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Breaking myths to Goan food at the ‘Goan Food Festival’

There’s an old belief that good wine and Goan food is all that you need to fix a bad mood.

And what’s even more interesting than this proverb is getting some lip-smacking authentic Goan food in Bangalore; The Chancery Pavilion has come up with a very interesting ‘Goan Food Festival’ which goes on till 24th of this month. So if you are the one who loves exploring Goan food in Bangalore then you should definitely give it a shot and I am sure you would love every bit of it.
With perfectly crafted ambience very similar to the beach shacks that you find in Goa, a customized bamboo bar with Kokum Coconut Mocktail and Caju Fenny Cocktail with the same taste that I had during my last trip to Goa, and not to miss the Goan music to compliment the great goan food here.
While speaking to Chef Matina Fernandez and Chef Daniel Kumar I figured that a lot of ingredients were brought all the way from Goa with Chef Matina to give her signature dishes the same taste and make the people in Bangalore experience the same flavours and aromas from Goa. She cooked all the food herself with love in her heart and smile on her face, what an amazing woman she ensured we had a great time explaining the story behind each food, how it originated and the variations that it can undergo, improving the taste even more.

Goan food has a lot of similarities with Portuguese food and this is because of the Portuguese inhabitants who have lived here for over 450 years. There are a lot of myths associated with the Goan cuisine, most common ones being ‘there’s very little for vegans’ which is actually not true and to break such myths Chef Daniel and Matina came up with an amazing menu that you would love eating and which you can easily whip in your kitchen.














Now let me take you through the food spread and some of my favs from the ‘Goan Food Festival’. Priced at Rs. 999 + taxes its definitely a fly worth to experience.

Beginning with the cocktails, the kokum and coconut Mocktail of which the kokum came from Goa was really nice, was a bit on the sweeter side with the correct mix of coconut’s portion giving it a nice color and balance.

In soups you have, the popular ‘clado verde’ a potato based soup which originated from the Minho Province in northern Portugal and ‘Sopa-De-Caramon’.














The list of starters, Salads, Mains and Desserts is so huge that I can’t cover all of it in this blog of mine, so I am putting down my favourites.

Ross Omlette – One of my favourites from the ‘Goan Food Festival’ which is omelette with a coconut based curry served with mini pavs and fresh cut veges.

Paneer Karwari - A variation that was specially done for the vegans, I did a Google search later to figure out the recipe and as expected you could only find recipes of prawn karwari. Galina Cafreal which is a spicy chicken preparation, a goan classic that has undeniable influence both in the name as well as cooking style. Verdor fostas, Roran Arch Nistia.














The Goan Cabbage salad, Ladnichem Chonne, Sungtanchi Kismur, Goan Pork Caesar Salad, were a few on the list of salads, the cabbage salad and the Caesar salad being quick to make and easy ones they are served with most goan meals. 

In the mains we had Sungtanchi Koddi, Galina Xacutti, Beef Assado, Pork Vindelo and Crab xac xac of which the first two are gravy based that go well with goan coconut rice, Crab xac xac was my favourite one which is a semi gravy dish that you can even have as a stand alone, the mix of sea slats from the crab, sweetness from the coconut powder with which its cooked makes it a really interesting dish.

Two of the most interesting vegan dishes from the spread were the bendi tomtor humman and cauliflower n caju caldeen both of these curry based dishes go really well with soft breads or rice.
















A lot of sweet dishes in the spread came all the way from Goa with Chef Matina, Dodol, bebinca eing the top on my list, the custard pie was yummy with the perfect partial cooked crust and dark chocolate as the topping.

Can’t resist it? Do you? I also wasn’t able to and I ended up eating more than I do usually. So if you wanna enjoy some goan food in the awesome weather Bangalore has nowadays do try it at the ‘Goan Food Festival’

XOXO
@krishna_tejas



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