Contributed by carnivorous YUMMRAJ & Herbivorous Guest Blogger KRISHNA DORAI

In a nutshell:

Awesome place for some unique & excellent Mangalorean seafood & other South Indian Nonvegetarian cuisines – Also serve very good Vegetarian food

Restaurant website for menucard & other details: Swagath

Cuisine type: Predominantly Nonvegetarian but quite a few very good Vegetarian options as well.

Meal for 2: Rs. 600 onwards

Carnivorous YUMMRAJ says –

Short Description – In case u r in a hurry:

Though they serve Punjabi, Chinjabi, miscellaneous cuisines, they excel & specialize in Mangalorean Seafood – Rarely served by many others. One of the best in Town or rather the best. Chettinad & Malabari food is also very good here.

Lady fish & Bombil fry are dishes that we order even before the menu card arrives – They are that good & u never get bored of eatin the same stuff. Then there is a long list of fishes, prawns, crabs, squids & multiple cooking options in them. U r spoilt for choice & the food is unique & cool.

U have to mention in case u want ur dish to be less spicy / hot coz some of the curries might bother u otherwise. The staff is very helpful & overall the restaurant is quite a no frills place. …….. Not too costly as well …….. good place to go for a non veg dinner on budget days & also otherwise.

Detailed description: In case u have the time to enjoy reading:

As u enter the tiny compound with ur car, there is a very nice & interesting guy who takes great effort in helping u park ur car. He would use sign language that traffic cops used to do years back……. Some find him funny but I admire his nonstop efforts in managing many cars in a tiny space…….I wud rather call him retro than funny.

The two dishes that we order before even the menu card arrives are lady fish fry & bombil fry. They are unique & simply superb. It’s takes real caliber to fry the slimy, flimsy & ever breakable bombil with a rawa coating – don’t worry, it does not taste slimy at all.

They serve King Fish/ Surmai , Rawas, mackarel, Bangda, pomfret in several forms – fried, masala fried, a superb butter garlic version, in curries like gassi, chettinad and so on. There are almost endless permutations & combinations & if u do not see one on the menu, u can ask for that combination & it will be served. Have never been disappointed by any one of the fish & seafood dishes that we have had here so far.

Squid with butter garlic is also a very good try but I wud still say that the same dish at Brittos in Baga beach in Goa is better.

This restaurant serves many lobster & crab dishes. When I say crab, I mean full crabs, some of which can be bigger than the dinner plate. They show you the live crabs & you can choose one, which in turn will be cooked according to your choice. We prefer the garlic butter option – as that does not interfere with the taste of the crab. We order the crab on days we have nothing to do (as a crab lunch can take 2 hours!!!!) & also if we get a seat in a corner (coz you have to eat with your hand & to vegetarian onlookers, you might appear to be a demon straight out of an epic fairy tale).

Today we had the deshelled version – crab meat in garlic pepper butter combo (price of the dish is usually not mentioned. Pls ask for it) ……… its been an hour since & the tastebuds r still dancing in joy……:) The crabmeat was not turned into a paste but was left at its original form….. that meant the texture was perfect………………… had it with some fab neer dosa …..read more about that later.

U can have similar meals with Jumbo prawns & Lobsters as well.

Curries are good in general for seafood – try the south Indian varieties. In case you like hot curries, try the Goan ones as well. Never tasted the Punjabi or Chinese here – so no comments. Have heard that Tandoori Chicken of this place is one of the best in Gurgaon.