Malayalam and it did not disappoint. This was the best curry I've had since leaving Kerala. I had the Malayalam Fish Feast - absolutely brilliant and I haven't found anywhere serving Kayar Parata since leaving India. I will be trying all their dishes! My husband had the Malabar Coastal Chicken Curry and was singing its praises too. Definitely worth a visit here. The staff are very helpful and polite too.

We spent a month in India 2 years ago. Having just moved here we decided to try a takeaway from Malayalam and it did not disappoint. This was the best curry I've had since leaving Kerala. I had the Malayalam Fish Feast - absolutely brilliant and I haven't found anywhere serving Kayar Parata since leaving India. I will be trying all their dishes! My husband had the Malabar Coastal Chicken Curry and was singing its praises too. Definitely worth a visit here.

The food is just amazing, Me and my family had a delicious selection of starter and main. Staff super nice and beautiful location!
Highly recommended!

We loved the food! The beef starter special, the pepper chicken, okra and parathas were all standout dishes! Would love to come back and try more of the menu!
The staff were friendly and attentive and the food was amazing. We popped to Eastbourne on a whim and picked Malayam in the same way, and I'm so glad we did!

We've come for a brief visit from London today and ordered a take away based on the great reviews. The food didn't disappoint. We had a selection of starters: the lamb, fish and potato dishes were so well flavoured. The lemon rice was perfect. Staff were really nice when we collected. Really pleased to have visited and supported this great business.

Beautiful lunch deal - like a thali kind of thing - 4 veg curries, rice, chutnies and dosa for £6.95 - absolutely delicious. Chicken version available too. Friendly service and outside seating (some undercover). Wanna go back one evening to explore the menu more - its gorgeous and authentic keralan food

First visit to this exceptional restraunt. Sat outside all wrapped up but happy to be eating out.
Lots of vegetarian options and food and service really good.
Booked again for this weekend.

Very good Authentic Cuisine!

Very good Authentic Cuisine!

First outing for outdoor lunch this year. Despite cool weather really enjoyable. Staff were so friendly and menu was strikingly different from usual Indian. Great flavours well presented.
I’ll be back for sure.

First outing for outdoor lunch this year. Despite cool weather really enjoyable. Staff were so friendly and menu was strikingly different from usual Indian. Great flavours well presented.<br>I’ll be back for sure.

Truly different experience of Indian food. The Keralan menu offered an excellent range of dishes - the highlight were the fish currys - lots of sea food, delicately flavoured. Service was attentive and helpful.