Mayura Indian Restaurant

🇮🇳 KERALA, INDIA / Flavors from India's far southwest coast have a long-running home in Culver City that also caters to general Indian food lovers.

🇮🇳 INDIA (Kerala)
📍 10406 Venice Blvd.,
Culver City, Westside
🅿️ Very small/busy plaza
🥤 Wine and bottled beer
🌱 Vegetarian Friendly

📸 All photos by Jared Cohee
for Eat the World Los Angeles

Jonathan Gold’s love for Mayura has always been one of the most prominent features in the restaurant’s interior. He included this Keralan spot in every edition of the LA Times 101 he penned, all of which are framed for everyone to see. The restaurant kept its place on the list for a few years after he passed, but 2022 was the final inclusion. In general it may be out of favor as a destination restaurant, but still seems to make local communities very happy and its booths remain loaded with families.

Over the years, quite a few food-obsessed folks in town have thought Mayura could be hit or miss, but new diners should stick to the Mayura specials menu and be prepared to be floored by the tastes of Kerala State and the Malabar Coast of India. The flavor-packed curries and biriyanis will always remain as standouts, especially when compared to Punjabi, Gujarati, or other northern tastes more commonly found around Southern California.

Framed LA Times 101 awards and prime minister visits.

The restaurant opened in 2005 and is fast approaching its 20th year in business. Framed photos of the proprietor with the then-Indian Prime Minister share space on the wall with all their local accolades. Even before taking one bite, it is pretty apparent that the place has some serious flare to flex.

Mayura survived the pandemic but has left a few tables up outside in the tiny lot, all of which were never seen used during recent visits during chilly December and January afternoons. Inside the warmth goes from wall to wall, as diners decide what they are in the mood for from the very large menu.

From the “Mayura specials” part of the menu, maybe the most Keralan you can get is an order of Kerala special red fish curry ($21.95, above) with appam. Many types of appam (sometimes referred to as hoppers) are served throughout South India and Sri Lanka, but in Kerala often look like these thin, fluffy pancake discs made of rice flour. A serving spoon is always presented with each dish here, but the appam should be the utensil, pieces torn off to pick up pieces of fish and spoon the curry.

The menu has a bright red chili pepper next to the order, but know Keralans like their heat and even some without that warning have a good amount of spice. These flavorful and smoky heats are almost unlike anything you have eaten, tempered only by how large a piece of the appam you are picking each bite up with. Tartness from tamarind joins the party as well, a fruit that will be present in quite a few Keralan dishes.

While all of their breads are good, Mayura seems to call special attention to their poori, offering many of the Keralan dishes with this item. Poori with chicken curry ($20.95, above) would be a great introduction for most people to the restaurant, spicy but not quite to the level of that amazing red fish curry. The puffy hot bread should be torn apart and dunked as far down in the dish as you can get to pull up the rewards underneath the surface.

At some point in your meal, you are likely to find the smiling face of owner Padmini Aniyan at your table making sure everything is to your liking. This is a good time to ask about Keralan curries like this and what makes them unique. She might tell you about the abundance of coconuts in the state and how they show up in so many aspects of the cuisine.

You can eat Hyderabadi-style biriyani throughout India and much of the world where Indians have moved, but like most places, Kerala also has its own style of the dish. It is not hugely different from the more popular style, but Malabar Coast biriyani has a few new aspects which are interesting to explore. Biriyani snobs often seen to write off this style, but whatever you end up feeling, having it on the Mayura specials menu makes Los Angeles a better and more dynamic place.