Everyone who seeks out exotic cuisines knows the process of negotiation to find out a restaurant’s true specialties. Though it might seem that these would be easy to spot, that is often not the case. Servers are understandably cautious about recommending highly spiced or unique dishes, and sometimes you have to tell them explicitly that those are what you came for.
My solution is to go to a higher power – the chef – and ask him or her to make a meal that is exactly what they would prepare for their family. The chef already knows their family’s food allergies or strong dislikes, but they don’t know that about you yet – so a dialogue begins. Once the chef understands your enthusiasm for their cuisine, they are likely to go back into the kitchen and create something wonderful.
Obviously they can’t take the time to do this if the restaurant is slammed with customers. It was therefore an opportunity when we stopped in one evening at El Segundo’s Mandovi restaurant, which serves the distinctive cuisine of the Indian region of Goa, and found the place sparsely populated. I had been there before and found the food unusually good, and had to find out if they would be willing to make a family meal for us. After a brief conversation with the server, Chef George Godinho came out of the kitchen and asked all the right questions, then went to work. The dishes that flowed from the kitchen were a mix of on and off-menu items, and were one possibly the best Indian meal I have had in this country.
First out were a kheema pattie and peri-peri shrimp, both on-menu items, and rava-fried mackerel, which wasn’t. Keema patties, mashed potato wrapped around mildly spiced ground lamb and fried, are not too unusual, but these had been crusted with semolina to give a delicate crispness. The same semolina was on the mackerel along with spices, and the interior of the fish had a coating of vindaloo curry. At most Indian restaurants Vindaloo is just a hot tomato sauce; in Goa, where it was invented, this sauce has a multi-layer sweet-and-sour hotness. I’m used to having this sauce with chicken or lamb, but it was amazing in this setting. Mackerel is a bony but flavorful fish, which is why many Americans don’t like it, but the meat peeled away from the bones easily with a prod from a fork.
The starters at Mandovi – from left, keema patties, rava-fried mackerel, and peri-peri shrimp.
Peri-peri is a chili pepper originally cultivated by the Portuguese in Africa, and the sauce made from it is rich in citrus, garlic, and herbs – not as sweet and fruity as Sriracha, but not totally unlike it. As powerful as it was, the taste of the shrimp was not obscured, and it made a fine starter. We were pleased to note that different salads were on each plate – lettuce with dressings on two, an Indian-style cole slaw on the third.
Mandovi doesn’t have a wine and beer license yet. In the meantime they offer lassi, juices, and a milkshake made with chickoo, a fruit known in Mexico as a sapodilla. We brought bottles of Portuguese vinho verde and Prosecco, and were delighted with the way both sparkling wines complemented the flavors.
The structure of our meal, with the chef and his staff bringing out unexpected dishes, made the arrival of our main courses a theatrical event. They were goat xacuti, chicken cafreal, and zeera brown rice, all on the menu, and pork sorpotel and freshly made chapatis, which aren’t. Pork is almost unknown in Indian cuisine except in Goa, and the sorpotel cooking technique uses red wine vinegar and spices in a way that shows the Iberian influence. The Portuguese developed a variant of this recipe in Brazil, but for my money this is much better, a tangy, spicy stew with a deep, complex flavor. I was told that this is a traditional Christmas dish, but hope not to wait that long to have it again.
Xacuti is a spice combination developed in Goa to complement strongly flavored meats like venison, boar, and goat. Though the curry has bold coriander, cinnamon, and anise seed flavors it isn’t particularly hot, and it suited the tender goat very well. Many Americans don’t order goat because they don’t like the slightly gamey flavor, but when prepared with the proper sauce it is fantastic.
The chicken cafreal creates an impression similar to the tandoori chicken of North India, but as it is sautéed in butter rather than barbecued, it has a softer, moister texture. They do make tandoori chicken at Mandovi and they do it well, but you can have that anywhere – in a Goan restaurant, order the cafreal instead. The rice that accompanied all this was different from usual too – instead of the standard basmati, it was a steamed brown rice simply tossed with cumin, a canvas for the rest of the flavors.
One of our friends at the table was born in South India and had been ecstatic as the dishes were brought out – he affirmed that this was the closest thing to home cooking he could remember finding in California. The humble chapatis, simple freshly fried flatbreads, were the thing that sent him into orbit. He ordered two more baskets after the first, and might have eaten more if we hadn’t been informed that dessert was on the way.
Sometimes Indian desserts are cloyingly sweet, but I was pleasantly surprised by the orange-pistachio kulfi, the Indian-style ice cream. This was artistically served inside an orange rind, and was very much to my tastes. The bibinca, a Goan coconut milk custard, was more the rich, sweet stereotype, but others at my table ate it happily.
The cost of this banquet for four was only about thirty dollars per person – astonishing for the level of food and service. If the restaurant is quiet enough that the chef has time to make a menu for you, ask for it – it’s an amazing way to dine. If not, enjoy their regular items and ask what daily specials may be available – they’re not posted, but based on our experience they’re delightful. Go outside your comfort zone – forego the chicken tikka masala (a dish invented at an Indian restaurant in Scotland), and ask for the flavors of the India you don’t know. You’ll be glad you did.
Mandovi is at 150 South Sepulveda Boulevard, Unit G. Open 11 am-2:30 pm and 5 pm-9:30 pm Mo-Fr, 5 pm-10-pm Sa, closed Su. Midweek lunch buffet, food is more mildly spiced then. No alcohol served at this time, no corkage. Parking lot, wheelchair access good, many vegetarian/vegan dishes. Menu at mandovila.com, phone 424-220-7115.
