Seaside Sojourn – Karwar to Kanyakumari at MoMo Café

MoMo Café, the in-house restaurant and coffee house at Courtyard Marriott Hinjawadi is currently running a South-West Coastal Indian food festival titled “Seaside Sojourn – Karwar to Kanyakumari” and #TheBTeam was invited to cover the same!

The food festival showcases South Indian cuisines with dishes from Karwar, Mangalore, Kozhikode, Alleppey and Kanyakumari. As Chef Raja Hegde hails from Mangalore and this being the best time of the year to visit the Southern India region, CY Marriott reasoned this to be the perfect opportunity to showcase that region’s excellent cuisine.

Welcome Drinks

Parangi Rassam – Parangi means pineapple in Kannada and this was an enticing combination of the tangy rasam with the pineapple flavors. Garnished with small chunks of pineapple on top, this was one unique drink. Nice hit of the ginger and pepper at the end ensured a clear throat! #YumYum

Parangi Rassam

Limbe Hanina Panaka – A refreshing tangy lemon drink from the Mangalore Karwar region. Although it is supposed to be tangy and made perfectly so, I found it a little too tangy for my taste.

Limbe Hanina Panaka

Non Veg Starters

Meen Rawa Fry – Looks exactly like it sounds. Fish chunks fried in a semolina coating. They used Manji fish, very similar to a Pomfret. Hailing from the Mangalore Karwar region, this was one delicious piece of fish. Squeeze some lemon juice on top and you’re instantly transported to delicious-land! #YumYum

Meen Rawa Fry

Kozi Melugu – Hailing from the Alleppy region, this was a chicken based dish with the meat tossed in dry South Indian spice rub. Had a good taste due to the spices however the chicken itself felt a little dry.

Kozi Melugu

Kozi Veppudu – These were chicken fritters from the Kanyakumari region. Shreds of chicken tossed in a batter and fried. What more does one want?? [Maybe a bottle of chilled beer to go with it. Oh hell yeah!!] #YumYum #HighlyRecommended

Kozi Veppudu

Meen Masala Fry – This was a Mangalorian dish made using mackerel fish. Nicely cooked with crisp crust but it was an entire chunk of fish with the scales and bones. Although the marination was done nicely, I didn’t quite enjoy the scales and bones in every bite.

Meen Masala Fry

Veg Starters

As part of the veg. starters, we were served a few fritters from the Mangalorean and Alleppy region.  The Genasina Podi had sweet potato, Parndu Podi had sweet banana and Bappakai Podi had sweet papaya as the stuffing. The coating was evenly thin on all the fritters across the dishes and allowed the flavors of the stuffing to shine through. Delicious all of em!! #YumYum

Genasina Podi
Parndu Podi
Bappakai Podi

The Erulli Bhaji made with onions and dill is very similar to the ubiquitous kanda bhaji available here however had the typical South Indian flavors to it. Finger lickin’ goooood!! #YumYum #HighlyRecommended

Erulli Bhaji

Kappa Fry – Tapioca is a staple in South India, boiled tapiocas are served as an evening snack or it can be combined with fish or meat which makes a perfect meal. In fact, tapioca along with fish curry has been one of the most favorite dishes of people in Kerala. The Kappa fry served at the festival had boiled tapioca and tossed in a coconut milk based tadka comprising of mustard seeds and curry leaves. Hailing from the Alleppy region, this is one healthy dish!

Kappa Fry

Additional starters in the buffet included Vegetable Croquettes and Chicken Drumstick.

Vegetable Croquettes and Chicken Drumstick

Main Course

Savate Palya – This is a cucumber and carrot based salad garnished with cooked dal and South Indian spices and hails from the Mangalore Karwar region. A pretty decent taste to it, it went surprising well with the appam.

Savate Palya

Meen Pulimunchi – Seafood have always been an important part in Mangalorean cuisine. And the meen pulimunchi is one such famous fish dish in Mangalore cuisine prepared with juicy fish pieces cooked in authentic, local masalas along with coconut and tamarind. Puli-Munchi literally means Hot-Tangy and this dish was exactly that and more!! Delicious to the last slurpy bite! #YumYum

Meen Pulimunchi

Appam with Stew – This was one of the best dishes of the evening. Delectable vegetable stew made up of carrots, beans, potatoes and peas cooked in coconut milk, it is served with half-globe shaped appams. A perfect appam is one which has a thick soft center and crisp outer edges and the ones served to us were near perfect after the initial hiccups. Delicious, Delicious, Delicious!! A ‘Perfect 10’ as is also evidenced by the photo! #YumYum #HighlyRecommended

Appam with Stew

Additional mains available on the buffet included Meen Kattumbari Saar, Kalu Vpalya, Sambhar, Palav and Red Rice. The red rice is basically unpolished par-boiled rice, which is a healthier option, goes very well with the Meen Pulimunchi. The sambhar too was extremely authentic in taste, with a slight tanginess to it and was a perfect complement to the steamed rice which allowed the taste of the sambhar to come through.

Meen Kattumbari Saar	Kalu Vpalya
Sambhar	Red Rice

Dessert

Sate – A traditional South Indian cold dessert. Dumplings of refined flour fried and coated in powdered sugar. Similar to balushahi but has a thicker coating of sugar. A bit hard to bite into, I found it a tad too sweet for my liking.

Sate

Continuing their regular buffet apart from the special Food Festival, there were many other options available in the desserts section. In fact, MoMo Café CY Hinjewadi boasts of one of the most elaborate spread of desserts in that area.

They even have a live counter during the festival where you can pick and choose your curries and spices and the chef would make that right in front of your eyes.

Live Counter

The Karwar to Kanyakumari Food Festival is currently on from 19^th September to 30^th September 2016 for lunch as well as dinner. So what are you waiting for? Book your seaside sojourn right away!

A big shout out to Arundhati for inviting us and Team CYMarriott for hosting us. And a special thanks to Executive Chef Vikram Gakkan and Sous Chef Raja Hegde for their amazing creations.

MoMo Café is located at Courtyard Marriott Hinjawadi.

Disclaimer: The invite was for a complimentary food tasting event.

This review is a narrative of my experience at the event. The views expressed in this review are solely mine and others are more than welcome to agree or disagree with the same. The review is in no way influenced either personally or commercially nor has it been lifted, copied or plagiarized from any source however I have done my due diligence on the event via publicly available information on the internet.

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