Jesus, the Lord of Goa’s food conquest of Portugal

The Avenida da Liberdade is a straight line of magnificence which cuts through the grandeur and the grace of Europe’s most beautiful capital - Lisbon. In the maze of finery, there’s a riot of colours and oh, the Lisbon light, when the sun shines on the red, yellow and the pale orange rooftops, making every inch of Lisbon a post card which is photo-shop proof.

After soaking in this Tsunami of colours and sunshine, on the Avenue da Liberdade, the mind went back to some unfinished business, to look for the young son of a politician friend from Goa, who moved to Lisbon and worked his way into the palate and taste buds of Lisbonkars, who has a restaurant just behind the avenue. He is a rebel of sorts, has been doing his thing, and has a name like Jesus. To many in Lisbon, he is the Lord of Goan food; to this wanderer, he just seemed like a very happy boy who cooks from the heart, twisting and innovating his mother’s recipes from her kitchen in Canacona.

Named Jesus, for reasons not difficult to guess, with Lee as his middle name because his dad loves Bruce Lee, Jesus Lee Fernandes arrived on Lisbon’s shores just out of high school and ultimately followed his passion for food. His restaurant is nondescript, has no signage and he hardly ever advertises. But as one of the leading art critics of Portugal, who was dining there when we happened to be at Jesus’ restaurant, said, “We know of Goa only though Jesus’ food, and my word, this is the best spicy stuff we have ever had. We are absolute regulars and we must visit your land.”

 ‘Jesus e Goes’ (literally,  Jesus is from Goa. Well, he sure is!) is behind Avenida de Liberdadade that runs from the Rossio square to Praca do Marques de Pombal, on Rua Sao Jorge. Frequent Goa visitors know the area well and those who know 'Jesus de Goes', identify it with the large motif of Lord Ganesha at the door and walls full of paintings of Gods from the Indian pantheon, intermingled with Catholic motifs.

But Goan food is clearly the religion here. Cooked out of the box with a mix of traditional Goan food, he has added a North Indian twist, making 'Jesus e Goes', a Goan restaurant with a pan-Indian flavour with dishes like shrimp curry with okra or the prawn and lamb samosas. And if you are missing Café Tato or Café Bhosle in Lisbon, Jesus has his bhaji puri and egg pao (called mini burger with poached eggs). What stands out though is the fish curry and the mutton xacuti. And a little bit of intelligence gathering from his colleagues in the restaurant revealed that his ‘haad maas’ (hot and spur spare ribs with a Goan flavour) and crab with coconut are the best in West Europe.

But he doesn’t leave it there. Unlike many Goan restaurants that have dessert because they have to have it, 'Jesus e Goes' goes miles to make dessert itself a reason to come to him. He does mini samosas with dates (yes, dates) and places them next to a blob of cinnamon ice-cream. When you bite a date samosa and then take a scoop of cinnamon ice cream, imagine the symphony of dates and cinnamon cooled by the ice cream. This is when you realise that flavours know no boundaries, no regions and states, and that a place can have an identity but borrow and fuse influences of the entire world. On Jesus’ palate and his plate, he welcomes ‘outsider’ flavours and yet offers such a warm Goan experience.

To wash it all down, the tame would try buttermilk and lemon soda, but a grand finale, or even as a toast before the meal, what is a must is the drink, 'Gin à Jesus', a gin and tonic with basil, rosemary, fennel seeds and pink tonic water made from Indian peppers.

As the family finished a meal and walked into the rain, a smiling bearded Jesus bid us goodbye gracefully and we left feeling so glad that this young man had not just kept Goa alive but introduced our land in the best way he could to westerners - through Goan food.