Chatti is the type of New York City establishment I wish I could take every friend that visits me to. It is the perfect synopsis of what dining in this city can be when all the pieces fall into place. That is to say, the food is full of personality, the service reminds you how much hospitality can shape your meal, and the dining room reflects how many cultures make New York what it is.

At Chatti, that culture is rooted in the toddy shops of Kerala. Found throughout the state, these casual gathering places center around toddy, a naturally fermented, mildly sweet drink made from the sap of coconut palms. But the drink is only part of the draw. Toddy shops have their own food scene, built around intensely spiced dishes meant to be eaten alongside the drink. Think, crusted fish, chunks of beef, shredded shallots, and plenty of coconut. They’re unfussy, communal places where the food is meant to be eaten with your hands and shared with strangers. It’s this slice of everyday Kerala that Chatti brings to New York.

Building a Menu from Kerala

Founder chef Regi Mathew is a big part of what makes the experience feel so personal. Despite being one of India’s most celebrated chefs, he saunters from table to table warmly greeting guests and asking where they’ve traveled from. He’s best known for Kappa Chakka Kandhari, his acclaimed restaurants in Chennai and Bengaluru, and with Chatti, he brings his vision of Kerala’s cuisine to its international debut.

Kerala’s spot on India’s southwestern coast made it a hub of the global spice trade, pulling Portuguese, Dutch and Arab traders to its ports, and their influence still shows in the cuisine’s roasting, braising, fermenting, and stewing techniques. And if you haven’t dabbled in it before, seafood, coconut milk, and the region’s spices can build an entire meal without any two dishes tasting alike. Regi, a Kerala native, draws Chatti’s menu from the same techniques and flavors he’s known his whole life.

When I mentioned just how expansive his menu was, he quickly came back with “I would’ve made it even longer if I could.” And therein lies the art of it. In the three years leading up to Chatti’s opening, Mathew traveled across Kerala visiting homes and toddy shops in search of the dishes that best captured the spirit of the region. Along the way, he documented more than 800 recipes before narrowing in on the menu you see today. Right off the bat, you’ll notice that Chatti does an excellent job making the menu approachable. Whether Kerala cooking is completely new to you, or you hail from the state, there are suggested pairings for parathas and curries, spice-level guides, and even photos accompanying the entire small plates menu, making an otherwise sprawling selection easy-ish to navigate.

At the Table

Instead of the usual sparkling-or-still water routine, guests are welcomed with a warm glass of Pathimugam, Kerala’s signature pink water. Infused with sappanwood bark, its long been served at the start of a meal as a traditional herbal tonic believed to aid in digestion and help cool the body. While it feels unconventional to take a sip of hot water on a 33°C day, the warmth is surprisingly refreshing, and by the end of the meal I really began to enjoy the sensation.

Things then kick off with a tamarind, jaggery, and ginger amuse-bouche that arrives inside a coconut shell. Inspired by puli inji, a beloved Kerala condiment, the amuse-bouche captures Kerala’s tangy, fiery, and sweet cooking all in a single bite. Even the coconut vessel is intentional, grounding the dish in one of Kerala’s most iconic ingredients and setting the tone for what’s to come.

We started with a spread of small plates from the Touchings menu, toddy shop staples eaten by hand, because you quite literally touch the food as you eat it. The Prawn Pouches came steamed in banana leaf parcels, prawns coated in coconut masala and tamarind. Next were the Malabar Mutton and the Toddy Shop Beef Fry, slow-cooked cubes of mutton and beef brisket, respectively, both built on Kerala spice. A personal favorite was the Tender Jackfruit Cutlets, three deep-fried jackfruit patties, crisp with coconut crumbs. Each dish arrived on its own miniature banana leaf plate.

After filling up on small plates, things became a blur of seafood. The Seafood Moilee Soup entered first: a fragrant coconut milk broth loaded with shrimp, squid, and clams, cooked down with ginger and turmeric. It arrived with miniature Steamed Hoppers — appam, Kerala’s rice cake — sized here for one purpose, dropping into the soup and soaking up the broth.

We then dabbled in everything from Duck Mappas, a boneless duck cooked in coconut milk curry, as well as a Clay Pot Fish Curry, fish cooked with Malabar tamarind and matured overnight in an earthen pot. In the backwaters of Kerala, the duck farming industry thrives, and as such you’ll find duck meat in many of the menus.

We rounded it out with a medley of sides, Tapioca Mash, boiled and mashed, tempered with curry leaves and mustard seeds; Mutton Biryani, layered and slow-cooked in the usual Kerala fashion; and more of those Steamed Hoppers, back for a round to mop up whatever was left on the plate.

Dessert closed things out with two plates. First, the Cloud Pudding, a soft coconut soufflé dome built to mimic fresh coconut malai, a signature dish at chef Regi’s India-based restaurant. Then the Coconut Pancake, affectionately known as Madakku San or Elanchi, a traditional Kerala sweet crepe folded around grated coconut, jaggery, and cardamom, then rolled and served alongside ube ice cream.

In between our mains and dessert, Regi appeared with a round of Kottuvadi shots, or K-Shooters, Chatti’s take on the toddy shop ritual. He mixed each one tableside, adding a few drops of one ingredient into another before giving us very specific instructions: “no smiling, just shoot the whole thing back in one gulp”. Then came his explanation of what to expect. He compared the shot to a rocket launch, tracing the path it would take through the body before warning us that, in a few seconds, we’d feel it land in our stomachs. Sure enough, there it was.

In the Glass

Where there is an elaborate food menu, there’s an elaborate cocktail one to match. The Malayali Old Fashioned is built on coconut fat-washed whisky with jaggery curry leaves, while the Sam Bar combines vodka infused with clarified sambar (a South Indian lentil curry), with mezcal and a dusting of coriander leaf powder. But by far the standout is the Ayyo Kaapi, Chatti’s take on the espresso martini. Made with vodka, coffee liqueur, and South Indian filter coffee, it arrives with the Chatti logo etched across the foam. There’s also an impressive list of wines, and non-alcoholic options, like a Hibiscus Fizz or Sarbath.

Verdict

In a world of social media telling you where to go and when, Chatti still reminds you why dining in New York can feel like a discovery. Come for chef Regi’s take on what makes Kerala special but stay for the warmth and sense of community you’ll feel by the end of the night.

Chatti
Website
252 W 37th St, New York, NY