I had
recently heard of a new gastro-pub, the concept of which sounded
absolutely spankingly good. You can’t possibly claim to serve 52
different kinds of beer, and Portuguese fare, which is one of my
areas of preference, and go wrong. This new place on the block even
went Iberian with the name, referring to itself as ‘Cerveja e
Mais’, literally translating to ‘beer and more’. I drove down
to the place and decided to check it out, after hearing quite a bit
of buzz being generated around it.
My
initial impressions were of the humbling kind, because the little
establishment is tucked in-between two shops (Harry Potter anyone?),
and in terms of dimensions, is a little shop-esque itself. Decorated
rustically, it sports interiors of wood and stone, and plenty on the
wall to suggest that it keeps up its billing of being beer centric.
Divya Rosario, the proprietor, states with much pride that at any
given point in time, she stocks 52 different varieties of beer. Her
aim is to eventually take it up to 100, as that is the USP of the
venue.
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The kitchen
is manned by Divya’s father, and she handles front of house,
deciding which beers make the grade, and which ones don’t. She also
focuses on whipping up a series of beer-based cocktails, served in a
variety of interesting receptacles, ranging from mason jars to light
bulb-shaped tumblers. There is a constant flow of beer pong, karaoke
and live match screening underway. As of this weekend, live
entertainment too.
However,
having said all of the above, there is much work that needs to be
done in terms of fine-tuning. Now, if one focuses on the critique,
this is where I would personally take stock of things. The cuisine,
while attempting to focus on Portuguese fare, misses the mark, but
has room for improvement. There is more of a focus on the
Indo-Portuguese, per se – the borrowing of Portuguese dishes, and
the lending of Goan spices. This, in all honesty, doesn’t always
work well, especially with cuisine as lightly tempered as Portuguese,
which take no spices whatsoever. However, it is nothing that a trip
to the Iberian Peninsula, with a generous sampling of their cuisine,
won’t cure, and is something that will actually hold the
establishment in good stead, in my opinion.
As
I customarily tend to do on such ventures, I let the host/hostess
take charge and make recommendations. Divya’s were to stick to her
father’s favourites. The first dish was a burger that was fried
with a crunchy chicken fillet, with onion rings, and fries on the
side. Good? Yes. Authentically Portuguese? Not so much. Divya
promptly followed this up with ‘Spare Ribs marinated and fried with
Honey Sauce’. Again, to be fair, I would have to list it as
something which retains the gastro-pub profile of the establishment,
yet doesn’t scream Portuguese ‘tasca’,
or, which the venue has the potential to be. Lastly, on my list of
things that I tried on my night out, was the house steak. Plated in
sliced fashion and doused in sauce, it wasn’t my preferred method
of eating steak, but for the third time in three attempts in one
night, the dish screamed pub grub.
So this is my
take on ‘Cerveja e Mais’. It has plenty of potential, of that
there is no doubt. A beer centric concept is something that other
states had certainly explored, which Goa hadn’t yet. Their series
of activities even leans in the direction of all-nighters being
pulled by groups of singles. In my younger days, a watering hole to
be stuck at till the wee hours of the morning. However, if it needs
to actually arrive at the benchmark that it has set for itself, it
needs to go back to the drawing board, look at a potential trip to
analyse what it wants to take from a Portuguese menu, and it promises
to have a bright future indeed.
