For the longest
time, the owner of this
establishment, Vernon Xavier, kept insisting that I come by to try his food,
and to be fair, given that Margao (within city limits) isn’t really spoilt for
choice, I was hard-pressed to drop by, as I am a beast of a curious nature.
However, that being said, my visit to ‘Indulge’ served me equal quantities of a
meal on my plate, as well as food for thought.
‘Indulge’ is set in a city hotel called ‘Seasons’, right beside
the popular football stadium in Fatorda. Its location itself sees a lot of
in-house guests opting to dine-in, but it brings me to the question of why it
is that very often that restaurants set in hotels (especially city-based
hotels) seem to not draw as much of a crowd as they rightfully could/should.
Growing up, I had the same query about ‘Utsav’, a restaurant set in the popular
city-hotel, ‘Nanutel’, in Margao, which is stone’s throw away from home for me.
At the time, it served some great food, but wasn’t as popular as its food merited.
However, I digress, so let’s get to the food.
We began digging into our appetisers with ‘Chicken Brochettes
with Mango Reduction’. In many ways, I’d like to look at this as a way to
make the most of what seems to be an endless season of summer (or pretend it’s
still here, at least). These little citrus-flavoured mini-skewers were on
point, and quite frankly, had us lapping up the reduction more than the
chicken. It was rather addictive, and could honestly be paired with a lot of
finger-food beyond just this dish. Our next starter, the ‘Chicken Malai
Kabab Sizzler’, is something that the back-end team at ‘Indulge’ swears by,
and it is a dish that is fairly decent. It lives up to its name on two fronts –
one being that the chicken cubes were marinated with cream along with other
ingredients; secondly, the kabab itself was soft and creamy when eaten.
There was a slightly sweet after-taste to them though, that I am still trying
to attribute to a just cause.
The main course began
with the ‘Steak Dina with Mushroom Sauce’. To be fair, the mushroom sauce was a
big hit with me, essentially being a béchamel with mushroom being cooked
in it. The cut of meat, I wasn’t sold on; it didn’t seem suitable steak
material, but it’s common knowledge that getting a good cut, especially when it
comes to beef, can be a very tricky proposition, and hence, I offer my
commiserations on that front.
The next dish that we
were presented was the ‘Chicken Shashlik on a Bed of Rice’. With strong
Turkish roots, this dish pays homage to anything that is quite literally
‘skewerable’. Even though the word ‘shashlyk’ was borrowed from the
Crimean Tatars by the Cossacks as early as the 16th century, shashlik did
not reach Moscow until the late 19th century. From then on, their popularity
spread rapidly; by the 1910s, they were a staple in St Petersburg restaurants
and by the 1920s they were already a pervasive street food all over urban
Russia. Given Goa’s affinity with all things Russian, perhaps it’s no surprise
to see this dish on the menu, and to be fair, it was our preferred dish of the
meal, with the chicken being succulent and the bed of rice it was served in was
absolutely flavourful.
The last dish that we
sampled was the ‘Kingfish Curry with Rice’. While the curry did have its
flavours in place, and the rice was steamed to the right point, without it
being over and mushy, I found that fish could perhaps be replaced with one that
has a slightly milder flavour, as kingfish, especially when it’s not uber fresh,
can have a flavour that is too potent.
The
Executive Chef of the property, Bento Vaz, seems very sweet, and has his heart
in the right place when it comes to what he wants to work with. However, there
are areas which need tweaking on the F&B front, in a fairly great sense,
and this is why, in my opinion, I find that ‘Indulge’ may still be a little
sluggish at getting off its mark. Quite frankly, I can see what Vernon is
attempting to do with the place, and I commend him for his drive and passion.
However there are gaps that need to be addressed, and there’s a huge advantage
that ‘Indulge’ has already going in its favour. It’s in Margao – Margao isn’t
spoilt for choice in terms of dining options – ergo Margao has potential to
exploit. If ‘Indulge’ gets cracking on the front of fixing the things that need
to be fixed, I definitely think that there is much that can be achieved, but it
is honestly all in their own hands to deliver. If they manage to do so, Margao
may well thank them for it.
