Not another Review!!

Not another review! What makes this different? Well, for starters, the person(s) reviewing stuff here are people who grew up in a world thats far removed from "the Reviews on Gruyere cheese and Asparagus..." In other words,
1. We love Amul butter - the salted yummy thing better than all the 'sophisticated' imported butter in the world!
2. We love the gooey, drippy sweetness of Indian sweets
3. We have, at some point in our lives, ate spoonfulls of Milkmaid conensed milk - right out of the can
4. We understand food and wine pairing (Courtesy the persistent lecturers in Hotel mgmt college), but would rather have chilled beer or the exotic looking potent cocktail with our spicy chicken tikkas or fish fries
5. Prefer to use words like 'delicate' for silks and 'sharp' for tools... NOT food!
6 Are dying find product which make lives easier for working mothers, wives, girlfriends or considerate (also read that as hen pecked) husbands and boyfriends!

So go on... pour your heart out about stuff you liked or hated!



Saturday, October 20, 2012

Britto's Goa and Redemption of faith ......

Recently I wrote a review for a hotel in Goa, which kinda finally looked like a crib session in writing! But something reinforced my belief that somewhere out there, a God does look out for me!! :-)

Ta-Da ......! The Britto's Restaurant and Bar in Baga Beach was an eye opener.

Pics courtesy google images
 A little history first:

  • I had a few waking hours in Goa - most of which was spent in meeting rooms
  • Grumbling me had not stepped on a beach till 9.30 pm, and my local office shook their head sadly when I asked if I could go to a beach at 10 pm
  • Had an intuitive feeling that the hotel guys would ruin my long time fantasy of Goa Seafood....
  • Rebelled and told the office guys that they can either feed me proper dinner, or find me muttering obscenities the next day between training sessions
  • Ofcourse, the office guys jumped down the building and put me and another colleague into a car for the restaurant with an urgency that was new to me :-)
Now, the review :-)

Location : Sigh! Right on the beach! My heart did a quick Dhinka - chika when I saw the thatched roof, the sand which served as the floor, and many many tables with candles lit for effect. At that very moment, I wanted to hug the little Manager of our Goa office, and tell her I was indebted to her for life!!
Pic courtesy google images


 
There was also this cute curios shop, and a tattoo artist. (After a couple of glasses of the superb house wine, I'd have had a rendezvous with this tattoo artist, had my friend not intervened sensibly)
The tattoo place - pics courtesy google images
Service : Colorful shirts, smiling staff, and a live band. That was the first impression. The restaurant was full (on a week night - but hey! this is Goa we are talking about) and the staff were scrambling about, trying to serve all tables as soon as they could. The live band was strumming out romantic numbers one after the other, and, for the first time in many years, I called up G to tell him I was missing him! (music has this effect on me)

But the thing that yanked my eyeballs out was the confidence with which the service staff handled all sorts of weird requests. Let me tell you mine:

I asked one of the servers if he would reserve our table (we had already placed our orders, and we - no I wanted to go to the beautiful beach on the full moon night) while we wandered around the curio shop a bit. Do remember that the restaurant was packed to its brim. I half expected the guy to shrug his shoulders and tell me to go find food elsewhere.

He was all smiles when he asked me 'Ma'am are you going to the beach?'

Like a child caught lying, I sheepishly nodded my head. He said, "No problem Ma'am."

And with a little whoop, my colleague and I grabbed our purses and stood up. At this, the guy said something I will remember for years to come. "You can leave your bags here. No worries."

Both of us had disbelief writ all over our faces. I asked him if it was really safe - it was, after all, filled with visitors and staff alike. And he said with the confidence of a proud team member "Absolutely safe. You can leave anything here and you'll find it where hen you come back." It would have been an insult to the guy if we still carried our bags, so we left it behind.... with a little trepidation. We needn't have worried, though - everything was intact when we returned a good hour later.

Food (and wine ofcourse):  I am a huge fan of Goan food, and have spent many evenings driving distances in Delhi trying to find that elusive Sorpotel. So ofcourse, the food was good. I knew it would be good. But I had no idea that everything we ordered would be lip smacking good. We had a pork Vindaloo (how can you miss a Vindaloo in Goa?) and a Prawn sorpotel. Awesome - with light fluffy rice, and a local bread called Sanaa. Ofcourse, we had the Pao too, to dab up the gravy.

Portions sizes are reasonably large, and we were stuffed by the time we finished all that we had ordered. Dessert was a luxury that we took only because the menu was so tantalizing. The server smiled and told us to order only one dessert with two spoons - and he was right!!! We ordered a fruit salad with Ice Cream, and it was heavenly! Between the two of us, we couldn't finish it.

We also had the house port wine, which is the only thing I drink when I am here. I like my wine sweet, fortified and full bodied. Lived up to my expectation here too. Again here, a word for the server. He ensured the food arrived on time, the wine glasses were refilled promptly and when we discovered in horror that we were terribly late, the bill reached us in matter of seconds. Impressive!

 Cost : A complete meal for two with around 4 glasses of port wine cost us Rs.1300.

The Verdict : The next day was a total disaster, which I have already blogged about, and this little restaurant was the only thing that made me smile when I think of this visit to Goa.