Truck in the sand

Around the world, food trucks are known for delicious quick bites and there is a whole segment of food lovers out there who patronise this culture. VGP Golden resorts recently have worked on this concept by placing a food truck on their garden abutting the beach, and have set up a few tables and chairs around to give it a quaint, casual vibe. They call it Char, and the whole idea is to give the place a hip, youthful look with food and drinks to match. Understandably, the food we are talking about is finger food, and combined with a petite bar on site, makes for an interesting meal.

We started our journey with a mocktail called Pink Blossom. A lovely, refreshing beverage made of watermelon, lime, rosemary and soda, it tasted both zingy on the palate with the soda and somewhat sweet with the watermelon juice, even as the sea blew refreshing air around whilst the paper glasses and containers scurried for cover. Yes, food at Char is served in paper boxes and drinks in paper glasses – this area is part of the beach, so broken glasses could be a problem for those walking on the sand with naked feet. It is quite a sensible move – even the cutlery is bio-degradable wood, so nothing harmful here.

On the food side we started with their signature dish, Crispy Calamari. Covered in a home-made batter and fried to a crisp golden brown, the in-house spice mix gave a bit of a twist to the traditional fried taste and a small drizzle of paprika gave an interesting twist. Served with salad leaves and cherry tomato with a thousand island sauce, the taste was quite interesting. It is also a perfect accompaniment to a glass of beer, should you wish to indulge. By now we were craving for more seafood, and seeing some fresh prawns on the counter of the food truck made our mouths salivate. We decided to go with a prawn Tempura, one of our favourites. An interesting piece of history is that while Tempura is basically considered a Japanese way of deep frying, in the 16th century, the Portuguese introduced the dish to Nagasaki using fritter-cooking techniques. The term ‘tempura’ may derive from the Spanish term Témporas, which refers to the Ember Days, or from the Portuguese word tempero, which means seasoning.

Either which way, the hot and piping prawn tempuras tasted very good, partly also because the seafood was very fresh and gave a nice, hot crunch to every bite. Served with an excellent tartare sauce, this played with our taste buds by giving it a tangy aftertaste to the deep fried prawns. Our next course were the Brazilian chicken croquettes. These are slightly different to normal chicken croquettes by adding some cream cheese and parsley to the batter. The taste is quite different to the normal version, but if cream cheese is your thing, then this definitely rocks.

The menu at Char is all about having fun, quick food, while you enjoy the sea breeze, take a lunge at the swing or simply jut chill by the beach. Add to it comfort continental food, mocktails, cocktails and you are definitely looking at cool vibes.

Meal for one: INR 1,000++