Re-Post: RTW Trip Day 97-98 - Coffee Estate

**We're nearing the end of this exercise - I'm probably going to actually post a real new post when we get to its conclusion in a week. The end came on me suddenly, I guess much as the trip in itself. 3.5 months is a long time, but when you break it down into 2-3 week increments (countries), that really quickens the pace. This post was around my time in my cousin's friend's estate in the hills of India, a really nice last bit of tourism in the middle of a weird decision to spend a few more days in India. I enjoyed the rest of my time in India to be sure, but to get this couple day respite in the cool estate air was more than worth it.**

Day 97-98: Out in the Wilderness, One Last Time

These last few weeks of the trip include many different ‘lasts’. The last few flights, the last few beers to try, the last few nights away from my comfortable bed that is waiting for me at home. Well, in this spate of ‘lasts’ I was able to squeeze in a ‘first’. I have only once prior been to a Coffee Estate in India, the playgrounds of so many of my Mangalorean Ancestors and their contemporaries. I was five that last time, with little memory of the experience. When my cousin invited me to her friends Estate for a weekend getaway with her, her husband and a small group of their friends, I was excited.

To be honest, when I left Japan I had a terrible feeling of “Why am I going back to India, let’s just go home”-itis. Some of it may have been the fact that the plane opposite mine was heading to JFK. The other reason was that I was leaving my little 1^st-world, good weather haven of Japan for a hot, humid stay in India. After my experience in the estate, I’m glad I went back to India. That’s about as good of an endorsement as I can give it.

To be honest, there’s not too much I can legally say about what we did at the estate, so I’ll say all the legal things (and you can fill in the rest as imaginatively as you like). My cousin’s friend’s estate (to make that easier, let’s call her Aneesha, because that’s her name) is situated deep within the Chikmagalur. I’m not entirely sure what the name of her particular estate is, but it is located in the small estate town of Haribeil. We took a bus there, which was a journey all to itself. We weren’t able to get sleeper seats (basically beds) on the bus, but the seats recline quite a bit. The problem is I wasn’t used to attempting to get sleep around midnight, especially when seated upright. We all got very little sleep, and all arrived to the estate lodge around 6 AM, sleep deprived.

We tried to brave the situation and stay awake – there was even talk of going for a morning walk. Of course, none of that happened and we went to sleep for about three or four hours. When I got up, I was finally able to look around the lodge with my wits around me. The estate lodge is incredibly situated high above the coffee hills below, giving a great view of the rolling hills afar. It is hard for me to imagine that this sight, this sprawling canvas of green, was located in India, was located in the same country that I know for its never-ending traffic and pollution. The house itself had a more personal connection, as so much of it was familiar to that of my Grandmother’s house in Mangalore. With its high ceilings hanging over large rooms with large beds, and rustic furniture and the winding corridors at the back where the kitchen and barn and cabinet lay. It was all kind of familiar, though also kind of different, because the house is still active (Aneesha’s Brother and Father run the estate day-to-day), and it is set with all the modern trappings of satellite television and three fish tanks.

The house also served as a little farm. Aneesha has six dogs, all similar in color and breed, but with varying degrees of age and size. They were some of the most lovable, needy (in a good way), dogs I’ve ever seen. They also adorably loved to do exactly what the others do, so when we took walks with them, if one dog went over to inspect a plant or rock, they all followed right behind. The rest of the farm included two beautiful horses, both riding horses, a slew of chickens, ducks and turkeys, two cats and a cow or two (we couldn’t see the cow). This animal house (not to be confused with the movie we went some lengths to replicate with our weekend) also had a personal connection, as I remember being told that my Grandmother’s house in Mangalore also had a large amount of animals. No horses there, but they were replaced semi-ably by Pigs. The animals left the house in Mangalore long before I was born, but I can imagine they were very similar.

Despite there being a full service kitchen, we mainly nourished ourselves with the food that we brought to the estate in boxes. That itself was an ordeal, with the rain pounding the box as we left in Bangalore, and for some reason us putting the heavier cooler over the lighter box for the entire ride. But the food, and alcohol, managed to stay relatively well maintained, and the food was mostly good. In fact, the pork curry that my Cousin’s in-laws’ family cook made was among the best I’ve ever had. That and Aneesha’s Corn Bread was enough for me, both being among the top 20 or so things I’ve eaten on this trip.

