He is a
Brazilian who doesn’t quite like football but has an artistry that makes many
legends come to his table. Like most Brazilian football greats, Guto has moved
from country to country, stamping his class before settling in Goa but unlike
every other footballer, including even Pele perhaps, Guto has never been out of
form.
While BWP
has met and recorded Guto’s different journeys within Goa, starting with his
iconic restaurant Fusion at Majorda where he introduced bife na pedra, (slices
of raw beef cooked on a hot stone on the table and layered with sauces), he is
beginning another chapter in his journey, which again is a small chapter in
Goa’s international culinary journey. Chef Guto’s son, a chip of the old block,
is “returning” from Brazil to “home” in India to do what he does best –
Japanese food. So this promises to be exciting. A Brazilian who has mastered
Japanese and will showcase it in Goa, a bit like a certain Zico, a part of the pantheon
of Brazil’s football Gods, who went to become a very successful coach of the
Japan World Cup team and is now in Goa, coaching the struggling FC Goa team.
On a
weekday night, we walked in way past eleven when Guto and his wife had all but
closed shop, the kitchens were clean and all that was left to say was “good
night”. First the admonishment, “is this a time to walk into my place”, and
then turning to my close buddies from Bangalore, he quipped, “your friend is
mad, we don’t know how we let him get away with this”. As you pretend to walk
away, the great big bear hug happens. After this Kodak moment when Guto hugged
Gupta, the master chef quietly walked into the kitchen and ten minutes later
emerged with the following; succulent pork belly with delicious crispy skin and
chicken medallions in blue cheese with assortments of shallots, spinach and
mash. Was it a magic switch he pressed, where a mini staff-less kitchen
transformed into a minilab of excellence in five minutes?
But here is
the larger narrative. Goa is well and truly one of the very few places in India
with such an eclectic mix of the best creations ever eaten in the world and
while our metros have the same restaurants, mainly in five star hotels, it is
only here where this kind of cooking will be done by authentic locals from
different lands who cook their food the way they do it at home. And that makes
Goa different.
From
Tomatino to Sakana for Spanish and Japanese respectively, to Thalassa for Greek
and Tao and Thai N Wok in Panjim for oriental and Bomras, run by the absolutely
lovable Burmese “rebel”, Baumra Jaap, who lives in London and Goa to Dayini Feraud, of French
parentage who lived life in Auroville in Pondicherry. Feraud runs a café with
husband Leo Michaud in Arpora, called Baba Au Rhum but it’s so so French.
Salads, sandwiches, baguettes, croissants and everything that’s typically
francais. And like Guto and his lovely Dutch wife Neel, Dayini and Leo made Goa
their home as opposed to their homeland with one common factor – their daughters’
love Goa.
As the
season begins, it is not just the world that comes to Goa. Cuisines of the
world make that same journey and reside in the temples of the old faithful
–restaurants. And most of them are finishing their breaks away to countries whose
passports they hold and are winging their back to Goa to open and reopen
places. The top of the mind (and belly) ones are: The legendary Leela Cafe has
moved after twenty years to Arpora on the Calangute-Siolim-Arpora road, the
best breakfast place in Goa run by a German lady, till perhaps Emily, a fellow
country woman, opened Cafe de Goa on the Calangute-Arpora road. Ciao Bella in
Assagao run by an Italian couple, the little cafe at Yoginis yoga centre at
Assagao and Basilico in Anjuna.
All of them
have added to the tapestry of Goa not just on our plates but on our live and
lifestyles. Each a little island, each different and yet each a part of our
Goa. And yet there are more from the smaller places to the fine dining ones on
Morjim and places in the deep south.
And how
have they changed Goa. The answer lies in a quiet evening as the sun sets and
the clinking of glasses tells you that the evening is beginning in the
restaurant by the sea. The barbeque gets going and the aroma of smoky meat and
charcoal waft through the air. Music and conversations happen and then the food
appears one each table, each a well crafted masterpiece. This is where the
seven seas, the mountains and many distant lands meet. Is this a small
contribution by these men and women who have made Goa home?
