Devour seafood in local masalas or get your fill of the freshest fish thali at Kismoor, a gem of a place in Taleigao. With little to distract you from good food, they seem to nail their signature dish, butter garlic prawns, each and every time.
On a rainy evening, we naturally picked a spot outdoors, taking time to soak in all the peppy wall art but it was hard as the food demanded total attention. To balance that colourful vibe, they have a small and somber AC section with a TV and local bar feel; a respite on summer days, we reckon. They usually get packed during weekend lunch hour as lots of hungry locals throng the place to get their fill of tisryo and other fresh creatures of the sea. And with the word fast spreading about their xacuti and cafreal preparations, the loyal clan is only growing.
Marinated in in-house spices and shallow-fried perfectly, they have indeed mastered the rawa fry fish. The trick, they say, lies in them getting nothing but the freshest catch, so if you’re lucky, you could have mussels, or lady fish or just the good ol’ chonak they do so well. Our dinner consisted to mushroom rawa fry (hello, vegetarians), prawns butter garlic, tamoshi (snapper) chilli fry and veg kohlapur. We obviously got beer and Feni with Limca to go with.
Coming back to our meal, the butter garlic prawns were the undisputed winner of the evening, consisting of medium-sized prawns; buttery but with the garlic not overpowering. They came with the side of home fries, rice and poi. These accompaniments made this a mini meal in itself. Next up, the fish chilli fry was thin slivers of red snapper in a Goan-style sweet, sour and spicy sauce; another mild but memorable starter. The rawa fried mushrooms and the veg kohlapur (which wasn’t on the menu but the staff offered to make it anyway) were both done to perfection too. It was a delight to have tried these home-style preparations that we’d love to go back to.
If you haven’t guessed already, we polished off everything till the last bite. And bonus points for their pao that’s utterly butterly good!
