North Indian
food finds lovers in every corner of the world and Goa is no different. Apart from the North Indian
settlers, even Goans have shown keen liking to the North Indian food,
especially the Punjabi cuisine.
Sher-e-Punjab has been amongst the first restaurants in Goa to
bring Punjabi food on our plates and this is the 50th year of the restaurant.
The place has gone through tremendous changes over the years and situated in
the heart of Panjim market, it now surely is one of the most iconic restaurants
of Goa.
The expectations were really high and we were looking forward to
try the typical and the simplest dishes in order to evaluate the authentic
tastes that the restaurant is able to deliver.
We ordered Chicken Seekh Kebabs, Boti Kebab and Tandoori Pomfret
for starters, making for the most obvious choice when it comes to Punjabi food.
A non-vegetarian meal is almost incomplete without kebabs, whether it is
chicken tikka, tandoori chicken, seekh kebabs or even the vegetarian versions
like paneer tikka and veg seekh, tandoori items are a must have whenever
visiting a Punjabi restaurant.
The seekh kebabs were good but the boti kebabs were nothing as
we expected them to be. The biggest thing was they didn’t taste tandoori at
all, and unlike the mutton tikka that we imagined them to be like, the mutton
pieces were too big and also a little stretchy, so give these a skip, go for
the fish instead. The tandoori pomfret tasted really good, and hence was a
saving grace.
Coming to the main
course, the Punjabi gravies are known to be loaded with spices and oil. The
base is usually a red curry made of onions, tomatoes and ginger garlic paste
and then this base is twisted and turned around to form various other dishes.
We ordered Mutton
Rarra and Butter Chicken and this time around the mutton was better than the
chicken. Mutton Rarra is a thick gravy based item where in chunks of mutton are
slow cooked along with mutton keema that adds more to the flavours. Relishing
it with a piping hot butter nan, would be your best deal.
The butter chicken at
Sher-e-Punjab was good for sure, but it wasn’t anything like the typical butter
chicken. Name it like any other gravy and you are good to go.
Overall, it was a
decent experience but could have been better. Maybe it wasn’t our day or theirs
perhaps. Still we would give this legendary place a chance and suggest visiting
it for a good Punjabi meal.
The Chocolate Ice-Cream was just perfect to end our meal on a sweet note.