Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam   

Spirit of Goa comes alive

VISAKHAPATNAM: A cool romantic beachside ambience with cheerful folk songs of Goa, a vibrant dance group and hot aroma of Goan delicacies caressing the air! The vivacious spirit of Goa is brought alive at the Park Hotel for the ongoing Goan food festival at its Bamboo Bay restaurant. With a profound Portuguese influence, Goan cuisine displays a variety and robustness that is easily apparent in the weeklong food festival that started on Saturday.

With two chefs flown down from Goa just for the festival, a musical band and four dancers and a strongly beachside milieu, the Park seems to have gone all out recreating the romantic coastal atmosphere. “We have tried to bring in an ambience very close to Goa for the people to enjoy and get a feel of the Goan culture during food festival,” said General Manager of The Park Subrata Majumdar.

Though the much popular feni is absent in this grand festive fair because of the risk factor, it has a wide range of mocktails and cocktails. The main course contains a mouth-watering array of vegetarian and non-vegetarian delicacies.

The buffet, a constantly changing menu, is an inviting collection of colours, textures and tastes. Goan cuisine, known for its exotic varieties of vindaloos with assortment of meats, piquant balchao variants like the prawn balchao, xacuti in its myriad forms, is a gourmet’s delight. In the vegetarian section, there are the fresh flavours of cabbage, peas, cauliflower fougath and spice-laced vegetable stews called ‘caldine’. Dessert included the famous bebinca, a wickedly addictive blend made from layer upon layer of coconut pancakes, the dodol (rice flour, coconut milk, jaggery and cashew nuts) and the Bol De Rolao to give you the necessary high!

The festival is on from 7 p.m. onwards till September 30. To reserve seats for the delightful Goan fiesta, telephone no. 2754488 may be contacted.

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