The lodge is isolated in one little corner of her family’s estate, and while we didn’t venture out to every corner of that map, we did go for a drive or two down the hill. First was to the river, for dinner. Because we came a few weeks before the Monsoon Season started, the water in the river was brown and unswimmable, but the group of us sat on the rocks in the river, eating some snacks (while the pork waited for us back in the lodge, the lunch-lunch), which gave me another feeling of “am I still in India?”.

Our trip back up (this trip was done by jeep, which takes about 20-25 minutes to travel up the winding, bumpy roads built into the hills. Quite a bit of the bus trip to and from the estate was done on similar roads, which means two things: one, thank God we were asleep for that part of the trip, because it would be terrifying; and two, for once, the reason it takes eight hours to go 300 km has nothing to do with traffic. On the way back up to the lodge, my cousin’s husband, who operates his own family’s estate, wanted to see one of the offices. We stopped at one and he walked us through the different buildings in the office square, the machinery, the process and how it all ties together. It all seemed far too complex for me, as I would have never imagined the harvesting and processing of coffee beans to be that intricate, but that’s what the distance I am from the beginning product does to my perceptions.

Our other trip venturing outside the cozy, beautiful confines of the lodge was our group walk, which went down to their old manager’s house and another processing area, this one built onto the side of a hill. In front of us were hills upon rolling hills stretching far into the distance, with a series of ominous low clouds draping the tops of the hills. Above us was the hill we just trekked down (we didn’t start from the top), and the top quarter was fully cloud covered. We headed back up before it got too dark (which we didn’t really succeed with, given by the time we reached the lodge, we were walking in close to absolute darkness). We all settled in for the end of the second full day, and, sadly, my last.

My cousin first told me that the trip would be Friday to Sunday (or essentially, Friday Night to Monday Morning, factoring in night buses), to which I said I was uncomfortable with given my early Monday flight to Mumbai. She then switched the leaving date to Sunday afternoon, which meant that we were now leaving Thursday night. I still wasn’t comfortable with this because I didn’t like arriving Sunday night at my Uncle’s with just hours to do the calculus that is my suitcases and the luggage that has to go in them. In the end, I settled with taking a bus back alone on Saturday night, and while I needed that extra time in Bangalore to settle myself before the Long Haul started the next day, when it came close to the time for me to go with the driver to the bus stop, that little outpost in Haribeil, I was sad to be leaving this group of people, sure, but as sad to be leaving this place. I probably couldn’t live in an estate, but to visit, there are few better things I can imagine doing in India. It is so un-Indian. Of course, the irony is that the estate life is entrenched in my Indian Mangalorean Community’s history. I experienced part of that history, and I can’t wait to again.

Was it worth it? Yes, if you're a Hater

The Heat just completed a new level of inflicting pain with their win over Boston. I don't know if any team, if the sole goal is to rip out your opponent's soul, could play this any better. 

To recap, Miami stole the first two games in Boston, coming up huge in crunch time and Jimmy Butler going off on Grant Williams. Then blew the doors out of Boston in Game 3, so much so that literally every pundit was thinking Game 4 was a fait accompli, and starting a round of existential questions about the Celtics future. But then they let the Celtics win Game 4, dominate Game 5 and go up 10 late in Game 6. Which of course the Heat proceeded then to come all the way back, before the Celtics won with one of the most insane endings in memory, with the tap-in with 0.1 seconds left. And all that just to then blow out the Celtics in embarrassing fashion in Game 7.

What's better than sweeping a team? You can say maybe letting a team get all the way back from 0-3 to 3-3 and then win Game 7 anyway. Granted, that isn't unprecedented in the NBA, as the three times prior that a team got all the way back from an 0-3 hole, they couldn't win the fourth game. But this is the first time that scenario played out with the team hosting Game 7 being the one that was down 0-3.

This was so rough that honestly you feel like had that Derrick White putback been a half second late, or simply had the Heat just won Game 6 routinely (like they did Game 7), the Celtics would be better off. Like fewer questions about if Jaylen Brown is worth a max contract. He probably is, but an 8 turnover game in the finale doesn't help make that case. It makes them question if Joe Mazzula is the right coach - because after all he "motivated them" to wins in Games 4-6, but apparently forgot to do so for Game 7. In all ways, the Celtics would have been in a better position in terms of the existential fate of their future, had they just not bothered.

