While am familiar & open to most popular cuisines outside India, I cannot say that for the diverse cuisines across India. Coastal Karnataka Cuisine, more specifically Mangalorean Cuisine is something I have always been skeptical to try, primarily with the strong usage of dry coconut.
Recently when I got to try Searock, which specialises in the Coastal Cuisine, with a bunch of foodies, I was excited at the same time, well yes skeptical.
Thankfully the restaurant offers North Indian & Indian Chinese, so I started off with a very meaty Crab Soup, Chinese Style.
The soup was a great start to a great meal, with very strong crab flavours finding its dominance with the sweet corn. The result was an absolutely fabulous seafood soup with some great flavours with a mild pepper punch.
For appetisers, my fellow foodie from Coastal Karnataka, not just helped me decide what to try, but also shared a bit of history & the ingredients that go into the dish, focusing on the star of the show, the seafood.
The King Fish / Surmai Tawa Fry was a beautifully large slice of fresh fish, perfectly marinated with strong South Indian flavours was just right. I loved every bit of this well cooked fish.
Next came the Steaming Hot Plate Of Squid Chilly, a specialty here. I am not A Big Fan Of Squids, but not after having this beautifully fresh Squid Rings in a Chinese Stir Fry. The squids were fresh, well cooked & seasoned & I loved it.
Next came a Delicious Fresh Serving Of Pomfret Masala, smothered with strong Coastal masala atop a well grilled whole Pomfret. It was slightly less desirable for me, as the strong Coastal flavours with dry coconut is something am not a big fan of. But I was able to carve out the beautifully flaky fish underneath the masala & could devour it by carefully avoiding the bones.
Something very authentic to Karnataka is the Ghee Roast. It is a popular Bunt Tuluva Mangalorean recipe whose origins go back to a small town, Kundapur, close to Mangalore. Ghee Roast has a fiery red, tangy and spicy with a flavor of ghee roasted spices, with a choice of meat added.
We had two variations, a Mushrooms & Prawns Ghee Roast. The Prawns version was beautiful, perfectly cooked meat on the strong coastal flavours with a tad bit strength of dry coconut. Am not a big fan of the strong dry coconut flavour, but the ghee made all the difference to this wonderful dish. The Prawns version was a tad bit salty, which made it slightly less desirable.
The mushrooms version was perfect, no complaints, strong ghee / clarified butter with coastal masala was just too perfect.
The Bangda Fish & Kane Fish Rawa Fry was perfectly presented with strong & beautiful flavours of the sea, masked in the sooji / rawa.
Next was some beautiful mussels, presented well. The authentic Marvai Sukka was well cooked, tasted delicious. These Humble Mussels Cooked In A Coconut Heavy Dry Masala was one of my favourites.
Too heavy with all these appetisers, we wished to skip directly to desserts, but were requested to try the most popular, Pulimunchi, Neer Dose & Kotte Idli.
Neer Dosa With Prawns Pulimunchi was delicious with strong flavours. This Paper Thin Neer Dosa went beautifully with the Spicy & Tangy Prawns Pulimunchi, a Mangalorean Specialty, made authentically with kokum.
The Kotte Idli was good, blended well with the Mangalorean Sambar.
One of the surprise elements however was the Palak Kichidi that was by far the best I had in many many years. It transported me back to my days in Mumbai, I will keep visiting them again & again just for this top notch dish, don’t you ever miss it.
The final course of Ragi Manni or Finger Millet Pudding is a traditional, healthy dessert is India’s answer to the Italian Panna Cotta. It’s whose origins could be traced to the diverse cuisines of Karnataka.
Sea Rock Bangalore I hear is one of the oldest restaurant serving Coastal Karnataka cuisine in Bangalore for decades, successfully. Service was very honest, homely & perfect. I have no doubts that for them to serve such wonderful food for several years always so much on their consistency to quantity which attracts customers again & again.
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