BOMBIL RESTAURANT — Restaurant in Goa Island

Food: 3/5 Ambience : 5/5 Service : 5/5

Had my first Thali at Bombil. I had very high hopes with so many people recommending the place. Its always full to the brim with customers, which is a very good sign for a restaurant. Unfortunately my experience of the food wasn't what I expected it to be.

I ordered the Recheado Mackerel Thali. It was about ₹220. It was a little on the costlier side compared to all the other restaurants around Panjim. A Thali normally cost around 120-180 on average around Panjim.

This Thali had a lot of elements to it. So the price can be justified to an extent.

Bonus : Extra Rice and Curry are complimentary, which is something I've not seen in any local restaurant I've been in so far.

In my opinion, the fish curry and the fish are the main components of a thali and I judge my thalis based on only these two factors. Everything else served is an accompaniment to me.

I felt the fish curry wasn't very flavourful as I expected it to be, it was slightly on a blander side. The colour and the consistency of the curry were perfect, it just lacked a little when it came to taste and flavour.

Since it costs ₹220 I expected a big Mackerel, but i was served a normal medium sized fish. The Recheado masala was pretty good.

Other elements such as the mushroom bhaji was nice. They served slightly aged Tendli pickle (Ivy gourd pickle) which was also nice. A little Para pickle (dried marinated Mackerel) was also served, which was extremely delicious. A small potato chop was also served, unfortunately I didn't get to taste it because my idiotic friend stole it. Crushed papad was also an accompaniment. The Thali also came with a dessert, it seemed something like a gooey sheera. To end it all a very flavourful Sol Curry to digest the food.

My favorite part of the whole meal was when we were served something called the "Bombil Bomb". A quarter of a teaspoon was served, my first reaction was why so little? It confused me a little, since he was holding a huge mortar of the freshly made sauce. As I tasted it, it all made sense. That thing was fiery hot! So hot that my friends started heavily sweating merely in a minute. We later got to know it had some Ghost Peppers (Bhut Jolokia) in it. I absolutely loved it. Before leaving, while paying the bill they served us with some confectionery candy probably to easy the spiciness out of the Bombil Bomb.

The place is really good, the staff are great, I personally feel they need to just work a little on their fish curry. Everything else was a dream!

Since the fish curry and fish are supposed to be the heroes of the Thali, I was a little disappointed there hence I have rated it 3 stars.

Don't have a good picture of the Thali. So I'm just going to post a low quality one, I'll add the video directly...

Bombil restaurant, located in the heart of Panjim city, is a must visit for all the food lovers. It’s a small restaurant with limited seating of just 6 tables and yet the big queue outside the restaurant speaks volumes! What’s so special about this place you ask? It’s simply the heavenly Goan favourites that they serve, specially seafood. Here you will get to explore lots of traditional Goan delicacies.

Their fish thalis are the absolute crowd favourite. And the best day to visit it is on the Saturdays as they prepare wood fired fish curry to serve in the fish thalis. It’s rich, thick and flavourful fish curry which perfectly blends with white/brown rice(Yes they serve Goan brown rice as well). The rava fried fish is just lips-smacking and fresh. What we like the most about their thalis is that they are so well curated with staple, traditional as well as seasonal items in it. Recently when we visited it, they served seasonal favourite fresh cashews(Bibe/Biyo) in the thali. Apart from this, their thalis include some really unique traditional items like Galmo chops(made of small dried prawns) and Parra fish pickle. Also the rice in fish thali is unlimited! Another thing that’s worth mentioning is their in-house fish pickles. They are delicious and you can even buy some for yourself.

The seasonal local Goan drink Urrak, freshly prepared from Canacona, is available here. You can have it with the classic chilly-lemon combo or sometimes they serve it with Bimla.

All in all, this tiny little place has its own charm of simplicity. Would definitely recommend it! But make sure to visit it at early hours else you won’t be lucky enough to get a seat without...

Boy-o-boy, Bombil in Panjim, Goa is so freaking awesome, came across the hotel walking down the streets on Panjim towards Miramar beach. A small hotel just across Kala academy with loads of authentic goa delicacy and taste. Yes the place might be a little small but the quality of food, the quantity of food as well as the presentation is on point. The hotel shares a rustic old goan hotel interior, paintings of fish on the outer wall makes the hotel more appealing to its name. . . . At first, ordered Chicken Red Curry with Goan Pao and mahn that was awesome considering the price point at which they were serving it, just for Rs 110/-. Was served with chicken curry with a decent amount of chicken with bone pieces along with 2 paos, the curry’s tangy and spicy flavor was just super fabulous and the pao they served was freshly baked I literally got served a warm pao with that fresh bready flavor in it. . . . Got Mutton Xacuti with Goan Pao next wanted to try Poi but wasn’t available at the moment so got pao instead. Lookwise curry didn’t made a big difference in terms of its appearance but boy the curry taste so damn different, the meat pieces were succulent, tender and juicy as they should have been. The Xacuti is actually a delicacy in goa which was served with its proper and perfect balance of flavors all around. . . . While leaving it was mid-evening ordered a cup of Chai, my taste buds just blasted after tasting that chai, best chai had so far in goa. Chai was frothy, creamy not too sweet nor too under sweetened, just perfectly balanced ! . . . Hands down, had one of the best experience in the goan food...