But you know who is happy they did bother, they did fight and claw and luck their way back into a Game 7? Me and all the other Boston haters. After the miracle win that was Game 6 for the Celtics, there was only one way a lot of people wanted this game to go: with the Celtics throwing up on themselves. Boston fans have had enough success, from the bevy of titles of course, but to the ridiculous comebacks. They'd already done a 0-3 comeback in the msot insane of circumstances. They'd already gotten to enjoy the 28-3 comeback. But this was a step too far. Instead they got the worst outcome.

The sound of the Garden being quiet as hell for a half was every bit as fun as I was expecting. This team letting their fans down at home again (now an insane 12-13 at home last two playoffs) is just beautiful. That face of Bill Simmons was worth teh price of admission, only topped by a simialrly frazzled, forlorn mug of Dave Portnoy. Seeing those Boston fans suffer was just a truly communal moment.

That's what this near disastrous but still hilarious hater-filled ending brings up. A communal moment to get together and hate on a team too high on its own britches, and a fanbase who had long left the realm of the sympathetic beings a good decade ago. The Celtics have always acted like we still live in teh 80's - despite just one title in 36 seasons. They always act like a dynasty was cut short with the KG injury in 2009, despite no real evidence that they would have beaten that Lakers team in the finals had KG stayed healthy (certainly they didn't do so the very next year). In this series too we all sat aroudn and waited for talent to win out.

It didn't - the Heat's poise and culture, along with a combination of so many bricks, truly just awfully missed shots from Boston made this a massacre worth celebrating in. Sure, had this game played out in Game 4 (which it had the chance to when the Heat took a brief 9 point lead early in the 3rd) it would have been as fun to see Boston be swept. But otherwise, the near reverse sweep, along with the disastrous home finale, made it about as good.

My Favorite Restaurants: Top-24 Tasting Menus, Pt. 3 (#6 - 1)

6.) I Pupi  (Sicily - 2019)

This was the second tasting course meal we had in our trip to Italy in 2019, and while the first one - Imago in Rome - was a big disappointment, the seafood-forward I Pupi in Bagheria, Sicily (about 30 min away from Palermo) was incredible. Their first course of a random assortment of small bites was inspired, each being seafood forward. The second plate which was a platter with six nigiri on it with six different salts to add on top was divine, and while not 'Italian' in any way was just an insane dish. The rest of the meal got more Italian, but still small, focused, refine, seafood plates, from a zuchinni noodle wrapped fish, to an incredible soup, to lamb chops (the only meat). Each dish was so well put together, alternating from amazing small bites to dishes that approached the size of a normal restaurant starter, to everything in between. This was just a fabulous meal and such a nice comeback after being disappointed with Imago earlier in that trip.

5.) Maido  (Lima - 2016, 2022)

Maido will always have a soft spot for me as it was the first tasting menu spot I went to, at a time where I didn't really know just how well reputed it was. We went for lunch, unable to get a dinner reservation but the menu is the same either way. It is a japanese-peruvian kaiseke meal that is just perfectly designed, executed, presented and crafted. 13 courses, all seafood based, all incredible, from various nigiris, to incredible takes on ceviche, to a choripan of fish & octopus sausage, to a very complicated but inredible soup decanted in front of you. Even the deserts of sea urchin and what they call the 'reef' which is a giant edible reef rock, are wild. I'm sure there are places in Japan that are just as good and more 'authentic', but this is my favorite take on Japanese cuisine ever. Just now I remember being mesmerized at each dish, on how it looked when it was brought out, on the complexity of the way it is described and of course on how it tasted. This, and to be fair the two above it, are peerless for me in the sense that I have zero idea how to recreate any of these dishes. They are simple while being complex, each ingredient, each little piece just so perfect. I hope to go Lima's other world reknowned restaurant Central at some point (maybe even this year, to which I will have to likely re-write this list to add it in), but if we could only go to one premier spot last time, Maido was a perfect pick.

