Think Goa and think an evening spent devouring exotic seafood, robust spices and refreshing salads while listening to the waves breaking upon the shore while a live band belts out peppy tracks. The Goan food festival at The Waterside Café at Taj Banjara brings to the city all of this, minus the waves of course. With their speciality chefs Domingos Borges and Vicky Kumar paying the city a visit with their in-house delicacies, this food festival is worth checking out. The 10-day festival has its share of Balchao naans, xacuttis, vindaloos and cafreals along with the ubiquitous Konkani speciality Sol Kadi (coconut milk flavoured with kokum and spices).
But these are not all this food festival boasts of. Apart from the usual suspects the festival also features some delicious starters, offbeat salads and wholesome soups. You could start your meal with the Bhindi Kishmur, a salad with ladies fingers tossed with coconut, tomatoes and onions, or the Salad de Beach House with its fresh prawns, pineapple, bell peppers with a hint of chilli lemon dressing. For starters there is the Chicken Jirem Mirem on skewers, mildly spiced grilled chicken, and the Goan potato chops.
However, it is some of the main course dishes that are the stars here. Take for instance, the wonderfully flavoured Galinha Cafreal (chicken cooked in a fiery combination of green spices and peppercorn in toddy vinegar green masala) or the robust Mutton Sukha Masala, mutton cooked in Goan spices and coconut. Both the varieties of meat are well marinated and cooked till tender and go wonderfully well with the Balchao Naan. For the vegetarians there is the Bhindi Sol, ladies finger cooked with coconut and mild spices, and the Potato Karwari. The Goan fish curry however, was a bit of a letdown with its overpowering coriander taste. However, the succulent Crab Xec Xec (crabs cooked in xacutti spices) more than made up for it. While trying out the crab don’t bother using cutlery, jump right in with your fingers and enjoy the play of the flavours of the delicate seafood with the aromatic roasted spices. Both the fish curry and xacutti are best enjoyed with the Goan Brown Rice.
Do save some space for the delicious Goan desserts like the famous 16-layered Bebinca and Dodol (Eggless Goan delicacy made with rice flour, jaggery and coconut milk). There is also the lesser known Pinac, made with roasted rice, jaggery and coconut, and the Doce de Grao Goan made with split Bengal gram and fresh coconut.
If the variety of the spread has you fazed then there’s always the Sol Kadi to help wash down all the coastal delicacies. The festival is on till August 25.