The days are going by at a rather alarming rate, February is almost done and dusted and my Lets-eat-at-a-new-place-every-week plan is still going strong. Last week my fellow Marathi Manoos buddy took me to this delightful place on the highway for some authentic Malwani cuisine. For those of you who don't follow, Malwani means seafood, and good delicious cheap sea food too. Now all my hardcore non vegetarian friends keep reminding me that seafood is the way to go, its tastier, healthier and well the variety is just too much. But being a former vegetarian myself, we find it tough to hog seafood like you barbarians, I mean of all the kinds of animal meat we probably have the biggest mental block towards seafood. There's no denying seafood is an acquired taste and once you acquire you can really really have some fun with it, but till then I shall be satisfied with my Chicken and the occasional Prawn fry. Now I think I can speak on behalf of all vegetarian converts that we are not comfortable with eating seafood, here's why - None of us paid much attention in Biology class during school and we obviously don't know the anatomy of a fish. Then again its not like there is only one type of Fish, there's like a whole race of Nemo's that we simply haven't found. Evidently our homes don't cook meat so there's no chance of us learning about the insides of a fish at home.
So obviously when my friend told me to go straight ahead to the Pomfret Thali, I took his word for it and did. I sat their bewildered looking at this one big piece dipped in some delicious gravy with some traditional Solkand on the side. Now obviously this was no boneless chicken piece that I could just gobble away, I had to be very very careful. The irritating thing with fish is that you have to get your hands dirty, quite literally. I mean there are so many teeny tiny bones to pick, and a newbie like me would not know what to eat and what not to. And some of these bones are very very sharp, despite their size and you're friend sitting next to you telling stories about how they can cut a mans throat certainly don't build your appetite. I mean in all fairness the Pomfret thali was good, but I certainly didn't enjoy it like my other Marathi Manoos friends. I'm still not completely convinced about seafood, fish especially because I still get grossed out by the fact that I'm like sitting and dissecting this animal to its bare bones and then eating it. But not all fish is bad, the Rawas fry we had was a pleasant surprise, I'm told they have just one bone and it's one of the easiest fish to eat, Bombhil Fry was also well made, pretty good quantity for about 150 bucks a plate. I guess Highway Gomantak is one of the few 'cheap' sea food places left in Bombay. No extravagant ambiance and all, a hardcore traditional Maharashtrian eatery, where you have to eat with your hands and should you want to tinkle, you gotta do it Indian style. You obviously cannot compare Gomantak to Gajalee and Mahesh Lunch Home etc, because this place is nowhere near those standards in terms of class and location. But if its just about the food, Highway Gomantak still gets a thumbs up from Swami G.
Hell make it a double thumbs up, simply because of the Prawns. Now prawns I have grown to love in my short stint as a hardcore non vegetarian, I quite like them. The Prawns Fry at Gomantak is easily their best item on the menu, coupled with some Prawns Sukha Thali and a cup of Solkand and you are one happy camper. The Prawns were miles better than the fish, without a doubt and considering we were about 12 of us and we still billed only about 350-400 per head, thats very cheap for Seafood standards. Gomantak is one of those novelty restaurants that haven't been sodomized by the commercial demand and still focused entirely on FOOD. Good food. The only problem with this is that the place is insanely popular and this means its almost always crowded and they need to run out of their specialty items. So you gotta make sure you reach early and order quickly. Other than that this place is a nice hangout for the occasional seafood craving, and one thali with an unlimited plate of Prawns fry is well worth the trip to Bandra. I am still looking forward to actually go gaga over fish, but for now I'm happy with the food I am eating. Prawns are easily the best kind of seafood that there is, although its too early to make that assumption, but I'm gonna stick by that.
Now turning the page to the Music part of the blogpost, this morning I woke up and felt like listening to Bob Seger. Now he's not nearly as famous as the other Bob's of the music world, but if you are into Country Rock then you might just like Bob Seger. He's very mellow and the perfect kind of artist to listen to on a lazy Saturday morning. Now I'm sure everyone has heard of Metallica's cult hit "Turn The Page" but little do people know that it was Bob Seger who first sang the original, Metallica's was a mere cover, a mind blowingly awesome cover nonetheless but the original still wins it for me. Bob Seger's best song by a mile, closely followed by "Roll Me Away" and one of my all time favorites "Old Time Rock and Roll". I like this song simply for its awesome lyrics:
Just take those old records off the shelf
I'll sit and listen to 'em by m'self
TODAY'S MUSIC AIN'T GOT THE SAME SOUL
I LIKE THAT OLD TIME ROCK AND ROLL.
