Today, we abandoned Patnem and took tuk tuks to the very north end of Palolem Beach, to a beach shack there called Cozy Nook. It’s very much a favourite place of ours. Very quiet down that end of the beach, or at least much quieter than on the central and southern sections of Palolem. The shack itself looks like the sort of place you’d find on a Pacific island after a bit of a hurricane!! Lots of “things” hanging off the ceiling, rustic tables, artifacts…. we really like it. Breakfast is especially good there. They do Swiss rosti potatoes which Bob loves, so he generally goes for poached eggs on rosti. I like their Spanish omelette which is a generous size containing tiny diced squares of tomato, onion and peppers and topped with some grated cheese. I also abandon my tea habit there and go for a cafetiere of fresh coffee.
Nick, Jan, John and Susan were also at Cozy Nook because they were booked on a river trip birdwatching. We opted not to join in today because we will undoubtedly do this later in our stay when other friends arrive who have not been. It’s an absolutely great trip and costs a couple of quid each for an hour up the backwaters.
Bob and I pegged out on the sands. Palolem bay is at an oblique angle to the open sea, protected by headlands at either end and it is nearly always very calm, much calmer than any of the other south Goan beaches. It also runs out very shallow so you have to walk a bit to get a swim. Ideal for small children and nervous swimmers though. Really quite idyllic. It was busier than we’ve seen it today, not sure why. The tides are very extreme at the moment – Spring tides – and certainly the beach was narrower for most of the day which may explain it. Anyway, we had a great day just swimming, reading and soaking up the sun.
At one point some men came along playing music and leading a highly decorated white brahmin bull, asking for donations. Rather an exotic looking fella. Somehow Bob managed to sleep through the din they made on their pipes and drums!
This evening we went to the El Diablo Steakhouse in Ourem, Palolem, to see “A Star is Born”. Oh dear. For years we went on a regular basis to see films on this site when it was a restaurant called the Steakhouse but was known by everyone as the Nepalese Steakhouse because it was operated by… Nepalese people. It was great. Really nice cocktails and steaks (amongst other things on a large menu) and all very cheap. Then last year they lost their rental place and had to move and it was taken over by an English chap and opened as El Diablo. Terrible disappointment and I don’t think we’ll go back again.
Firstly, it was a really inept showing….. terrible copy with Chinese subtitles and bad sound. The laptop they were projecting from kept closing down and needing to be re-started. There was noise (a lot) from surrounding bars (and the bar in El Diablo itself). The food was good but not better than the previous Steakhouse and it was at least double the price. The menu is small and if you don’t want steak or burgers, you’re onto a bit of a loser. I had chicken satay and it was delicious but not cheap…. the cocktails were really expensive. We won’t go back and will have to try and find another cinema-restaurant. What a huge shame. We loved that place. And it used to be packed. You had to reserve. Tonight, it wasn’t full at all and I’m not surprised.