The food available here in Arambol is generally of a very high standard. Most places to a standard range of Indian veg and non-veg dishes such as Dal Makhani, Dal Fry, Kadai Paneer, Palak Paneer, Aloo Gobi, Aloo Mutter etc, some “continental” food (e.g. pasta, chicken steaks, pancakes) along with some “israeli” dishes such as humus, falafel. Most also have a variety of fresh seafood cooked in various ways. Quite a few do Tandoori food served with chips and salad (which we find a bit strange).
For breakfast you can anything from a full cooked English breakfast, through to banana pancakes and fruit salad served with muesli and curd.
Some notes about some of the restaurants in Arambol:
Fellini’s – Close to beach end of Beach Road. Opens last week in November.
Great pizzas, from Rs120-170, mostly vegetarian, but some with meat or seafood. Garlic bread very grim (piece of bread with raw garlic rubbed on it).
Run by an Italian and popular with local Italians as well as quite few Brits.
Relax Inn – on beach, turn right at the end of Beach Road.
Very good pasta, nice for sunset drinks. Very good fruit salad, curd and muesli for breakfast. Frequented by groups of chillum-smoking Italians.
Om Narayan (aka Lunar Moon) – on beach, few minutes walk to left from end of Beach Road.
Great Indian food and excellent salads. Good garlic & cheese naan. Nice English girl works there.
Double Dutch – on the Beach Road, opposite SS Travel.
Nice, relaxed garden restaurant with some deckchairs and low tables, several friendly cats, run by a friendly Dutch couple. Apple Pie to die for, possibly the best in the world, certainly the best I’ve ever tasted. Also do several other cakes and cheesecakes, as well as cookies etc. Good Indonesian food (Bami & Nasi Goreng) and steaks.
On Sunday mornings they have Indian classical music concerts (usually sitar and tabla), some of which have been recorded and are available to purchase on CD.
They also have a selection of books in English, Dutch and German available to swap for Rs25 each.
Full Moon – on beach to the South near Piyas Guest House
Good, friendly chef who will create dishes to your taste if you’re bored of the standard beach shack menu. Usually excellent, especially seafood but occasionally disappointing.
Sai Sagar – on Beach Road
Run by Raj, who has appeared on BBC2’s Food & Drink TV programme. Very friendly man who cultivates his English clientelle. Good Indian food, but the pesto pasta wasn’t so good.
They show films on the TV during the afternoon and evening, usually recent cinema releases on pirate DVDs.
Kinara – south end of Beach Road
Quiet restaurant with some floor-seating as well as normal tables. Excellent Indian and Chinese food. Better than the associated beachfront Horizon.
Samantha – on south end of beach, in front of Ivon’s Guesthouse
Lovely family-run restaurant which produces excellent Indian and European food. Great peanut butter toast, enormous fruit salads, and very good seafood specials, particularly the Goan curries, not on the menu but usually available if you ask.
Nice spot for dolphin watching and sunsets.
Wazwan – 3rd shack on the left along beach from end of Beach Road.
Superb Kashmiri food, making a difference from most of the other restaurants which tend to serve the same range of standard Indian fare.
Menu describes each dish (unlike most in Arambol). Very friendly and eager-to-please staff. Strangely seems to be less popular than the neighbouring 21 Coconuts, but the food is much better.
Smile of Buddah – on cliff at North end of beach
Good Indian food (and plenty of it), and Happy Hour for half-price cocktails.
Siddhi’s – on Beach Road towards South.
Good, cheap family-run rice plate place which does great masala dosas (Mondays) and spinach dosas (Thursdays) as well as thalis.
Cock’s Town – on beach in front of some beach huts.
We only had breakfast here a couple of times but it was pretty good, unlike the name!
Sea Breeze – on beach, left from end of Beach Road
The one place we had a problem with. We went in and asked, out of general interest, how much the king prawns were. They said Rs600, which seemed a bit pricey and we said that was more than we had with us. Rather than letting us just order our veggie food instead, they asked how much cash we had and then said they could do some smaller prawns for that amount. We didn’t want to spend all of our cash on hand (about Rs500) so we declined, but they were insistant that we should spend as much money as possible there. We got up and walked away without ordering.
21 Coconuts – on beach 2nd left from end of Beach Road
Cheap beer (local Arlem beer for Rs20 for 650ml), very good garlic cheese naan, good Indian food. Often show DVDs during evening.
Horizon – on beach next to Lunar Moon (above)
Same menu as Kinara, food good but not quite as good as Kinara.