Now the song goes on like this emphasizing why classic rock is easily the best kind of music to listen to and I really can't put it any better than Mr. Seger himself. Not the greatest artist around, but definitely worth the download for a Greatest Hits album. Good music and good food, ahh this indeed is the good life. Long live the Flavor of Rock. Cheers!
Follow @SwamiG13
So obviously when my friend told me to go straight ahead to the Pomfret Thali, I took his word for it and did. I sat their bewildered looking at this one big piece dipped in some delicious gravy with some traditional Solkand on the side. Now obviously this was no boneless chicken piece that I could just gobble away, I had to be very very careful. The irritating thing with fish is that you have to get your hands dirty, quite literally. I mean there are so many teeny tiny bones to pick, and a newbie like me would not know what to eat and what not to. And some of these bones are very very sharp, despite their size and you're friend sitting next to you telling stories about how they can cut a mans throat certainly don't build your appetite. I mean in all fairness the Pomfret thali was good, but I certainly didn't enjoy it like my other Marathi Manoos friends. I'm still not completely convinced about seafood, fish especially because I still get grossed out by the fact that I'm like sitting and dissecting this animal to its bare bones and then eating it. But not all fish is bad, the Rawas fry we had was a pleasant surprise, I'm told they have just one bone and it's one of the easiest fish to eat, Bombhil Fry was also well made, pretty good quantity for about 150 bucks a plate. I guess Highway Gomantak is one of the few 'cheap' sea food places left in Bombay. No extravagant ambiance and all, a hardcore traditional Maharashtrian eatery, where you have to eat with your hands and should you want to tinkle, you gotta do it Indian style. You obviously cannot compare Gomantak to Gajalee and Mahesh Lunch Home etc, because this place is nowhere near those standards in terms of class and location. But if its just about the food, Highway Gomantak still gets a thumbs up from Swami G.
Hell make it a double thumbs up, simply because of the Prawns. Now prawns I have grown to love in my short stint as a hardcore non vegetarian, I quite like them. The Prawns Fry at Gomantak is easily their best item on the menu, coupled with some Prawns Sukha Thali and a cup of Solkand and you are one happy camper. The Prawns were miles better than the fish, without a doubt and considering we were about 12 of us and we still billed only about 350-400 per head, thats very cheap for Seafood standards. Gomantak is one of those novelty restaurants that haven't been sodomized by the commercial demand and still focused entirely on FOOD. Good food. The only problem with this is that the place is insanely popular and this means its almost always crowded and they need to run out of their specialty items. So you gotta make sure you reach early and order quickly. Other than that this place is a nice hangout for the occasional seafood craving, and one thali with an unlimited plate of Prawns fry is well worth the trip to Bandra. I am still looking forward to actually go gaga over fish, but for now I'm happy with the food I am eating. Prawns are easily the best kind of seafood that there is, although its too early to make that assumption, but I'm gonna stick by that.
Now turning the page to the Music part of the blogpost, this morning I woke up and felt like listening to Bob Seger. Now he's not nearly as famous as the other Bob's of the music world, but if you are into Country Rock then you might just like Bob Seger. He's very mellow and the perfect kind of artist to listen to on a lazy Saturday morning. Now I'm sure everyone has heard of Metallica's cult hit "Turn The Page" but little do people know that it was Bob Seger who first sang the original, Metallica's was a mere cover, a mind blowingly awesome cover nonetheless but the original still wins it for me. Bob Seger's best song by a mile, closely followed by "Roll Me Away" and one of my all time favorites "Old Time Rock and Roll". I like this song simply for its awesome lyrics:
Just take those old records off the shelf
I'll sit and listen to 'em by m'self
TODAY'S MUSIC AIN'T GOT THE SAME SOUL
I LIKE THAT OLD TIME ROCK AND ROLL.
Now the song goes on like this emphasizing why classic rock is easily the best kind of music to listen to and I really can't put it any better than Mr. Seger himself. Not the greatest artist around, but definitely worth the download for a Greatest Hits album. Good music and good food, ahh this indeed is the good life. Long live the Flavor of Rock. Cheers!
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