Dhakke - Mangalore's Fishing Dock

Dhakke, the Fishing Dock of Mangalore is near the old Mangalore Port. For a devoted fishiterian me, this place holds a special place. Though, I haven’t visited this place while I was staying in Mangalore for reasons obvious. Parents would take care of feeding us and the place stinks of fish but the fresh catch of the day would taste scrumptious.
Few days back we had a gathering at home and we had to buy Fish. So we planned for an early morning drive to Dhakke. Well, it didn’t turn out to early morning though. We were at Dhakke around 07:30 in the morning and the business was already in full swing with the auctions to movement of fishes to the tempos and trucks and offloading the fishes from the boats. There were crates and crates of fishes all over.
Few pictures from my visit to Dhakke and you will get to decide about this place.. stinky but lively..

Sunday Mornings at Dakke

Fishes and the buyers

Mass

Fish Baskets

Weighing Prawns

Assorted ones

Crabs in Mass 

 Again the assorted ones

 Me buying big crabs

 Kane (Lady Fish) - One of the tastiest fish

 Crates and Baskets

 Lonely King Prawn

P.S: Pics clicked on iPhone, courtesy Prashant Bhandare. 

Want to try authentic Mangalorean seafood at Mangalore?

I always want to try the local cuisines while I travel. But I never thought of finding an authentic Mangalorean cuisine restaurants in Mangalore while I was staying here. Long after I shifted to Bangalore, I found this small hotel, which was very famous by the time I could make a visit. That’s Hotel Narayana in Bunder, which is very close to Dakke (Fishing Dock of Mangalore).

One more reason for not trying out this place was, we usually have home cooked food and when we go out for lunch/dinner we always preferred chicken or fine dine restaurants. But all this while I did not have an idea what I had missed.

So here comes my 2 recommendations for authentic Mangalorean food, when it comes to Mangalore its Seafood. One is Hotel Narayana at Bunder and the second one is Giri Manja’s near Car street. (I have provided the details in the next post)

First recommendation:

Hotel Narayana

Address:

Near Kalikamba Temple, 
Gopalkrishna Temple Road, 
Bunder, 
Bhavathi,

Mangaluru - 575001

Karnataka

Timings: 12:30 – 3:30 and 07:00 – 09:30

Average Waiting Time: 20 to 30 Minutes

Cost for 2: 500 (depends on what kind of fish you opt)

Specialty: Sea food
Directions: Google lists this restaurant 'Hotel Narayana, Mangalore'

My mouth started watering while I’m filling in the above details. This is not a fancy or fine dining place. It’s a mess kind of place but the food served here will beat the quality and taste of a five star hotel. Always try to be there by 12:30 in the afternoon or be prepared to wait for at least 20 to 30 minutes and to share your table with others. I have always been here for lunch and believed this place was closed for dinner but the google listing displays the timing 12:30 – 3:30 and 07:00 – 09:30

What to order:

This hotel comes which a template of meals which includes Boiled or White rice, fish gravy (mostly sardine curry), pickle, one vegetable sabji or curry. Once the waiter gets the thali, he will come with a thali filled with variety of fish fries and you chose whatever fish you would like to have. Pricing and variety of fishes depends on the season. Don’t forget to try the special powder which is the fried remains of fish fry. Yummy..! Also, the special butter milk.

The quality and taste of the cuisine is no doubt. No one can replicate the taste of the fishes at Narayana. Yummy, mouthwatering. This place is a must try when you are in Mangalore.

August 15^th is a holiday at Hotel Narayana. I remember driving all the way to Hotel Narayana during Independence Day to find the restaurant closed. Imagine our hungry stomach craving for the fish fries of Narayana. :)

Sadly, I do not have any photographs of this place or the cuisine as I was always into hogging whenever I was at this place.