// MUMBAI

images : getty ; stockfood ; awl images

My first true taste of Goan Catholic food was at Snow Flake Restaurant , near Jer Mahal . Once a bakery selling cakes and ice cream , it was converted into a laid-back restaurant offering beef , pork and fish . Time moves slowly in this place , with its black chairs , marble-top tables and old photos of Bombay . The restaurant ’ s tongue roast is legendary and hasn ’ t changed in the decade since I first tried it : tender , spicy and loaded with onions and potatoes . Close to Snow Flake is another old-timer , Castle Hotel . It once served beef and pork dishes , but now its focus has turned to fish , which it serves in a thali , fried or in curries .

In Colaba , there are two Goan restaurants that compete for attention . The winner is New Martin , easily the most popular old Goan restaurant in Mumbai . The owners aren ’ t Goan but the food is familiar : Goan Continental fare , like steak with potatoes , crumbly fish cutlets served with stew , a spicy beef chili fry and , for those seeking nostalgia , custard . Around the corner from them is Gables , which offers free wi-fi , old magazines and English music . Under a faux tiled roof , I ’ ve eaten prawn curries , chicken puffs and sausage pulao ( a one-pot rice dish ), with a sleeping cat for company .

Another cluster of Goan restaurants can be found in Mahim , which was one of the seven islands that made up the city . It was my first home after moving to Mumbai , and there I found shops selling masalas , and cold meat , dried bombil ( lizardfish ) and pickles sourced from Goa . There , I found a place that reminded me of the thali joints

back home . Sushegad Gomantak is a true hole-in-the-wall , run by a mother-son duo . The cooking is Goan Hindu style and fish has been their mainstay , served sukhe ( dry ), in a coconut curry , or fried — coated with a batter of rice flour and rava . I became such a frequent visitor that the owners would comment on my absence . I gorged on their xinaneo ( mussels ) fry , prawn cutlets , mori ambotik ( shark in a tangy spicy gravy ), bangda uddamethi ( a mackerel curry with urad dal and methi seeds ) and fish thalis . Nearby was the slightly upscale Fresh Catch , which emphasised its name with a life-size pelican carrying a fish in its mouth at the entrance . Here , Francis Fernandes also served fish : crabmeat smothered in butter garlic sauce , a seafood pulao packed with five kinds of fish , and recheado bangda ( spicy , fried mackerel ).

In the next suburb , Bandra , is a place that ’ s known today for its sungta maria ( prawns on toast ) and its Monday night karaoke . Meldan D ’ Cunha started Soul Fry 27 years back because “ there were no Goan restaurants in these suburbs .” Back then , it was known for launching many a career at

Can ’ t stop thinking about :

Goan Catholics enjoy their offal . Tongue , in particular , is either salted and cured or marinated with spices and then cooked as a ‘ roast ’ — marinated in a paste of spices , onions , ginger , garlic and lime juice or vinegar , and then cooked .

Easiest to recreate at home :

Recheado is a stuffing , a spicy red one which gets its flavor from red chilis and vinegar . It ’ s a paste that ’ s easily available : just open a packet , stuff in a fish like mackerel or squid , and fry .

Traditional dish : sorpotel

epitome of nose-to-tail cooking : it contained pig liver , brain and offal and was thickened with the blood . Today , it ’ s made without offal or blood , but is still a comforting dish , typically eaten with sannas .

Street food dish :

This delicious egg dish is a common street food snack , enjoyed for being cheap and filling . A chicken curry , or ras , is poured over an omelette ( sometimes made with onions , chilis and tomatoes ) and served with pao .

spring 2022 // 41