IFFI COURTYARD EATING OUT….uncomfortable sitting arrangements but Wakao and O’mio Gelateria ice-creams of sorbet and gelato are very good. These are the only options so far along with the Lagar beer! Water bottles have to be purchased

By Tara Narayan

Check out the jackfruit biryani and natural Italian ice-creams at the INOX courtyard and the fish and veg thali meal deal at the Kala Academy canteen…

THIS year’s International Film Festival of India, the 20th in Goa, is full of surprises this year and I promise you I’ve seen them all, my dears. There’re no drinking water stations to fill up your water bottle this year but at the INOX courtyard I found the Wakao Eats folk doing jackfruit snacks are back and what do you know – the O’mio folk are also here offering their range of some very agreeable natural ice-creams gelato and sorbet…and I stopped in my tracks when I saw the kokum sorbet! What? Yes, a most tangy, delectable kokum sorbet (fine flavored water ice, Rs40 per cone) and the girl here tells me no, they’re not from abroad or Bengaluru or Mumbai, the fruitful gelato and sorbet ices are made right here in Porvorim, coutesy O’mio boss gelatiere Shahrukh Harjee. Call the ices whatever you like – ice-cream or gelato or sorbet, all are here, most niz Goenkars and non-Goenkar delegates get intrigued by the urrak sorbet spiked with chill, lemon and dash of salt. The ice-creams have no milk or cream and make for great vegan treats.
Many folk I know are going vegan which is supposed to be superior to being vegetarian nowadays. Although to be really on top of the world of health parameters we hear the keto diet is best, go easy on carbohydrates because these set the stage for obesity and diabetes and the rest of it (read up Dr Eric Bern one of these days, he’s my guru of encyclopedic wellbeing). A the O’Mio Gelateria they’re offering several sorbet flavors like mango, watermelon, passion fruit, wild berries…but my favorite will always be kokum sorbet. Also combos like warm fudgy brownies with gelato (Rs340) or just brownie (Rs160).
It’s quite a happy option to opt for the jackfruit biryani (Rs200) at the adjoining stall and then clear the palate with say a kokum sorbet or passion sorbet before going in to the INOX audis to catch your next film! They also have such things as hot dogs with American herbs, burgers, kathi rolls, poi with fillings of butter jack gravy, jackfruit cafreal and jackfruit chili…jackfruit has come one of the “meat replacements” for vegan eaters (like soya “meats”) and they can be very good and delicious. There’s lots of lager (beer) and I dare say more fancy eats and beverages will come for IFFI delegates at the INOX courtyard in the next few days till the duration of the film festival). Enjoy, I must say thought that the seating arrangements are terrible this year, like they don’t want delegates sitting down comfortably anywhere, but keep standing all the time!
BUT next at the Kala Academy I got a real surprise at the al fresco canteen sit-out offering green lawns by the Mandovi riverside to look out in …at the canteen counters now there’s an inviting chaat counter and familiar snacks like the usual rolls, sandwiches, batatvada, even Mangalore buns, and for lunch time quite a few generous choices featuring meal deals like a veg thali (Rs130, the very nice chappati will cost you extra) and also sumptuous fish thali featuring thick rava fish fries, tempting and pay more of course. It’s a buffet-styled service here and first day wandering around between INOX courtyard and Kala Academy I was quite content to be at the Kala Academy lunchtime and made up my mind to come here for the remaining days of IFFI, it’s more relaxing and one may sit and eat peacefully and many delegate friends to exchange notes about films to see and IFFI this year, how bad it is or how much better it is.
All depending of course on how many films I do manage catch this IFFI around, trying to squeeze in a film post-breakfast time or post-lunch or post-dinner at home, what with all the domestic chores which are always there in a woman’s life. It’s been like this for me through 20 IFFIs now and I can say I’ve seen IFFI’s kladeiscope change over the years.

BUT to stay with IFFI eating out here and if you don’t want to eat at any of the fancy or not so fancy IFFI stations, I always say eating out in Panjim downtown has never been a problem –here are some of my favorites in vegetarian fare Navtara and Sheetal and Humjog, and now there’s Café Bangalore and an old favourite called Annapurna which has returned, for I love Udipi cafes which are a common man’s or common woman’s vegetarian’s mainstay while eating out – quite a few of the Film Institute of India (Pune) students at IFFI make a beeline to Annapurna to catch up with “pet puja.”
One if them, Siddhi, sharing a table with me told me there’s a decent hotel stay attached and yes, the government of India gives them Rs5,000 to make it to IFFI to learn all about filmmaking, “I think about a 100 of us have come down for IFFI, but my home town is Ahmedabad.” IFFI is becoming more or less a Mecca or Holy Grail for film students, old timer film buffs like me are sort of going, going and will soon be gone!
I’ve never done IFFI to learn how to make films, but have just wished to see better films for an education in the better sense of the word about a world out there which can be so good, so bad or ugly. Say it’s the usual escape we all seek from life’s dismal or dreary 9 t 5 existence. Cinema is an opium for the common people and may be or may be not money, money, money for the producers who bankroll a film to seduce the senses of mind and body, heart and soul.

This year compared to last year I’ve picked up enough to be able to book films on the IFFI App and the best thing is those young buddies at the May I Help You desks who’re patient enough to help out anyone lost in more technology they can handle, I will give full marks to the “gen young” at the usual INOX ticketing counters, they can help you choose a film still in need of viewers at the last minute…etcetera. Plus, I love to talk to them!
BY the way, anyone seeking an early morning egg breakfast may look up the egg breakfast offers at CreamChoc down the Campal promenade at the Miramar beach circle end, the best gelato ice here too. For the best chaat numbers, there’s Chaat Street and for economical seafood lovers there’s the popular haunt Uday Ahar Graha at the market; all the places I’ve mentioned here are more or less walking distances around the market lanes in the backdrop of the main ESG/IFFI venue in Panjim. Not to forget the Fidalgo enclave of restaurants in Legacy of Bombay and Southern Basil; and an old favorite for decent north Indian food is Sher-e-Punjab down 18 June road, and if it’s a Konkan food meal you’re seeking there’s Kokum Curry (next to Hindu Pharmacy, overlooking the vintage time Jardin Garcia de Orta municipal garden grounds). Nearby, also a perennial favorite of mine – Kamat Hotel, the original Udipi of them all.
But I will still say if it’s the best carbohydrate idli-dosa-vada breakfast you’re seeking, look up Annapurna, at one time they were the only ones making the famous Devanagari benne dosa but I don’t know if its back on the current menu…however, find the best idli here at this point of time, super good chutney to go with it and most of the fare here. Yes, I consider idli breakfast a good carb breakfast, remember good idli is of rice-udid dal batter, chutney is all things nutritious and sambar redolent of many veggies! Perfect carb-cum-protein breakfast.

This is to say enjoy IFFI, even if you don’t see a single film in eight days! There is now so much more to IFFI than just films at the listed cinema auditoriums and open-air venues for popular free mass viewing of blockbuster Bollywood films under the stars. Or so to speak. IFFI, I’ve learnt, is yet just another excuse for so many seeking a holiday in Golden Goa (even if the gold is tarnishing and turning very brassy very quickly now).