Lao Tse, the Chinese philosopher once said ruling a large kingdom is like cooking a small fish – both have to be handled gently and never be overdone. In the little kingdom of Cafe Jade in Hotel Hycinth, I had the pleasure of celebrating one of the most uncelebrated of foods – well cooked fish!
“Fish Puttu, a dish that contains fish, coconut and small amounts of egg but no rice powder is what I would recommend,” said Macs Millyan Colbey, executive chef at Hotel Hycinth when asked for his recommendation for starters. Fascinated by the idea of fish puttu, I ordered the same along with teriyaki prawn and fish skewers for starters from the live counter. The latter, which contained tawa fried basa fish and prawns, was ideal – the softness of the fish complemented by the crispiness of the prawn. The steamed fish puttu resembled our traditional egg thoran but with the zing of fish added to it. Macs, who had worked in Macau, sure knew his fish!
Picture this – bright yellow kappa (tapioca) with hot fish varutharachathu along with crisply fried sardine in a classy ambience with live music playing in the background! Few things could be closer to heaven for an ardent fish lover like me. Often kappa tends to be at extremes, either mashed up like a paste or hard like a rock. The kappa with generous amounts of fish varutharachathu (modelled on chicken varutharachathu) was a true gastronomic delight.
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The squid pulao, which was the next dish on my radar, had rice mixed with squid and did not have any heavy masala. It tasted a little bland for my taste buds, but with butter chicken masala (yes, there are chicken and vegetarian dishes also at the festival), its flavour was greatly enhanced.
Maintaining the ‘fishful’ spirit I chose the herring salad and seafood cocktail from the spread of two fish salads and three vegetarian salads available. The former had herring sausage blended with onion and salad toppings, while the latter had seafood and avocado mixed in delectable proportions. The desserts section had a wide assorted spread with eight desserts from which I had vanilla panacotta and exotic fruit truffle, which should have generally summed up a good dinner. However the taste of fish puttu and teriyaki prawn was still lingering in my mind and so I sheepishly asked, “Can I have one more serving of starters please?” Come on, it’s not every day that you get to eat fish puttu!
The sea food festival is on till October 5 at Hotel Hycinth. The cost per person for the buffet is Rs. 799 plus taxes. Contact: 9400000747.
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