Goa

DINING GUIDES

The Goan cuisine is a spicy blend of exotic Indian spices with the Latin love of meat and fish. Cashews play an important role in Goan food and you might get the taste of cashew in almost everything you eat there. There are many good restaurants, which serve excellent seafood. Goa is filled with shabby-looking "pure veg" udipi eating halls. For a cheap meal in plain surroundings, try George Restaurant, which is opposite the Church of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception. For more ambience, head for Luiz D'Souza's Hospedaria Venite. It is a tiny upstairs restaurant in a 200-year-old building where you can order wonderful Goan specialties while sitting on the balcony. Goenchin, located beside a side street, is the place to enjoy quality Chinese dishes prepared by a talented Tibetan chef.

Down the road from the Goa Marriott Resort is Mum's Kitchen, which has a laid-back Mediterranean atmosphere and has wonderful crabs and pomfrets. You can also try one of the oldest bakeries in the state, Confeitaria 31 de Janueiro.

Listed down are some of the traditional Goan preparations:
Vindaloo: A curry made with pork and marinated in vinegar, garlic and chillies.
Balchao: A fish cooked in shrimp preserve and coconut feni.
Ambottik: Baby Shark in hot and sour tamarind and chilly curry.
Xacutti: Chicken in Coconut based Masala.
Bebinca: Traditional layered sweet pancake dessert made with coconut milk.
Feni: Strong alcoholic spirit distilled from cashew nuts or coconut.
Galhina piri-piri: Fried chicken pieces marinated in a mild mixture of piri-piri and Goan herbs.
Chicken Cafreal: Fried chicken marinated in a mildly spiced green coconut-mint masala
Fish Caldine: Mildly spiced coconut and turmeric fish curry
Seafood Caldeirada: Seafood poached in a white wine sauce served with sautéed vegetables
Peixe Reachado: A fried seasonal fish stuffed with a spicy homemade Goan masala
Goenchin's Chicken Taipei: Chicken sautéed in hot green sauce
Prawns Taipei: Prawns sautéed in Szechwan sauce
Cashew Green Peas Bhaji: A tangy mixture of cashews, green peas, spices and fresh coconut
Sprouted Moong Ussal: Bean sprouts with mustard seeds, green chillies and fresh coconut
Alsandachem Tonakh: Kidney beans with a spicy Xacuti gravy
Bolo Sans Rival: A sweet cashew nut based cake with a layer of biscuit