Culinary Kings of Konkan

The story of a royal kitchen and its push to place Sawantwadi on India's food map.

- PRASAD RAMAMURTHY

THE MORNING HAD started with perfectly poached eggs on fluffy croissant buns, served with a classic hollan daise sauce. A drizzle of coconut chilli oil and a sprinkle of curry leaf powder had given the dish a surprisingly elevated finish. Lunch had taken the form of a sumptuous thali with home-style coconut-accented preparations and a crisp fillet of fried fish. Dinner had gone East with a five-course ramen-centric tasting menu that included dishes such as truffle mushroom gyoza and pork tonkatsu ramen. The desserta coconut mousse that looked much like a coconut broken in half-was an absolute standout. As was the black sesame ice cream sandwiched in a brownie.

None of this, especially the umami-rich ramen, would have been out of place at a restaurant in Mumbai or Bengaluru.

But I was in Sawantwadi, a historic town on the road from Mumbai to Goa. And the food was coming out of the kitchen of the Sawantwadi Palace Boutique Art Hotel helmed by two chefs who also happen to live here-Yuvraj Lakham Khem Sawant Bhonsle, the unassuming 33-year-old prince of the Sawantwadi royal family, and his wife, Yuvrani Shraddha Lakham Sawant Bhonsle. The Sawantwadi royals trace their lineage to the Sisodiya Rajputs of Udaipur. An ancestor came bearing arms for the Adil Shahi dynasty and wrested control of the region from the local satrap. This led to the family ultimately establishing their own state in 1627, in a region that today is defined as southern Maharashtra and parts of Goa.