With the spate of authentic regional cuisine based restaurants increasing, can the delicious coastal ones be far behind? Hell no! And since the famed Galleria market is bustling with new eateries now and then, expect a South Indian setup to show up there.
Costal Reef is located in the Galleria market and has a beautiful ambience which will take you to the lands of beaches and subtle vines. There are customized chandeliers with oval bulbs adorning the roof and some tendrils and vines circling the railing shaped interiors on the walls. The service is top notch and the attendants do know about the cuisine and will recommend you dishes according to your preferences.
Sea food platter: Fish, crab, calamari and prawn – you name it and they have it. And each item is so uniquely created that you will be amazed beyond imagination. The crab meat is finely minced and cooked with curry leaves and coarse spices – the resultant is a fine sweet chewy dish with the hotness of garlic, onion and black pepper. The calamari roundels are coated in turmeric based mixture and fried as it is; the resultant not so appealing to me because of extra salt. The fish is so darn soft and grilled well but could have had a little more crust. It is slightly spicy, thus having that extra edge. The prawns are sweet and cooked well in garlic, ginger and curry leaves – expect explosion of myriad flavours. RECOMMENDED.
Chicken 65: This Andhra based dish is known for its fiery eruption on the palette and this was no different. The boneless pieces were hot, crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside and went well with the fried curry leaves. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Paneer 65: Honestly speaking, this was a subtle version of a real paneer 65. The cottage cheese cubes were soft and raw and fried in a spicy mixture – the fried crust was actually coming out of the cubes.
Fry Pomfret: My first experience with pomfret was not as good as expected. The spices did not penetrate the fish at all and there was a need of salt in them.
Chicken dosa: Let us get over our usual aloo dosa, because dosa is too delicious to resist! The finely minced chicken was full of spices, tangy and hot. The dosa was paper thin and crispier than any dosa you have ever had. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Mutton stew with Appam: The stew was hot, light and had vegetables in addition to the succulent mutton pieces. It should have been a bit denser though. The appam was again light, fresh and thin but could have been a little bit fluffy. RECOMMENDED.
