Gadbad. (गड़बड़)(hindi): – mess, disarray, mishmash.
Years ago, in the weeks following my Dad’s demise, I needed to spend a considerable amount of time in Goa to sort out his affairs.
It was somewhere during that period, on an oppressively hot afternoon in May, that we chanced upon a small hole-in-the-wall eatery just outside Mapuca market. Beginning with a few beers the meal moved on to the usual assortment of savouries, including beef patties, goa sausage rolls and fish croquets.
Once done with the initial snacks, it was time for a nice cooling dessert.
Dominating the menu blackboard in bold and invitingly cryptic multicoloured chalk capitals was the following item:
‘GADBAD’
Intrigued by the name and more out of curiosity than hunger, we placed a very tentative order for one. Contrary to its visual appearance – (that, let me tell you, totally lived up to its name) – it turned out to be surprisingly delicious. So much so that we went on to order several more rounds.
Sadly, the eatery has since shut down. What is even more distressing is the fact that, much as I have tried, I have never been able to get my hands on that particular dessert ever again.
Till yesterday.
I had taken my daughter out to lunch at the Powai branch of the Sodawaterbottleopenerwalla Restaurant and was thrilled to find ‘Gadbad’ on the menu.
The dish is basically a mixture of scoops of assorted flavours of ice cream, cubes of jelly, chopped cashew nuts, jujubes and chunks of cake all layered haphazardly in one delicious hotchpotch in a tall glass.
This Sunday afternoon I decided to recreate that magical dessert for lunch – with a few embellishments of my own!
To the original recipe I added:
-Candied orange peel soaked in Drambue,
-and swirled each glass with a dash of Blue Curacao!
Below is the image of my concoction. It may be not be as elaborate-looking as the one at the restaurant, but it was every bit as delicious, (especially with the personal extras and even if I say so myself).
All that remained to be done was to settle into a long Sunday afternoon snooze.
Ahhh….heaven!
Your heavenly dessert eith Drambue soaked peels & Blue Curacao, sure are drooling too!!! hic-hic-hic!!!
Ha ha! I strongly recommend giving it a try! You will not regret it!!
The original GADBAD Icecream for me dates back to my childhood days when my Uncles took the family to a certain quaint IDEAL CREAM outlet in Hampankatta near the railway station . It didn’t require a reason to celebrate … the outing was a celebration itself till it’s become a family tradition every time we go to Mlore on vacation . I’ve eve made a detour on my way to south India just to indulge . I heard Dubai too has GADBAD Icecreams … Dr. Ian you have to try it out (their menu is lip-smackingly super- delicious 😋)
Contrary to the negative implications in the name it appears that this dish does elicit pleasant memories in others too! Good to know, Ayesha, and thanks for sharing.
Dr. You should try gadbad in Mangalore..
You will not regret..
Thanks James. That’s a good enough reason for me to plan a trip there in the near future!
The best Gadbad I have had is in Mangalore. But I like the addition of Drambue soaked peels & Blue Curacao. I will surely try this out for minha familia. If I could only get a lactose free option of this to avoid my own gadbad!
Ha ha! Like my grandfather alway said: ‘You need to give some to take a some!’
Am going to Sue you for intolerable cruelty to humans. Where the f#%$ is my share ???
Considering our mutual partiality for the last course of every meal I can well imagine how exquisitely painful this blog is for you. (Seconded only, in all probability, to that inflicted by Arsenal thrashings).
Unfortunately the dessert is over. Done and digested. And so physically sharing it is purely of academic interest. But what I can do, however, is start constructing another blog. This one will describe in full detail, spoonful by glorious spoonful, the lip-smacking sensations that accompanied each mouthful.
After all, as a great man once said, that’s what are friend for…no?!
The Curacao and the drambuie soaked peel sound a super addition. Everyone has a gadbad story. For me it was summer holidays when grandmum would take us to Miramar Beach for the day and on the way back a stop at Cream centre Panjim market for the delectable treat.
Cream centre still does the Gadbad, managed to take Yohann one hot afternoon, the delight in his eyes brought back memories.
Lovely memory Aaron! You’ve also given me a wonderful reason to visit Panjim in the near future!