Hermitage Guesthouse

Eating

A full range of meals is offered at the farm – which is just as well, as there’s not much else nearby! You’ll find a wide range of meats, fresh fruit and veg (including vegetarian dishes), rices, pulses and nuts, all combined with local herbs and spices – and all of it extremely fresh and local.

They pride themselves on their Parsi cuisine - a combination of Persian and Indian, with plenty of mint, coriander, cumin and ginger. But they also offer more traditional Indian dishes, such as pork vindaloo, as well as ‘Anglo-Indian’ fare, such as Irish stew.

Breakfast consists of fruit (including banana fritters from time to time), cereal or local porridge (made from millet, cracked wheat, sago etc) or rice dosas, eggs done as you like (Masala scrambled eggs: photo ), bread and butter, homemade jams and tea / filter coffee.

A typical lunch might consist of fresh cucumber with curd, salad, papadums with pickles, a main dish (e.g. rice and curry / pasta bake / chicken maiwallah), followed by fruit.

At dinnertime they often start with soup (e.g. Mullagatawney / pepper-water & lentil soup / thick Iranian Ash), and finish with a proper pudding (e.g. apple crumble / Malabar pudding / a Parsee semolina dessert called Ravo).

Unusual touches include cooked jackfruit and small elichi bananas (served as a vegetable), the sweet and crunchy ber fruit, and the nutritious hyacinth bean. There’s a strong emphasis on health and nutrition, profiting from the local dhangar tradition in medicinal plants.

Most of the meals are served in a communal, earth-and-thatch building which is set in the woods and surrounded by shrubs. A combination of dining tables, low tables and sofas means you can be as sociable as you like. If you’re the only guests, you may be invited to join the Fernandez in their home; they also serve afternoon tea on their front lawn from time to time.