Catch of the day

One of the best things about travelling to the coast of India (besides the warm water, beatiful beaches, palm trees) is definitely the SEAFOOD. It is delicious, it is fresh, and like everything else, it is cheap. Not quite 150 rupee scooter rental cheap, but cheap none the less -- a gigantic lobster, from a fancy hotel restaurant (probably the most expensive dining option in town) won't set you back more than US $25. How much would that lobster cost in the US? I don't know -- I don't eat lobster in the US -- it costs too much. But eat your heart out in India. That lobster we ordered last weekend was enormous.
$25 worth of Indian lobster

But the lobster is not even the best part. (I just started with it, because Selin loves lobster and crab, and it's something you're all familiar with back home). In my opinion, better than the lobster is the fresh fish. Of which there are many varieties: Kingfish (not to be confused with Kingfisher the beer. Or the airline), red snapper, tuna, pomfret (delicious), mackerel, rock cod fish, indian salmon, sardines, tiger prawns, king prawns...and those are just from what I can remember! There are others I've never heard of. And then you've got the different cooking styles...of which I'm certainly no expert, but you've got just cooked plain (boring), fried, in some sort of curry, or my favorite, in the tandoor! A tandoor is essentially an Indian oven. Typical way to cook a fish here is to: 1) smother the fish in some sort of spicy sauce/flavoring/curry, 2) skewer the entire thing onto a stick, 3) place it into the tandoor, 4) cook it, 5) take it out, put the whole thing on a plate, and serve it up!! Dig in...watch out for bones.

Anyway, as you should know by now, the seafood is delicious. Even if there's no surf (which has been more or less the case our last two beach trips), I certainly have no complaints just due to the fantastic culinary experiences. Pick any one of those delicious fresh fish, add some hot butter naan (also cooked out of the tandoor), a cold beer or two, and a seat by the ocean...whooo I'm making myself hungry!!

Here are some pictures of the dining experience at the little family hotel we stayed at in Goa, at Agonda Beach. The place was called Dercy guest house, I highly recommend it. It is named after the owner's daughter, and is a small clean place just across the street from the ocean, maybe 10 rooms or so, but the #1 place to stay in Agonda Beach. Agonda beach is just a few kilometers from Palolem (hippy central), but not even remotely as touristy or commercialized -- it is still relatively the untouched little one-street sleepy fishing town. There aren't many places to stay, but Dercy's is solid. A good find.

For 500 rupees a night, with this view, they can hang as many blue tarps as they want. :) The front of our room at Dercy's.

Here are the people behind Dercy's. Not pictured are the 10 or so other kids that work at this place...(the entire wait staff was kids. For a while, I wasn't sure what to think about this...child labor laws? shouldn't these kids be in school? But then I talked to the boy in this picture, and he said that they were all out of school for Diwali, and the kids work there over the break so they can get paid. So, I guess that's OK. There aren't that many jobs in Agonda after all.)...I could be mistaken, but from what I gathered this is son, mother, and father pictured above. The son was the primary waiter -- the head honcho of all the kids. He definitely was top-dog amongst the 14 and under category. The mom ran most of the hotel booking and cleaning, and the dad was the grill (tandoor) master. Deeeeelicious. :) The kid was really friendly and a smart guy, personable and bright little bugger.

The meal begins by making your selection of fish. Why settle for picking off a menu, when you can have the real thing?? Fresh catch from that morning.

Here is the food, getting cooked to perfection in the tandoor. So, if you were too lazy to read the wikipedia link, a tandoor is a big clay (I think? I didn't read the wikipedia either) oven, which has coals in it, and gets really hot, that food is cooked in. Here you can see our tandoori chicken appetizer on the left, a pomfret in the middle, and another fish on the right. I don't remember what kind. No naan is included in this picture, but it was fascinating to watch that being made...they make it right there from scratch, and just stick the dough on the side of the tandoor, where it heats up. Once it's ready they peel it off the tandoor wall and serve it up hot!

Time for the main course. I don't normally pose like that for a meal. Before...

and after. Good eatin'. I'll learn how to eat the head next time.