After a good night's rest in Udupi, we woke up fresh and started early to head over to Goa. Why do you ask? Because waiting for us in Goa was some authentic Goan food! After a quick breakfast after exiting Udupi, we made a point to not stop anywhere. The fairly good roads helped us, and we just encountered a little traffic after entering Goa.
The kind folks at Mum's Kitchen in Panjim had invited us for lunch and we had to be on time, because this is a very famous restuarant and has reservations lined in. We arrived at noon and the owners — Rony and Suzy welcomed us with Urrak, a famous cashewnut drink. After a knowledgeable conversation, with the owners on Goan cuisine, it was time to eat. The chef had prepared for us Xacuti — Goan style chicken curry, Hog Plum curry and camarao panado, a prawn cutlet which we just couldn't stop eating. This is a restuarant, which is run by proper foodies and it shows the owners enthusiasm and how they make a habit of explaining each and every dish to the customers. Infact, they refer to Mum's kitchen as an ethnic cuisine restaurant, instead of a restaurant. You should check them out at www.mumskitchengoa.com and next time you're in Goa for proper Goan food.
After the delicious meal, we headed to the last destination where we'd be staying on this trip — Lemon Tree Amarante. The drive to Lemon Tree Amarante took us through the tiny roads of Goa towards the Northern part of the city.
And once we reached there, we expected an experience similar to the other Lemon Tree's across the country. But we were in for a surprise, we were handed the keys to a Heritage Villa — a lavish duplex bungalow with a private pool. A bungalow with a private pool in Goa? Doesn't everyone dream of just that? We can say we made full use of the swimming pool, by jumping in pretty much as soon as we put our bags down and not getting out till we headed to Vagator for a shoot by the Ocean.
We had to climb a hill and get through some very harsh terrain, all of which wasn't a problem for the Kiger. We headed back down the hill and proceeded to get some dinner at a local restaurant. But the folks at Lemon Tree, with their incredible hospitality, weren't going to let us off that easy. The chef had prepared for us a 'jumbo' Goan seafood fish thali for brunch the next day which had clam curry, fried fish, squid and kokam sharbat, to name a few.
Tomorrow we head back to base Pune. Exploring our country and sampling some very delicious food is one thing everyone should do. The #28States28Plates drive with the Renault Kiger has been an eye-opening adventure in terms of exploring not just the food but also the culture, the music, different terrains and the weather our country has to offer. We will cherish it for a very long time. Equally eye-opening was how the Renault Kiger handled everything that came it's way, from bad roads to long highway hauls, and of course the 8500km of endurance testing we've put it through. As a compact-SUV that's made in India, for India we can assure you that it can handle anything India has to throw at it.