Fatima’s Bar and Restaurant.
There are large number of places in Agonda called Fatima’s (even one specializing in Greek Souvlaki), whether they’re all owned by the same person or it’s a case of name appropriation, I’m not sure. This towards the end of the beach away from the church. As we’re on a budget we went veggie again.
Tara Dal again ( Tadka Dal on the menu). Still runny like the first one we had on arrival but hotter in terms of chili heat also some of the pulses ( yellow split peas I think) had kept their shape, I particularly liked the roasted chills.
We had ordered veg kadai for the other dish but the waiter recommend veg jalfrezi. There was nice heat and spicing and a lovely sweet caramelized note to the veg, especially the cauliflower. The rotis were excellent, good char but soft and light and a really nutty flavour. The guy making them knew his stuff and seeing some of the kebabs he was pulling from the tandoor, will try some of those.
Saxony Bar.
This is a beach place near the end of the beach away front the church. We were in their for our sunset beer last night and someone ordered pakoras (pakodas on the menu) they smelt great so the next night we ordered some. They came hot out of the fryer, crisp & nicely spiced, not doughy in the middle. The veg was cauliflower, spinach, okra and I thought I tasted some pea. Also the beer was the coldest we’d had so far.
Maria Paulo
A very Italian sounding name and the signage with a fat Italian chef made it seem a tad incongruous. I have learnt in Asia to never judge a restaurant’s signage as an indication of it’s food. We chose this place as it was the only one we could find that did pork vindaloo. Lots of other places did vindaloo but not with pork.
It was fairly empty and seemed more geared to serving the guest house it was part of rather than other customers. Indeed I’ve rarely come across a place more disinterested in serving. It was a struggle to get drinks, the rice and rotis with our food and the bill. The irony of the Just Bring It slogan on our waiters t-shirt wasn’t lost on us. This was a shame as the food was really good.
It turned out that they had run out of pork vindaloo so we ordered the chicken xacuti instead. This turned out to be a lot wetter than the versions I’ve had in London. Everything was far less pronounced than the London version, especially the star anise and chilli but it was enjoyable none the less. The real standout dish was the dal fry. I’d assumed this was dal without the fried chill and spices added at the end. Indeed this was the case but very different to dals we’d been having. It was dark rather than yellow. Still quite soupy but thicker than standard. You could tell they had really slowly caramelized the onions and it had very deep savoury, almost beefy flavour. Very good indeed. Rice was nicely done but the rotis were a bit pale and chewy, though we had been spoilt on the roti front lately.
