Thrifty Critic: February 2012

Britto's was an odd experience.

From the outside, you would put money on a bad dining experience. Its a fairly large, rustic shack nestled onto the edge of the beach. As we sat at the table, I noticed two things:

1. The white sand of the beach beneath my toes at the table, which makes you completely forget that you're in India, and

2. A resident cat, stealing the leftovers from a nearby table, which smacks you in the face and reminds you that you're in India.

Having had more than our fair share of Goan dishes at that point, we ordered "continental dishes" to start. Mistake.

Before we ate, I took the customary photos.

I looked at the pictures on the camera screen. Didn't look good. Maybe the taste will prove me wrong. I knocked back a palm fenny (local liquor) and had a crack.

I want to try and not be too harsh. I'm a firm believer that if you want to have fun on a holiday, you have to be flexible and accommodating. So, in the spirit of generosity and with that in mind, I'll say that the stuffed crabs (pictured above) were cold and lacked flavour.

The garlic prawns above were also slightly cool, and the garlic in the sauce was completely raw. The white sauce was quite unpleasant.

It hit home at Britto's that if food looks unappealing, it probably will taste that way. Fairly disappointed (and a little nauseous) we decided to stick with what we knew, and ordered Goan. We had a couple of drinks, watched the waves break on the beach, and waited for the mains.

What came out next can only be described with one word.

Perfection.

Four simple, classic dishes that in every way, were flawless.

Firstly, chicken tikka masala. I know - not Goan, but my wife is set in her ways.

Earlier in our trip, we travelled the North and tried similar dishes, and while we didn't venture out as much as I would have liked, I cannot dream of a dish better than this. Pure, bright fragrant flavours. Brilliantly fresh chicken. Hands down, the best I've ever had.

The prawns curry was deep, and complex and absolutely perfectly balanced. It is so easy to get the sweetness, and sourness, and heat and texture wrong with this dish. I tried 8 prawn curry rices in my time in Goa, and I've knocked back many more in my lifetime, and this one was head and shoulders above all others. Completely without peers, this is one of the most perfect dishes I have ever had.

Garlic Naan, again not Goan, however still perfect in the balance of crispyness and "buttery-ness" (or rather "ghee-ness").

The Pomfret Rechaed again was the best fish dish I've ever had. It is easy to throw some fresh herbs and lemon juice at fish, and keep the flavours clean. It's another story when you impart a perfectly balanced array of beautiful flavours into a fish, and this is what the chef has done. You could have sworn that this Pomfret lived for the sole reason to be paired with that chef. The spice combination was amazing. The greasy fish balances by the crispy texture of the skin, and again the sweet sour punch that you get from the rechaed is unbelievable. What also blew me away, was that we had selected the fish when we ordered, so the flesh had taken on all that flavour and been cooked in half an hour.

And then, I tried the sausages. God-like. A thousand chefs, could take a thousand years, and still not come up with flavours like these. The only word that I could come up with to describe the depth of flavour is "ancient". I would not be surprised if the they came from a recipe handed down and kept secret by Portuguese priests for millennia.
The pork flavours are so deep, and so tasty that words will never do it justice. This is the benchmark by which all dishes for the rest of my life will be judged.