Cheshire's take on Coastal Indian Cuisine
Photo Credit: Potyo
Sometimes food tastes so much better when you know the story behind it. How it was cooked, the ingredients that are painstakingly chosen to create the perfect flavour, the history and where the inspiration for the dish came from. That’s exactly what we experienced when we visited Potyo – a coastal Indian restaurant.
Nestled on a side street in the bustling town of Wilmslow, this restaurant opened its doors just before Christmas and has slowly but surely become a popular spot to visit, so of course, when we were invited to visit, we jumped at the chance. This new venture for Jason Almeida and his wife Milena, whose impressive list of restaurant accomplishments already sets the standards high, came from wanting to bring Goa's love for food, drink and music to Cheshire.
Pronounced po-tio – which means greedy boy in Konkani, in the native language of Goa, which perfectly depicts how we were when we perused the menu and pondered what to order.
Photo Credit: Potyo
Greeted by Jason, he took the time to explain what coastal Indian food is (and no, it’s not just fish!) Coastal Indian depicts dishes found along the coast of India and usually involve lighter, layered flavours of spices, and the delicate sweetness of coconut.
Potyo’s menu consists of small dishes, making it the perfect place to share with friends and family. Any restaurant that allows me to try a range of different dishes at one time is already a favourite. After being recommended that three to four dishes per person is ideal, we made our decisions, with some help from Jason. For starters, we ordered the PFC Glazed Chicken Wings and the prawn 65.
Now I’m a huge chicken wing fan – yes, they are messy – but when you find truly delicious wings, the mess doesn’t matter. Delightfully crispy and glazed with a sweet and savoury cumin sauce, they were savoury and let's just say, I could have eaten multiple plates. The prawn 65 – a seafood take on the signature chicken 65 – were lightly battered in a delicately spiced batter and fried and served with spicy tomato chutney. Though they were tasty, I do wish they had been a little bit crispier but having not tried chicken 65, I had nothing to compare it to.
For our mains, we opted for the boatman fish curry, pork collar vindaloo, lemon rice, gunpowder potato fries, Malabar Porotha and green bean and carrots thoran. After hearing about the history and the story behind the boatman curry – this dish is usually prepared by the fishermen or boatsmen using the catch of the day, cooked on their boat and served with rice for their lunch. It was a sweet and flavourful curry, made with ginger, turmeric, coriander and coconut with large pieces of fish. For those who like a little bit of spice in their curry, the pork collar vindaloo is ideal. Though it’s not blow your head off spicy, the curry is layered with Kashmiri chilli and malt vinegar sauce and the heat comes after. The pork collar is tender and completely falls apart and pairs perfectly with the sauce. The effort that goes into this dish is incredible; pork is marinated in spices and sauce to fully soak up the flavours.
For our sides, my favourite was the Malabar Porotha. This warm layered bread was the perfect accompaniment to soak up the curry sauces, (don’t tell anyone but we had two baskets). We made the error of ordering gunpowder fries and though they were pleasant enough, we didn’t feel we were being adventurous enough. However, after expressing our rookie mistake, Jason brought us out green beans and carrots thoran. A simple dish made with carrots and green beans, cooked with mustard seeds and curry leaves in coconut oil. Surprisingly sweet and something I’ll be ordering again.
You wouldn’t think we’d have room for dessert, but along came that second stomach. We ordered Serradura and Bebinca. The Serradura was delicious and according to Richard, he could eat it for days. Made from crushed biscuits, topped with an eggless custard and roasted cashew nuts, it tasted like a lighter version of a cheesecake. The bebinca was an experience. Described as a layered cake, it had a gelatine-like texture and though I was happy to say I’ve tried it, I personally wouldn’t order it again. But it’s all about the experience and at Potyo, the atmosphere, food, and the service all help in making it a great place to visit.
We’d like to thank Jason and Milena for their wonderful hospitality which clearly runs through their blood. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Potyo and with it being down the road, we’ll definitely be back; we had our eye on some other dishes to try.
*This food was gifted to us, however, Potyo are not exempt from our critique. This is a true representation of our experience.