SeaSwara·Dining
III · The Kitchens

A beachfront restaurant in Padubidri, and a counter for twelve.

Kadal looks straight at the sea. Lan Hua sits behind the garden. Both are open to non-resident guests by reservation — and we seat no more than thirty at any given hour.

Kadal at golden hour — open kitchen, oil lamps, communal table set facing the Arabian Sea.
Kadal · Coastal
i. Coastal MangaloreanAll-Day

Kadal

The catch of the morning, by the colour of the sky.

An open-kitchen room set under a teak ceiling and twelve oil lamps. The fishermen at Sasihithlu beach our boats at first light; the meen-koddi (fish-board) board is rewritten at 06:40 each morning, in chalk.

Cooking is unhurried — coconut ground on a stone, byadgi chillies pounded by hand, ghee from village buffalo. The bar pours coastal cocktails: tender coconut & rum, kokum sour, jaggery old-fashioned.

Open
07:00 — 23:00Daily
Covers
28Indoor & deck
Dress
LinenNo shoes after 6pm
CHEF ROHAN PINTO — Twelve years between Goa, Kochi and Naples. Cooks his grandmother's bafat masala from memory. Eats sardines for breakfast.
Lan Hua — twelve seats at a blackwood counter under paper lanterns, lit only by candles.
Lan Hua · 蘭花
ii. Sichuan & CantoneseEvenings only

Lan Hua

Twelve seats, candlelight, no printed menu.

A small room behind the garden lit by ten paper lanterns and one slow ember. There is no menu — only a conversation with Chef Lin and what arrived from the market this morning. Each evening is a five-course walk through Sichuan and Canton, plated for two at a time.

We pour cold pu-erh, an unfiltered baijiu from Yibin, and a small list of natural wines that survive the chilli. Reserve at least two days in advance.

Open
19:00 — 23:30Tue — Sun
Covers
12Two settings nightly
Menu
Omakase₹ 4,800 / guest
CHEF LIN WEI — From Chengdu via Hong Kong & Lisbon. Cooks chilli oil that takes eight hours and sounds like rain on a tin roof.
Eating at Padubidri Beach

Coastal cooking, on the coast it came from.

Padubidri is not short of good food — the highway has fine kori rotti, and the fish-meal houses in Udupi and Mangaluru are institutions for a reason. What is genuinely rare on this stretch is a table with the Arabian Sea in front of it rather than a road, and that is the one thing Kadal was built to be.

The kitchen buys from the Sasihithlu boats at first light, so the board is set by the sea rather than by a supplier. Coconut is ground on stone, byadgi chillies are pounded by hand, and the ghee comes from village buffalo. It is the cooking of this twenty-kilometre stretch of coast, done slowly and without apology.

We are five minutes on foot from Padubidri Beach, four kilometres west of NH-66, thirty-five minutes from Udupi and Manipal, and about forty from Mangaluru airport. Parking is free. Both rooms take non-resident reservations, and the sunset table on the Kadal deck is worth asking for by name.

Tables

Reserve a table.

Tables at Kadal & Lan Hua are reserved through our concierge — by phone, WhatsApp, or by emailing concierge@seaswara.in. Resident guests receive priority seating; non-resident bookings open seven days in advance.

Call+91 824 · 220 · 1880WhatsApp+91 99000 · 12880Or write to the houseSend a request →
Before you book a table

Eating at SeaSwara — what people ask.

01Can I eat here without staying at the hotel?

Yes — both restaurants are open to non-resident guests by reservation, and a good share of our tables are people who drove over for the evening. Kadal runs all day; Lan Hua is evenings only, Tuesday to Sunday, with twelve seats, so book that one two days ahead.

02Where exactly is the restaurant?

On Padubidri Beach Road at Nadsal, near Sagar Vidya Mandir, about four kilometres west of NH-66 and five minutes on foot from Padubidri Beach. Parking is free and on site. It is 35 minutes from Udupi and about 40 minutes from Mangaluru airport.

03What are the timings?

Kadal serves from 07:00 to 23:00 every day — breakfast, lunch, sundowners and dinner. Lan Hua serves 19:00 to 23:30, Tuesday to Sunday, and is closed on Mondays.

04What is the seafood like?

The fish board is rewritten each morning in chalk from whatever the Sasihithlu boats landed at first light, so it changes daily — anjal, bangude, kane, prawns, crab, squid. The staples are constant: neer dosa, kane rava fry, prawn and chicken ghee roast, kori rotti, and fish curry sharpened with kokum. Coconut is ground on stone and the byadgi chillies are pounded by hand.

05Is there anything for vegetarians?

Yes, and it is not an afterthought — coastal Karnataka has a deep vegetarian tradition of its own. There is a full vegetarian section at Kadal, and Lan Hua will build an entirely vegetarian counter menu with notice. Jain, vegan and no-onion-no-garlic requests are ordinary here rather than favours.

06Is it suitable for families with children?

Very. Kadal has a children’s menu, child-sized cutlery and high chairs, the deck is open and easy to walk a restless toddler around, and the garden is fenced. Lan Hua, with twelve seats and a set menu, suits older children better than small ones.

07Do you have a sea view?

Kadal looks straight west at the Arabian Sea from an open deck — the sunset table is the one everybody asks for, so say so when you book. Lan Hua sits behind the garden and is deliberately inward-looking; the view there is the counter.

08How do I reserve a table?

Ring or WhatsApp +91 99875 55703, or write to stay@seaswara.in. For Kadal a day’s notice is usually plenty; for Lan Hua, two days. Tell us if you want the sundown deck and we will hold it.