March brought along a mini break for the kukkad diaries. With all the pressure at work and slogging that we were doing, we decided that it was high time we took our dose of vitamin SEA. So tickets were booked, reservations were made and we found ourselves in Goa with our backpacks on.

Goa is a treasure trove of eating places. All you need to do is get a scooter on rent and travel around discovering all these eateries while you take in the scenery on offer. 

Backpacking in Goa is the best form of cheap therapy on offer. And when you find some time off (or if you don't, take some!) book tickets to here. It's a cauldron of every possibilities and has everything on offer. Newly married couples have their beautiful sunsets and typical beachy backdrops for the mandatory honeymoon selfies; pot-heads have their secretive rave parties and hippies by the beach thing going; quiet reserved ones have their reflective moments by the beach, lying on the sun-beds and reading and contemplating on life and world; while wandering hungry reviewers have their fill of sundry cafes and eateries to sample, some amazing while some not as easy on their gastronomic well-being.

The Kukkad Diaries, as the name would suggest are very emotionally and psychologically connected with chicken, but the same may not be true for seafood. Prawns remind me of insects and as much I love looking at the flora and fauna of the under-sea, I'm not thrilled about consuming them as much. This piece of home-truth is always followed by a deep pang for potentially not being absolutely at home in Japan, as I would have hoped to be, which has been on top of my must-travel-to list. So this time, we decided to dispel my fear of sea creatures by, you guessed it right, having them prepared in the spicy local flavors and devouring them.



Initially we wanted a homely (preferably a home), authentic preparation of the local konkan fish dish to try. A quick calculation brought our grand total of people we knew, actually living in goa, as null. Hence, Mr.TKD suggested we ride around the random streets of Baga and Calangute and around, looking for places that might seem like they'd have a friendly Goan aunty cooking meals of sumptuous local flavors and coaxing guests for second helping. Even though we eventually conceded that a place like that didn't exist or if it did it'd take more than a day to uncover. Famished with all the hunting we ended up as we always do, at Fat Fish.


Now, Fat Fish has its own special place with us. It was the first place in Goa that we'd had a meal on our first trip here and on every trip, Fat Fish always warranted a visit. Eating out at shacks can be a dicey experience. You might end up having the best Cafreal or you might end up with 15 trips to the loo the next day. But in all the previous trips, Fat Fish has always been impressively consistent, both with quality and taste.
In our past visits we have mostly stuck to the chicken dishes and they have been amazing. The chicken Cafreal is always a favorite. The juicy chicken marinated in the best amalgamation of spices, the pungency of the chillies and the spicy gravy makes sure we are begging for more. Couple that with their jeera rice, it's heaven.




Another dish that we loved was the chicken steak in mushroom sauce. It is a perfect meal on a plate with the succulent meat and the crunchy boiled vegetables. No wonder Fat Fish has always been our go to. So in the event of inability to locate the elusive Goan aunty with her perfect Goan lunch, we decided this had to be the next best place we could dine in.


So feeling rather audacious we ordered in the Special Goan Fish Thali. We were just beginning to wonder if we had made a bad choice by ditching our much beloved chicken, when it arrived. It was a feast on a plate. The big plate was lined with small bowls of different curries with rice, papad, salad on the side. There was also a couple of fried fish , fried to a perfect golden. There was a Crab Xacuti which was basically crab curry which was interesting to try given we never really had had crab before. In one of the bowls was Tisro, which is a preparation of clams in coconut curry. The other bowls had vegetables cooked in different ways.

All the curries tasted great and not as we were supposing them to. We specially loved the fish fry and Crab Xacuti. We soon had everything polished off our plates. Fat Fish had done it again. At that reasonable price, the fish thali was a steal. We only found out later that it was an award winning dish at the restaurant. But we already knew why.