I am always game for a new seafood restaurant. And my love for the fish is pretty well known in my circle of friends. It so happened that a friend had designed a menu for a joint called Fisherman’s Wharf, so she, being impressed by the menu told us about the restaurant. She said that the food was good and it was located somewhere in South Goa. Being a girl, she probably thought ‘South Goa’ was good enough marker to locate this, mythical of sorts, place. This was more than a year back. So every time while deciding on place for dinner, Fisherman’s Wharf was always at the back of our mind, but since it was way down south, and its fame always rivaled that of Mount Kailash, we never had the daring to explore. That all changed a couple of weeks back. A colleague, who hails from ‘South Goa’, upon my mention of the legend of the Wharf, almost lit up and confirmed that such a place indeed existed. He promised to find the direction to it. So this past weekend when I was coming home to Goa, I had decided that I will get to the end of this, the greatest of foodie mystery. I asked to be handed over the directions, and after a few calls, the dude forwards me a SMS. But the SMS had a line, a sort of forewarning, that asked the reader to please confirm the direction with others. Damn! Who are these others???

Anyways, three of us, A, R and me set out ‘Down South’ looking for the Wharf located a bit ahead of the Holiday Inn on the left side of the road. I have hardly ventured south of Martin’s Corner, maybe an occasional trip to Palolem beach. So I didn’t know where Mobor, Cavelossim were. I took a right of the NH17 at the Verna junction and then continued straight. Stopped more than a couple of time enquiring about the Wharf, but all I got were blank faces. No one had heard of it. So tried a change in our approach. ‘Where was Holiday Inn?’, this question got us better pointers, we drove for a good two hours, with couple of circles, few wrong turns, a lot of backtracking, and at one point we were actually heading back to Margao. A was getting really hungry, and knowing that the ‘rechad pomfret’ of Martin’s Corner was very close, we were tempted to take a U-turn and abandon our expedition. A call was placed to a friend asking for the direction to Holiday Inn, and his reply was that it is at the other end of world. Not very encouraging 🙁 But determined we were. We continued! And finally, saw a board saying Holiday Inn 18 km. Good, at least we seemed to be on the right road. After a while, we passed Holiday Inn and now all looked left, eagerly. And after what appeared to be the most deserted road in the whole of Goa, we saw lights, and a board, that hollered out ‘Fisherman’s Wharf’. A sense of achievement beamed on our hungry faces. The mystery of the Wharf solved! and that we will live to tell others the same… It was a spectacular setting. Lighted lamps led to the open parking. And then a waiter led us to our table that was set on a wooden wharf on a river bank, with fishing trawlers docked on the other bank. The setting was an actual wharf!!! with the mangroves and the gentle sound of the river flowing, and the occasional ripples of wave crashing into the bank every time a trawler passed by. There was a private party already in progress with a lovely live band dishing out the usual songs that are popular in Goa and a couple of Konkani songs. The bar was located at the center where all the people seemed to have gathered sipping their drinks and chatting. There was an open kitchen where the chefs demonstrated their skills by cooking a gala fare and the more flamboyant did the occasional ‘flaming the pans’ routine.

The service was excellent, I must add and prompt. We started with me ordering a cocktail, can’t remember the name, but it had whiskey, lime and orange juice and it was quite nice. A ordered Jack Daniels with soda, R decided to have a mocktail, Sea Green, which she enjoyed. I ordered prawns rawa fry, A, his almost staple Gobi Manchurian dry. The prawns were fresh and fried just about right and served with mayonnaise. Very nice! And A found the manchurian well done too. I asked the waiter for some fish and he brought out a selection that consisted of a lobster, tiger prawns, red snapper, and pomfret. Since R and me where the only fishetarian, we settled for rechad pomfret. As we chatted about lives, family, friends, and good old Goa in this, most enthralling of setting, we really had a lovely time. Calls were made to near and dear ones trying to make them jealous and it did. The pomfret was served and it was fresh and hot. The rechad masala was more hot than spicy, but good none the less. We feasted on the zesty pomfret. For the second round of drinks I ordered a margarita, A continued with JD and R decided to sample Wet Blossom. The margarita was exquisite. So impressed was A with it, that he decided that he wanted one as well. R seems pleased with her mocktail too. For the finale, we ordered the famous prawn-curry rice and pulav with paneer-butter masala. I decided to wash down this with a pint of beer. The prawns curry was as good as it gets. It was laden with generous amounts of prawns. A liked his meal too. Over all the food was good, really authentic goan. Though I would still vouch for the rechad masala at Martin’s Corner, this was a good nonetheless. But given the setting, it more than made up for the food. The drinks were all good. No complains there. All were reasonable priced too. The quantity was more than the usual. Overall the place is highly recommended. The service staff is nice and more than willing to serve you. A quick note on the cutlery, it was good, classy, and the chairs were quite comfortable and not the usual plastic, for a change.

So it was well-worth the total 140 odd kms we drove. And getting lost, and almost giving up. But at the end of the day, we can say that there indeed is a restaurant called the Fisherman’s Wharf and it’s beautiful!