The Crown Goa brings to you a delectable Pan-Asian cuisine that thrills your Indian taste buds and caters to your individual palate
The Crown Goa is an exceptional hotel that provides top-notch services and a delightful experience with its scenic view, elegant interior and hospitable staff along with a diverse assortment of cuisine that caters to Indian tastes.
Having brought forth various food fests throughout the years, The Crown Goa finally decided to give in to the craze for Asian cuisine thereby hosting the Pan Asian Food Festival at the hotel’s Harbour Cafe, held from October 1st to 20th. The curated menu presents a sizable amount of soups, appetisers, and main courses. However, this food fest is unlike any other. This time, you get to participate in the making of your own dish!
Asian cuisine, though craved by many, is hardly produced in its complete authenticity. Dishes today are recreated, transformed, and modified. Sadly, its originality suffers a loss and the dish is no longer the same. Hence, here comes the cuisine festival that strives to retain the foundation of every dish on the menu while also catering to Indian needs.
Chef Kanchan Sardesai, the executive chef, explains that the food fest preserves the authenticity of the delicacies while allowing diners to personally choose their own ingredients. Peculiar, right? The main ingredient of the dish, of course, remains unchanged; however, you can decide on more garlic, less ginger, no carrots, or simply no peas.
The Crown Goa has set up a display of ingredients that go into the various dishes. One can simply go around and decide what fits their palate the best. Indeed, the chefs are present and gladly willing to assist you. But that’s not all. They even prepare your meal right before you!
The concept behind this remains that each individual has a different palate and through this food fest, The Crown Goa seeks to satisfy each guest, allowing them to experience a blast of the much-enjoyed Asian cuisine while feeling the familiarity of Indian spices (speaking from experience).
On exploring the culinary fiesta ourselves, we were first introduced to an interesting selection of soups, the majority of which took courage to pronounce. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the Lung Fung Soup, a classic Chinese soup, with a delightful amount of minced chicken, ginger, and other Indian spices, all tossed into the broth whose every sip comes with a pleasant taste of garlic. And who doesn’t like garlic in their food? (If you don’t, you can simply customise it differently)
The variety of soups includes Veg Talumein Soup, the Thai Tom Kha Gai soup, and more.
For starters, our taste buds relished the Shrimp Tofu, a maddeningly melting experience. This dish is a first experience for The Crown Goa, and I must say, a successful one. The delicacy is as the name suggests—an amalgam of shrimp and tofu fused with a ginger light soya sauce and rice wine. The delicate texture of the prawn sitting over the silken tofu literally melts in the mouth and puts you into a trance. The sauce poured over each piece of Shrimp Tofu brings the dish together creating a delectable explosion of mild taste and wild experience.
The Veg Thai Skewer came next, with broccoli, zucchini, and mushrooms laden over each other in a wonderful blend of green and brown. The tender garden veggies are marinated overnight in a tangy cilantro chilli Thai curry marinade, deeply infusing the skewers with the sauce.
While we thoroughly enjoyed the two dishes, guests may opt for more on the well-curated menu at The Crown Goa’s Pan Asian Food Festival.
Finally, coming to the main course, the options were a varied range of gravies which can be savoured with a serving of either rice or noodles (or perhaps a little of both!). Buddha’s Delight piqued our interest. The dish is a combination of mushrooms mixed with water chestnut and tossed with Chinese cabbage, bamboo shoots, onion, and ginger, all cooked to perfection. The gravy is beautifully presented in a bowl with shredded Chinese cabbage and glass noodles that sit elegantly at the top.
The Chilli Basil Mushroom Trio was another of the exquisite dishes at the food fest. The combination of fresh mushrooms, Thai chillies, and crushed basil mixed with veg oyster sauce and browned garlic brought about a relatively spicier taste compared to the Buddha Delight’s milder gravy.
Our main course also included the Chinese Char Sui and the Thai Massaman Curry. Despite being traditionally enjoyed with pork, the former is a chef’s special combination of aromatic spices, garlic, hoisin sauce, rice wine, and honey that is slow-cooked with chicken or seafood, as per your cravings. The latter is an Indo-Thai curry made with nutmeg, coriander, a dash of cardamom, cinnamon, peanuts, and a splash of coconut milk.
Here’s a special tip! While the three dishes are to be enjoyed with either rice or noodles, the Massaman Curry goes best with a bowl of hot steamed rice. The pleasant burst of flavourful cinnamon with each spoonful is an experience in and of itself and blends well with a scoop of rice (again, you may customise it to your own liking).
While that was sadly all we could eat, the Pan Asian Food Festival at The Crown Goa has a lot more to offer, such as the Thai Seafood Pad Cha and Corn Veg Spheres in Hot Garlic Sauce. The diverse menu brings together oriental cuisine with a delightful dash of Indian spices while undoubtedly retaining its original authenticity. It is an experience that leaves you reminiscing for days.