4.) Gaggan Anand  (Bangkok - 2022)

Because of many reasons, I'm going to rank my 2nd trip to a Gaggan Anand restaurant separately from the first one. One reason is it technically is a different restaurant, in a different space. Another is the experience was different - this is a restaurant where he serves just at a chef's table to a group of 14 people. And the biggest difference was Gaggan Anand himself was present, was there to talk to the patrons, the entire thing being equally an experience along with the food. The food was still great, with some of the most inventive dishes I've ever had with insane preparations that he explained so well. It still had all the measure of excitement, like random things that tasted like tom yum soup, or charcoal chicken balls or a dried paper lightly filled that tasted just like hummus. It was classic Gaggan, classic modern cooking, and the only restaurant on this list whre the Chef was there to personally chat with and serve to the customers. The old restaurant is higher up the lsit because at the end I think the food was even better, but my second trip to a Gaggan was about as good as I could have imagined.

3.) Azurmendi  (Bilbao - 2021)

Azurmendi came as close as any meal I've had to unseating what might be a lifetime pick at #1. The basque restaurant certainly met it for downright creativity and presentation. From the picnic basket of small bites, to the greenhouse where they were literally picking up roses from a garden bed before you realized it was sorbet, to of course each incredible bite at the table. All in all they technically had 27 dishes, almost all of which were excellent in their design, freshness, preparation and ultimately taste. My favorites of the small bites were the cod fish brioche and the truffle meringue, just incredible little bites. The daiquiri rose was incredible, from presentation to taste. The asparagurus three ways and play on fish taco were divine. The tempura oyster was maybe the best bite I've ever had, and the ending dishes of cod tart and iberico pork were just sublime. They have a rich tapestry to which to create from local produce and Iberian meats and fishes, but Eneko Atxa's brilliant mind puts it to incredible use.

2.) Central  (Lima - 2022)

Very likely next year Central will be named the best restaurant in the wrold by San Pellegrino in their World's Best 50 list. It is well deserved (the restaurant ranked above it for me has reached similar heights on the same list). The dishes are both uniformly incredibly tasty, and ridiculously inventive. As shown on his turn on Chef's Table, what chef Virgilio Martinez and his team create are art pieces, they're stunning, they're beautiful, they look as good as any dishes I've had, and they were all very good. From dishes made out of random amazonian vegetables, to amazonian fish, to incredibly weird lattice things, to some of the most inventive desserts I've had, including a panoply of peruvian chocolate as the final dish. The best part of the restaurant is how focused the theme is, with showcasing hte beauty of Peru across elevations and its various weird ingredients. It may not have been as many courses as it was in its height pre-covid (I believe 18, now down to 14) but I can only imagine what the four extra would have been.

1.) Gaggan  (Bangkok - 2019)

I don't know if any restaurant will ever top Gaggan, which had so much hype entering in, having seen it on Chef's Table, see it rise up the world rankings, and it being Indian focused. I was expecting a lot, and it somehow overdelivrered. The 25 course menu was just perfect from the start of audacious versions of famous Indian street food (still unsure how my little bit of what looked like a cracker with foam and curry leaf tasted like idli sambar), to the mains of prawn balchao, decronstructed curries, a perfect lamb leg, and multiple Japanese dishes during Gaggan's Japanese phase. The setting, sitting at the chef's table watching his sous chef's go to work, with Gaggan's noted love of Heavy Metal ringing through the speakers, was a delight. IT was so well paced, 25 dishes of 3:30, never once making you feel like you're being rushed through each delectable dish. It is astounding to think this is what is possible with Indian food, that this is how good a menu can be even if you limit yourself to just five meat courses in the 25, and how great an atmosphere, a perspective, a cuisine and a legendary chef can concoct together.

My Favorite Restaurants: Top-24 Tasting Menus, Pt. 1 (#12 - 7)

12.) Sud 777  (Mexico City - 2018)

Sud 777 when I went was expensive but not notably so. It was seen as Mexico's 3rd or 4th best restaurant, and while it still probably is, it is a bit more reputed now moving up rankings for best restaurants in Latin America. Sud 777 is in a far corner of Mexico City in a residential area with the restraurant being set-up in a multi-story house. The menu was veggie forward (though not vegetarian), all sourced from their farm out back. The dishes were all excellent, from a starting pair of amouse bouches, to a brilliant braised watermelon dish (something I very much failed when trying to replicate), a marlin crudo, a beautifully soft beef cheek, and one of the most interesting desserts I've had, which was literally a roasted onion next to an onion sorbet - and it was amazing. I would love to go back to see how they've changed, if any, from their more homey core that they had at the time.

