The column has certainly aged if not come of age. And with a degree of
trepidation, Business with Pleasure is stepping into the unknown- a forest of
sorts and is coming out smiling. The foray was into the other world of
vegetarian restaurants- where “those “people went to. Their existence was known
but just about. Their visible presence largely unnoticed, and facts like there
are different planets within the vegetarian universe, one being “pure-veg”, and
the other “jain-veg”, were immaterial because one never went there.
In the heart of the 18th June area of Panjim, where culinary
experiences, have been documented in these columns for the last decade, there
lies a blink and you miss place, off 18th June, called Navrang. It’s been there
for well over a decade and gone about doing what it does best in a manner quite
anti- thetical to what is an expression in social media “shout out loud”
Vijay Mandaviya and his wife Jayashree, moved from Kathiawar in
Saurashtra and settled in Ponda for many years and started off a restaurant
there, mainly due their love for cooking what was “home food” for them. But it
was when they started Navrang in Panjim, brethren from Gujarat anywhere in the
radius of 1000 kilometers, soon knew that they and their stomachs, their minds,
their cultures and their eternal peace and happiness were in safe hands. Vijay
bhai, clearly isn’t a restaurateur. He’s just a host who invites you home. Every
morsel he serves in his simple, absolutely delicious veg-thali bursts with
freshness and an effervescence, which comes not from the food but the warmth
with which it is served. Navrang isn’t fancy. It’s actually quite tiny with
about six tables which are full during lunch hour. You either wait or share a
table with stranger. But Navrang over the years has had such a steady stream of
regulars that there are really no strangers here.
On the thali, there are normally two wholesome vegetables, and of course
there’s dal, butter milk to wash it down, and a sweet. But keeps this all
together is are their whole wheat chapattis served very very hot and theplas. Each chapatti brings you closer
home.
But if Vijay Bhai or Vijay kaka or just Vijay is the owner, chef, and
food server, there is a mausi behind the success of the man. Mausi should be in
her mid sixties and is from Ponda and has worked with Vijaybhai manning his
kitchen in Ponda and then here. We don’t quite know if she does all the
cooking, but she’s clearly the boss on the floor. With a temperament of a stern
but loving mom or a grandmom, her mission in life is to make you eat. If peace
needs to prevail, simply surrender to mausi. If she puts four rotis on your
plate, you are meant to eat them. She decides when to put more helpings of dal
or veggies. Butter milk keeps on pouring till you get up. These are platefuls
of goodness, no money can ever buy.
The other new entrant in this veggie centric universe is across the
bridge. In Saligao, there is an art café at Saraya, which is a creative space
for living, working on the farm, just relaxing in tree and mud huts and
creating and enjoying art (paintings et all). All that is served in the café,
at Saraya, is organically grown and most of it comes from the small farm where
the vegetables are grown. The roti, rice, dal combination is very good and
fresh but it is their curd and fresh melon juice which stands out.
But as the week ended, there was some return to normal life from the
forays into the heavenly world of vegetarianism. Cajetan Rodrigues was calling.
Caje, who readers have met before though these columns, is the ex football
player son of a Bambolim village toddy tapper who has very proudly left back a
legacy of hardworking sons who run Sea and Sand, better and simply known as
Caje’s place tucked away in the woods of Bambolim between the Grand Hyatt and
the Bambolim Beach resort. (Unless you know it, it’s virtually impossible to
find the place). With one of the best views of the ocean and meals which normally consist of very thick
prawn curry with kokum, the juiciest prawns this side of the Suez canal in rawa
masala, and a new invention which I
agreed to be a guinea pig for- choris paratha. These are goan sausage balls
wrapped in a fluffy paratha and rolled. Fried onions and chillies add to the
flavor. So if there’s no pao, or even if there is, check out the choris paratha
at Caje’s place, where Goa meets Delhi. Spend a languid afternoon, watching the
waves, bumping into friends of the past when memories are rekindled, and having
a laugh and a chat about everything from FC Goa’s fortunes to who is the best
man to win the St Andre seat in the next Assembly.
Vijay bhai and Caje are two peas in the same pod of friendship and
service in my Goa.
