By Tara Narayan

DON’T ASK me how I found myself at Hotel Delmon’s next door Ice N Spice savouring hot, hot scrumptious palak bhajiya and Goenchi mirchi! It’s rainy, rainy days and rainy days are traditionally bhajiya-for-teatime up in the North and rasam-in-the evenings in the South…how to translate bhajiya? Fritters? But fritters sound too bland to describe the hot, spicy, tangy finger food for rainy days I’m referring to here…only bhajiya. Let me say we were in the Hotel Delmon (behind the Panaji market) area and suddenly the cosy corner of Ice N Spice tempted us to drop in. It had started pouring rain again and my friend Vaidahee and me had to run for some shelter, we ran into Ice N Spice and discovered its temptations… sweet young guys called Dev Anand (yes, truly) and Rakesh Singh turning out and serving an array of freshly made bhajiya starting 4 p.m. onwards and right up to 10 p.m. A bhajiya fest is on these days and I cannot think of a more welcome idea!

Hey, these here are the best bhajiya I’ve eaten this side or that side of town or for that matter anywhere in Goa (including the deluxe hotels)….I didn’t know a palak leaf could be turned out into such a piece de resistance delectable affair. A plate of the large, golden-fried, crispy palak bhajiya arrived with a smattering of chaat masala atop and the moment I crunched delicately into one bhajiya I knew I was in…er…seventh heaven! The batter is the secret to making a good bhajiya and from the taste of it this batter is made by someone who knows…it was not stodgy as it usually is but exactly right, light and perfectly mouth-wateringly savoury.

After that I ordered Goenchi mirchi (which is a Goan favourite) and plain aloo bhajiya…to be tucked in with lashings of mint chutney. Other folk were dropping in to ask for their favourite bhajiya – a choice ranging from palak (my favourite) to Goenchimirchi (my favourite) to plain kanda (onion), aloo (potato), capsicum, paneer chatni, sandwich and stuffed tomato…and what do you know, a special ajwain leaf bhajiya (ajwain is the leaf of the herbal thyme or thymol plant and its leaves are aromatically delicious). Price? A very reasonable Rs.15 - Rs.20. The bhajiya are fried afresh with every order so don’t get impatient, they’re worth waiting a while for. And don’t go eating ice cream in the meantime, okay. For Ice N Spice is rightly named…one is supposed to eat some hot bhajiya first and then take a look at the fresh fruit ice creams (try the mango mania or mocha almond if you wish)…frankly, with bhajiya I prefer an all-desi hot masala tea e.g. green or dry masala or just cardamom or just ginger-mint tea. Alas, there’re only Dev Anand and Rakesh Singh doing the honours and from the looks of it they’re rushed off their feet at the moment.

At Alfama . . . Thai Food fest, last day August 1.

Ice N Spice is a cosy but small ice cream and snacks parlour and if a dozen people drop in it gets cramped (and many I noticed were just hanging around for bhajiya takeaways!), bigger premises are in order. This bhajiya business could boom like nothing else during the monsoon season. It’s a good idea to make some Goan bread available with the bhajiya…stuff a few palak bhajiya in a pav and make a meal of it! No dinner after that of course. I think I’m going back one of these days with more friends, and again…and again…as long as rainy days are here.

THEN THERE’S THAI
THEN THERE’S the Thai festival on at the Cidade da Goa’s elegant restaurant Alfama. Have you noticed how the South East Asian cuisines are becoming more and more popular and be it Thai, Malaysian, Singaporean or Indonesian, they’re often interchangeable, the differences fine…frankly, I prefer South East Asian flavours to European or Continental flavours, also S.E. Asian flavours suit our palate much more. There’s the extensive use of a wide variety of chillies, lemon juice, tamarind, coconut milk and cream and of course rice, fish and prawns (fresh or dry). Thai cuisine is lighter with its sharp spicy sour hot flavours…subtly evoking the aroma of lemon leaf or screwpine leaf or citronella leaf in the soups and stir-fries, grilled meat or veggie dumplings served with peanut sauce. Steamed rice or rice noodles smothered in red or green curry, I prefer the latter with its fresh green coriander and green chilli notes. And come to think of it Thai cuisine offers quite a lot of veggie numbers

The buffet offered coconut prawn and glass noodles soup for non-veggie and veggie lovers and salads include such fare as young corn chicken, sea food, ground lamb, Thai chef, bamboo shoot, Thai green papaya (one salad worth learning how to do for it is so delicious) and fried bean sprouts with grated coconut…for the main menu there’s a choice of crispy fish in chilli sauce, five spice chicken, lamb with fresh basil and beans. I ordered the stir fried baby corn with mushrooms and green vegetables with coconut rice but could have made a feast of just the desserts! Coconut and banana pancakes, fruit platter with coconut sauce, sticky rice with mangoes, fried bananas with mango ice cream, sweet coconut balls with custard…SE Asian desserts are something special. Well, this is to say the festival on currently and is priced at Rs.600 (but this is inclusive of taxes, beer and soft drinks). Hey, Thai flavours are ideal flavours for a rainy evening’s dining out.

Thai food spread . . . at Alfama, Cidade de Goa.

AUGUST ON SATURDAYS
I’M ALWAYS happy to go out to the Cidade de Goa on a Saturday evening because there’s a bonus — after an early dinner there’s guitar man, August Braganza, singing old country numbers (and on the odd request an Elvis Presley fast number) at the lobby bar. Order an Irish Coffee (Rs.150), sit back, close your eyes and listen to his rich, smoky voice…beach waves crashing in the dark distance outside. For a rainy day weekend (if you have a yen to just wander around, look at rain, river, trees, and do a bit of moon-mooning) Cidade de Goa is perfect. If it’s the sound of silence (or Mother Earth) you’re seeking, ask for a room in the old quarters fronting the beach, they’re superbly tucked away in silence. I love the Cidade de Goa for more than one reason and one can actually go for a walk on the spacious premises, walk up to the edges of the hotel’s property and find a bench beneath a grand banyan tree! The Cidade de Goa has some beautiful trees.

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