Location/Ambience:
Located opposite the iconic Koshy’s on St. Marks Road,
this place is not too hard to find. It is located in the first floor of the
same building as K.C. Das. The ambience is rather understated. Clean
whitewashed walls with a few portraits, newspaper clippings and some other
pictures from across the Konkan region, well-spaced out wooden tables, a rather
high ceiling and a few seats near the window which afford a glimpse of the
busy street below.
Food:
The menu includes a lot of items from the Mangalore
region, and a few from Coorg as well. The focus was of course on seafood, and I
was pleased to see that there was a variety of options to choose from. Our meal
started off with the ‘Sol kadhi’, a popular digestive drink from the Konkan
region of India and key ingredients include kokum, coconut, a few other spices and
green chili. Lovely drink, though I would have preferred mine to be a bit sourer
and a little less spicy! Here are some more dishes from our meal:
Butter-Garlic Prawns: Slightly-crispy medium sized prawns tossed in butter with shredded garlic pieces, curry leaves and coconut bits. This was divine!
Chicken Ghee Roast: This is an oft-misinterpreted dish, with too much spice in a lot of places. It was done rather well here, and as red as it looked, the spice was at tolerable levels and not overbearing, and yet, the chicken tasted luxuriously rich, slightly-spicy and melt-in-the-mouth.
Chef’s Special Masala Kane Fry (Lady Fish): This one was a
beautifully cooked Kane fish in a green gravy of sorts and the flavors of
coriander and tamarind were apparent in this.
Squid Chili: Spicy Squid rings tossed in a spicy red-chili
paste and garnished with cilantro, this dish will definitely turn on the heat.
Tawa-Fry Surmai (Seer Fish): Another red chilli
preparation, this was a shallow-fried piece of Seer Fish coated in a thin layer
of red-chilli and other spices. Perfectly cooked, spicy and delicious, this was
a satisfying end to the starters.Sannas + Pork Baffat: Perfectly soft sannas were the perfect accompaniment to a delicious gravy of succulent pork pieces cooked in spicy-tangy gravy. Brilliantly cooked pork, I must say.
Ragi Manni: After a typically fiery meal,
this was the perfect, though rather healthy end to a lovely dinner. A pudding
made with ragi (finger-millet), this
had a gel-like consistency, and wasn’t too sweet. Ragi cooked in ghee with slight
overtones of cardamom, jaggery and coconut was very well-done.
Verdict: Overall, a pretty decent place to have authentic
Mangalorean food, if you are in the area. Service is good, and pricing isn’t
exorbitant.
