Goan food

So this Sunday afternoon, we went out to this place called 'Tavira -Spice Village'. I had heard that it belonged to the owner of 'Soul Fry' of Bandra fame and that it was located in Borivali West. We were both craving for some good Goan seafood and thinking that this place was closer to our place than the Bandra 'Soul Fry' would be, we decided to go there for a lazy lunch. 

Later, I would stand corrected on a couple of points. One, the location is NOT close to where I live. It is near the Gorai Beach, which falls under the purview of Borivali West due to, I guess, lack of any other address; otherwise, it is as much in Borivali West as Yari Road is a part of Andheri West. The drive there, though, was good, as the Gorai area is much cleaner than most places in subarban Mumbai; it was also remarkably empty (that could've been because of the Sunday afternoon). The roads were lined with coconut trees, most buildings  there were bungalows and on the whole, the sunny afternoon in this neighbourhood reminded me of Goa (minus the bright colours of course).

 

Second, the management of Tavira has changed; it now calls itself a 'multicuisine restaurant'. It is natural, of course, that other things will change as well. The interiors remain the same (I know this because I had read earlier reviews of the place), the same yellow-and-orange walls with pictures of artistes and musicians but the place was not too brightly lit.  Sadly, the menu I had  gone expecting, was not there.  In its place, there was a ubiquitous 'paneer makhani - rogan josh' kind of a standard menu. Which was a severe disappointment to me, as I had gone there with my order already placed in my mind - Vindaloo, Goan Fish Curry and the Railway Mutton Curry - none of which I could see on the new menu.

But luck was on my side. One of the managers there agreed to give us some authentic Goan food, a little along the lines of what we had been expecting in the first place.We ordered drinks and appetizers - I stuck to my normal fresh lime soda sweet and my husband ordered a Fruit Punch. The Fruit Punch was very well prepared - frothy, sweet but not too much and tangy - my husband liked it immensely. For our appetizers, they served us some Fried Surmai Rechad. Let me just say that this was one of the best seafood dishes I've tasted in a long time and incidentally, even with the new management, they have included this on the new menu (along with a couple of other Goan items in the starters). The fish was to die for - it was absolutely fresh, almost devoid of tiny bones, very meaty and though it was called 'Fried', it was more along the lines of being 'pan seared'. The masala was spectacular - not too hot but spicy, tangy, and fragrant.

For lunch, they served us some Goan Fish Curry, again with Surmai, and some steamed rice. I wanted to order some sukkha mutton as well. But I guess there were limits to how much they could accomodate us. Of course, the friendly manager did not say that; instead, he told us that the sukkha mutton would spoil the flavour of the Goan Fish Curry. The main course also had thick fillets of boneless Surmai in a delicious Goan curry, replete with coconut. Served with steamed rice, it was delicious.

I would have liked to go to this place again, but I don't know if they would be willing to accomodate requests for Goan food like this. Although the Fried Surmai Rechad, on its own, is worth the travel to Gorai.