Kokum

Kokum, a newish South Indian restaurant in Murray Hill, is run by the group that also runs some of the city's finest Indian restaurants, including Chola, Malai Marke, Dhaba, Bhojan, and Chote Nawab. By now, the folks here have the formula down to a science: food from a specific region in a kitsch-esque space. 

Before we went to Kokum, we read about its Dosa Stall. We were disappointed to discover that said stall was just a figurative section on the menu and not a full-on stall. We consoled ourselves with a somewhat spicy mysore masala dosa (above) and a mild-as-can-be vegetable uttapam (bottom).

However, the real draws were the two appetizers: shrimp kokum (below) and kumily chicken fry (further below). The former had hints of kokum, a tart, almost sour spice, as well as liberal sprinkles of pepper, while the latter were little meat nuggets tossed in curry.

Alas, we can't rightly say that Kokum is a destination in the same way that Singapura was, and the fact that the one replaced the other has us fearful of its future. But, you know, if we could predict the future, we have a few things we'd like to discover besides the fate of this particular restaurant, such as whether Phil will see his shadow (thereby hastening an end to this weirdo winter), whether our favorite socks ever return from the dark depths to which they seem to have vanished (we miss you guys!), and how Theo will find Pippa again.