Movie Night at the Steakhouse Palolem, India

Palolem, India

One of our favourite haunts is the Steakhouse in Ourem, Palolem. It’s a restaurant in the Ourem hamlet on the edge of Palolem, close to Patnem. Often called the Nepalese Steakhouse because it is managed and run by Nepalese chaps. Not unusual in these parts. Many restaurants are totally Nepali staffed. There is so little work in Nepal that whole gangs of workers/friends are recruited to come down year after year and work in Goa in the tourist industry. They work 7 days a week, very long hours, for what is relatively good pay by local standards. They get good tips too and board and lodging and if they stay the season, an air ticket paid home at the end.
The Steakhouse has been very successful. It offers a wide menu, including really nice steaks, plus a recent movie shown on a large screen with cinema sound. All under a canvas dome in the open air. We’ve been going for about 5 years now on a reasonably regular basis when we are in Goa. You pay for the meal and the movie is free. The meal isn’t expensive either. For instance, tonight I had a pepper steak which was large and tender with vegetables for about £3. The cocktails are good. A gimlet is £1.50.
Tonight we watched Hell or High Water with Chris Pine and Jeff Bridges. A modern take on the western/heist genre. It was very good. Really tense and a good plot with good characterisation. Not hideously violent like a lot of modern films of this genre are. It was good to see Chris Pine looking kinda dirty and unshaven. A long way from Captain Kirk. Anyway, recommend if you get the chance.
We sat next to a French couple, about our age. They were from Normandy. I like to think we travel a bit, but they were worse than us. Interesting to hear all the places they’ve been. They spend around 6 months of every year travelling and come to India for 3 of those months. Nice people.