What Fisherman's Wharf tries to recreate on the dusty Harlur Road connecting the completely prosaic and bustling highways to Sarjapur and Hosur, is the idyllic ambience of the Goan coast, with the spice of its exotic cuisine.
Evidently borrowing its name from the famous pier in California, the restaurant welcomes you with beach sand, an open bar, live music and open dining areas.
Goan cuisine is a rich mix of flavours from the west coast, Maharashtra, Uttara Kannada and Portugal. While the Portuguese contributed the rich ingredients for filling, the Indian regions tempered it with fiery spices and local oils. The Italian dishes at this multi-cuisine restaurant are extremely simple, characterised by just four to eight ingredients.
Experimenting with food
Every dish has a hint of Xacutti, made from raw peanuts, egg yolk, red chillies and grated coconut. Chorizo, a Spanish sausage made with pork and paprika and comes in many varieties, is coloured by Goan chilli and Toddy vinegar, a preparation unique to the west coast of India. The restaurant has identified a Konkani in Bangalore, who makes this vinegar at home.
The Caesar salad here is an olive interpretation of the classic with romaine lettuce, a creamy Parmesan dressing, and garlic croutons with options of chicken and shrimp. It is a favourite starter with the regulars here.
“We encourage customers to experiment with different dishes the same way that we do with ingredients in the kitchen,” said Ranjeet Pandey, director and chef of the restaurant. His kitchen is his laboratory. “Being a science student, I put in lot of my chemistry into my cooking,” he smiled.
Exotic spread
It is obviously the seafood lovers who can enjoy this restaurant the best. Prawns and squid come ‘as you like it' — fried with Peri Peri, rawa or butter garlic. Pomfret, king fish, the red snapper, crab and king crab are cooked in recheado masala, stir fried or on a tandoor. The Arabian catch of the day offers lobsters, crab, fish and prawns.
Vegetarians are not let down either. The pinwheel delight — mushroom stuffed with cheese and crumb fried, and wok tossed broccoli are simply delightful.
Puritans can always go for the zafrani paneer tikka, chicken tikka and chicken kebabs.
The restaurant also has a separate Goan menu with just the traditional Goan dishes.
Bebinca, the speciality of Goa, served with vanilla ice cream is a perfect end to the meal.
