Foodlands, Mangalore

I'd been to Mangalore during the week, my parents' home town on the coast to attend the marriage of the son of a very close family friend, close enough that my cousins and I refer to him and his brother as cousins, and vice versa. The day we reached Mangalore, a couple of uncles and a cousin decided to have lunch out because we arrived at lunch time and hadn't given prior notice to my aunt with whom we were going to be staying that we were coming for lunch.

The closest place was Foodlands, on MG Road, just below the hill where my aunt stays (she lives on top of a hillock called Hat Hill, which is on top of another hillock called Lady Hill - hill on top of another hill giving it the look of a hat...confused? Never mind). My cousin and I were in the mood to eat food that our parents and uncles (who were with us) ate when they were growing up - good, old fashioned, traditional coastal food, and our uncles were more than happy to order that kind of food. And so, we ordered a plate of brown rice for each of us, and a seer fish curry to eat with along with the rice,

and a slice of masala fried seer fish for each of us.
The spiciness was perfect, and a dash of lemon juice squeezed over it completed a memorable dish.

The beauty of our traditional Mangalorean food is that it not only gives instant energy (required for those working the paddy fields or going out to sea), but the spices in the curry make you sweat which automatically cool your body in the hot and humid weather prevalent in the coastal areas. Plus, unpolished brown rice contains vitamins that are absent in white rice due to the polishing. So, woohoo!