Kingfish and Kingfisher

Arriving in Goa, i feel that unmistakeable moment of delight – perhaps the very feeling you’re seeking when you book your holiday. The warmth enrobes me, the humidity fill my lungs and the sunshine flood my eyes. Hello vitamin D!  (A flight from udapur to Mumbi – Mumbai to Goa for £120 is a Small price to pay for the privilege of bypassing a 30 hour train ride.

Ill admit. I have been harbouring slightly concerned preconceptions of arriving at Patenem beach, south Goa, to find hoards of crusties trying to pierce our  body parts and play us trance music whilst burning joss sticks. But the scene to which we arrive is completely different. Young families, locals, a quiet beach (besides a few token dogs). Jackpot. 

It’s hard not to feel ever so slightly smug with yourself when your dad sends you a picture from home of the back garden, completely covered in snow, whilst you’re sizzling in the sun. 

The plan was to stay seven days at The Hidden Gourmet, Patenem Beach. 

But the hammock (time machine) made us extend this stay to 12 days. I’ve been banging on about getting a hammock for what feels like YEARS now and in a material world, what other thing can a material girl need than a possession whose sole aim is to make sure your ambition to get up and do anything is rendered useless. Hours pass, they felt like minutes. Thoughts, nothing of particular importance or certainty, fluttery by. The tide comes in, and then goes out. And we’re still in the hammock time machine. 

Hidden gourmet is the far end of patenem beach, away from the main “strip” (the term strip is a bit ambitious as the rowdiest it gets its 7 pina coladas and jazz band) It’s run by a lovely pair of Swiss, Patrick and his wife, whose simple, clean and quiet beach huts (and hammocks) are the loveliest on the beach. 

But what did you do in Goa, you ask. Yoga? No. Cooking classes? No. Ayerdic massage? Nope. Nothing. Not a thing. No single task was completed in 12 days, except for sitting in the sun, eating and drinking some beers. Gluttonous? yes. indulgent? yes. lazy? Yes indeed. But after two of the hardest working years of both our lives so far, we decided not to feel guilty about this and just sit still. 

Our newly trimmed waistlines were short lived once we got to the beach cuisine. Typical Goan food mainly consists of fish, vindaloo, xatchi and rawa. Beach hut restaurants line patenem beach, each carrying a table of ice lied high with some big ugly fish – kingfish, red snapper, sea bass, prawns, shark, squid. On the other side of the restaurant sits a bin of fire to roast this fish on, not before it is smothered and stuffed with tandoori paste or Rawa. Fish Rawa is the simplest, most gorgeous thing;

Salt, pepper, garlic, chilli and turmeric, rubbed on a king fish and cooked over hot flames. Served with some raita, or an orangey spicy paste and (now for the fatty bit) chips, rice, butter naan, Cheese naan, coconut naan. 

With No more that 400 rupees, one can fill two bellies full of king fish and king fisher. 

01 Feb This entry was published on February 1, 2013 at 1:50 pm. It’s filed under India and tagged food in india, Hidden gourmet, India, patenem beach, traveling in india. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.