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Exotica stuff on the anvil
submitted by the author to TGF on November 6, 2001
WHAT more can be said or written of the resplendent Taj Exotica, in South Goa? It’s as exotic as anything can ever be... Yet, as the General Manager, Helmet Meckelburg, puts it, "We are always planning new ventures and we’ll soon launch a Chinese restaurant, and a Goan restaurant, Li Bai and Alegria respectively." The Chinese restaurant Li Bai has characteristic Chinese pictures indoors and the service boys are dressed in Chinese style to set the oriental mood. Remember Superpower President, George W. Bush, in the traditional Chinese jacket, in Shanghai recently? Yes, clothes get you into the mood and Taj Exotica knows it! Some insight into the name Li Bai - he was a well loved poet in the long history of Chinese literature and was born, and lived most of his life, in the age of the Tang Emperor Hsuan-Tzung. Li, at 42, wrote lyrics at the court of the Chinese Emperor in 725 AD. His poems possessed a river like quality and poetic power, the gushing energy, the tumbling fall, the majestic flow. So Li Bai, at Taj Exotica, is a the place where poetry and imperial Chinese cuisine form a lyrical combination. So what does Li Bai have to offer? For starters, we are informed, Lotus Stem in honey and chilly will get you started. Try Beggar’s Chicken baked in mud packs; the aroma alone sends your taste buds on a wild jig. Fast for a week, and have a go at the Peking Chicken. Other good picks are Yanchow Fried Rice with bacon, ham, chicken, Shark Fin and Crab Meat Soup, to name a few. The chef recommends Date Pancakes and a Thai dessert called, Tub Tim Grob, which has creamy coconut milk and water chestnuts. And the verdict is "Delicious!" And, pray, what’s the typical Chinese beverage with meals, I ask. And am told, "The Chinese start and end their gastronomical meals with Jasmine tea since tea is both an appetiser and a digestive." Alegria "A place Goans would call their very own," says Nada, Director, Sales, flashing her Julia Roberts sunny smile. The word Alegria means joy, elations, happiness and merriment which, anyway, is the very ethos of every blue-blooded Goan of the red soil of Goa, what? Well Alegria will serve authentic Goan (Saraswat and Catholic) cuisine; that is, Goan gourmet bounty whose praises have been sung across the globe. "The interiors of Alegria are a replica of a traditional rich Goan houses that portray class and elegance with traditional chandeliers and artifacts creating a Portuguese-Goan ambience, inside the restaurant, which overlooks the vast expanse of the lush green lawns beyond which lies the endless depths of the Arabian Sea," exudes lovely Nada. After a long brainstorming session the team at Taj Exotica, came up with the name Alegria. The team undertook extensive research into the rich and diverse culinary history of Goa beginning from the Indian dynasties to the 450 years of Portuguese rule. It was a painstaking exercise which resulted in the team visiting the interiors of Goa, old Goan houses, they met Goan elderly ladies who are a channel of Goan recipes from one generation to another. The staff also met several mests (Goan cooks) who were in service during the colonial rule. "Our team visited several mutts (place where pure Goan vegetarian food originated) and the areas where the dominance of Saraswat food exists," Nada informs us. "After an in depth analysis of these recipes, the menu was compiled and all-time favourites and mouth-watering dishes are included on our menu like sorpotel, khatketem and caldeira," we are told. The restaurant has recreated the slowly disappearing Goan kitchen and the traditional cooking utensils. The sumptuous meal will be brought to your table and served off traditional wares such as kundlen and kaile. We thought the days of the earthenware were history. But thanks to Taj Exotica we go back to our roots and savour the natural taste of Goan food as our grandparents did not so long ago. An in-depth study was carried out on the seafood and vegetables available in and around Goa. The team went out at the wee hours of the morning to purchase the fresh catch that is brought ashore by the fishermen each dawn. Oh, the wealth of the ocean!....there aren’t just pomfrets and kingfish; Taj Exotica presents you with fish our ancestors knew were tasty and healthy too. Did you know mackerels and sardines, have a high oil content and can be deliciously prepared in their own body oil? "Health enthusiasts, will welcome this thought," the lady at the helm, Nada, quips and continues, "Alegria will serve garden fresh Goan seasonal vegetables ankreo, fruit de pao, sango, podoien, gossaim, viril, etc. which thrive in the climate and rainfall of Goa." Goa is blessed with a unique blend of tropical and gaunti vegetables which have a taste apart. "How come," wonders the stranger in Goa, when he partakes of them. Because of the rich nutrients in the soil. "There’s the Saraswat thali with fish fried in breadcrumbs. Do you have the craving for a spicy gaunti chicken xacuti which creates a masti with your taste buds? Relish it with toddy fermented bread. And, if your moods dictates, call for the great old solkadi," we are told. A market survey manifested local tobacconists who make a variety of cigars, chiroots and cigarillos. These chiroots are very popular with local farmers, fisherfolk and toddy-tappers. The flavour and aroma of these local cigars are strong and musty and go remarkably well with the local brew of cashew and palm feni . These chiroots come in different sizes and qualities, which are being added to Alegria’s selection of tobacco for the guests. "What Grappa is to Italians or Tequila to Spaniards, so is feni to Goans. Taj Exotica discovered, in their research, that many feni based liqueur exist, e.g., mango, elaichi aniseed and cumin liqueurs were traditionally prepared and consumed in Goan homes for medicinal, digestive and connoisseur pleasure," we are enlightened by a very knowledgeable Nada. You can’t get more Goan than this, can you....till your very chiroots and cumin feni! Buck up Goenkara, seek out your roots and the various facets of your culture - and Taj Exotica will escort you through this pleasurable adventure.
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