11.) Belcanto  (Lisbon - 2021)

I just went to Belcanto last fall and chronicled it fully on this blog course by course. Some of this will be a repeat. Overall, the one word to describe it is opulence, from the position near the Opera house, the gold inside, the pristine white tablecloths, and the food from delicious small bites showcasing a refined version of Portuguese cuisine, to the famous 'Garden of the Goose that laid the Golden Egg' dish, fit with a long-cooked egg covered in gold leaf. There were about 15 moments alltogether, and while some were slightly below great, most were amazing, including the gold leaf, their breads and butters, to a little gold ball of cod, to an oyster with tuna tartare and a cod pearl. The food was authentically Portugeuse, from river prawns to so many great sardines and cod, to the main dish having a beef liver nata tart. Belcanto was immaculate in its gaudiness, even though it was pumping up what is often seen as a less refined cuisine.

10.) Mume  (Taipei - 2019)

I talked in the Belly of the Beast section of how most of the ones ranked above it are more on the molecular gastronomy side - and the top three all are, but Mume is frankly not, but it is truly mesmerizing. Like Pujol it is only six dishes but each was amazing in its focus and depth. Their two starters of jicama & prawn then a plum, kombu and tuna crudo were both just beautiful. The wagyu beef tartare was incredible, with teh softest bread for you to lap it up with. The two 'mains' of braised milkfish and oxtongue were impeccable. Even the dessert of tropical 'snow' was awesome. To some degree, while I could never see myself being able to make the dishes that the top three do because I wouldn't know where to begin, these are not dishes that are out of the realm of possibility. I could make something that looks similar; what is out of the realm of possibility is any idea that they would taste nearly as good, be as clean, as refined, as perfect as 'normal' food can be,

9.) Mayta  (Lima - 2022)

I went to Mayta not really knowing how good it was, and was astounding by the quality of its tasting menu. Not the longest, but maybe the one that truly had no bad dish. A little bit later, it was ranked as the 32nd best restaurant in teh world. Hard to argue. The setting is great, with stone tables and greenery everywhere. The food was incredible, with some of the most interesting dishes I've had - from a aged, roasted eggplant with an incredible foam, maybe the best cooked fish I've ever had, and a really beautiful duck and black rice main. Even the desserts were nice. Sure, you coudl wish it was longer, but there was also no miss, no oversight, nothing but great dish after great dish.

8.) Pujol  (Mexico City - 2018)

Pujol is Mexico City's best or 2nd best restaurant, going back and forth with Quintonil (haven't been). It was the first on this list to be featured on Chef's Table with chef/owner Enrique Olvera. On the downside, there were only six listed courses which expanded to eight with a few extras thrown in. On the plus side, each was immaculate, from the famous baby-corn coated in a sauce made from ants, to a perfectly cooked octopus, to another perfectly cooked dish with lamb chops and a green mole. Even the desserts with their mango dessert and best churro you will ever have were both excellent. But of course, one cannot talk about Pujol without talking about the Mole Madre dish, their centerpiece, which is just a plate with two concentric circles of dark and light mole, with nopal tortillas. It seems crazy to serve just that as effectively the main course - but it is truly unbelievable. It is accepted people will go as far to lick the last drop of mole off the plate. It truly was a showstopper of a dish that elevates a bunch of other really great dishes.

7.) Mingles  (Seoul - 2022)

Mingles is Seoul's top ranked restaurant, and after going I can see why. It was a classic tasting menu shop, with sharp clarity on its menu, its decor, its everything. It also had a really nice 'Korean Liquor' pairing along with the wine pairing, something I took that got me to taste various different Korean localized liquors. The meal itself was great, with some of the best, most interesting dishes I've had, such as a great king-crab two ways dish, a brilliant take on surf & turf (pork & squid stuffed oyster, along with a braised beef cube), to an incredible lamb three ways dish as the primary main. The vegetable dishes were also spectacular, such as a corn soup dish that opened my eyes to just how sweet corn can be. Mingles was a special restaurant showcasing the best of modern Korean cuisine.\