There
can never be too many restaurants in Goa; every new eatery gets a
warm welcome here. A new entrant on the food circuit in Panjim is
Cluck Tales.
Located just opposite
Don Bosco
College in
Panjim,
the restaurant is the brainchild of Chef
Manjula Da Cruz,
who will warmly welcome you as you step across the threshold. Arsenal
fans will have another reason to head here: to taste the food
prepared by the chef
who cooked for their favourite footballers!
How
is this possible? Well, Manjula
was in charge of feeding the Arsenal footballers from 1998 to 2000 by
following a strict diet and controlled list of ingredients yet
keeping
things delicious.
“The footballers included Tony Adams, Ashley Cole, Thierry Henry
and Nicolas Anelka.
Under the
strict guidelines of their manager Arsène Wenger, their meals had to
be totally starch and protein based. I still remember their menu at
the back of my mind,
as I used to serve them at the Emirates Stadium, in
London. The
custard in their fruit tart had to replaced with yogurt;
as
for chicken, only the breast could be served while only flat fish
like sole or grey
mullet
made it to their plates.
If they won
the match, they would say, ‘Chef, it was your food.’ If
they lost, they would say the same thing,” she smiles as she
reminisces
her time with ‘The Invincibles’.
Manjula
completed her apprenticeship at Taj Hotels in Mumbai,
before moving to England in 1991. After completing 21 years in the
food industry in England, Manjula,
originally from Velim in South Goa,
headed back to her roots in 2012. She joined ‘The
Crown’
in Panjim as a
chef and worked there till 2013,
before moving on to
pursue her dream of starting a restaurant.
“25 years ago,
I had to make a decision whether to become a successful chef or a
responsible family member. I chose the former,
and was
supported by my father and my friends who are like my extended
family.”
Manjula
conceptualised
and trained her staff before
handling the
opening Cluck Tales in the city. “Chicken is a meat that can be
cooked in varied ways. I known that Goans love eating out,
and the
response of Panjimites
is
fantastic. Now people from other places too are
eager to try out new places too.
I get customers from Vasco, Ponda, Margao and Palolem who eat here.
Though everything on the menu is unique, some of the stand-out
dishes,
besides the grilled spatchcock and 5 different variants of marinades,
are the Chicken Empanadas and chicken chops,” says Manjula.
Going
back to the ‘Grilled Spatchcock’ she says, “The
meat
is marinated
for a minimum of 48 hours and I don’t serve the chicken without it
having completed
that duration. I would
rather not
serve,
it if it is not done well. There is no skin on
the chicken,
so the meat is seared well and has very low
oil content;
even the marinade has no oil. The only oil
in the dish is
the one used to oil the grill.”
“I
cook all the time,
for functions, potlucks and whenever I come home early from the
restaurant. Even when I don’t get sleep, the best thing to do is
cook. I woke up once last week,
at 1am and I couldn’t
go back to
sleep. I cooked boiled chick peas with roasted capsicum and marinated
olives
and went to
sleep by 2am. Cooking is very therapeutic for me,” concludes
Manjula.
