One of mankind’s most ancient and alluring gastronomical journeys is the hunt for the perfect cut of beef and cooked to perfection with the right amount of marination and accompaniments. You simply don’t mess with a steak. It’s the gladiator in the ring, it the all powerful Goliath which no David has challenged, it’s the stuff of dreams and legends. And thus it’s the local duty of any food writer to list and documents the rings where this sport is played, the sport and the art of fine steak making in Goa.
Admittedly Goa is no Kobe in Japan where legend has it that the famed tajima cows drink beer, massaged with rice wine and made to hear classical music to ensure that their meat is divine. But one is happy to report that the art thrives and the cuts, the marination, the mash and the veggies and then of course the sauces, are practiced and perfected, in some places better than the others. But this is no final steak report but surely work in progress.
So here are few picks: At the old quarter of Panjim, where Ernestos used to be (another fine place for the choicest of steaks) lies Barrels & Bones. It’s a classic American Barbeque and Steak House that does the traditional chateaubriand (cut from a tenderloin fillet) cooked in its own sauce of white wine, shallots, butter and lemon juice, as well as a unique steak twist, crab meat in blue cheese sauce, and of course a fillet of great steak (which should be ordered medium rare or at the most medium). Here the soft crab meat is taken out of its shell and cooked in blue cheese sauce which is a dish within a dish. The steak comes with it. B and B does a signature unique sauce which can be ordered as a side-pearl onion with cognac. This is a great twist to the pearl onions in prune sauce which goes so well with pork chops. Actually pearl onions and cognac are very popular siblings with most cuts of pork and beef and used in different combinations. For instance a rotisserie prime rib mixes really well with mushrooms flavoured with cognac and pearl onions.
Before we move on to the other spots, the soy glazed pork which needs no further embellishments might just about divert your attention from the primary one of checking out a good steak at B&B. Yours truly almost fell for it and actually did, but only to pack the pork for consumption at home with some very fine fruity red.
If traditional is the route, and steak has to be had in a very old fashioned delicious Goa way, Venite is still the place. The steak will always have some ham and has been very tender and juicy for years. It may at times lack the grand opulence of plating of the modern steakhouses, but this is home and you get home made steak.
Down South, perhaps the last destination (arguably) for many is Pentagon on the Majorda beach road. Its reviews have skyrocketed with friends and acquaintances from the world over certifying that it meets and even excels standards in Europe. My stars somehow weren’t quite shining bright at Pentagon on Christmas night with the meat lacking marination and feeling like a chip off the Himalayas. But to be fair, a massive order may have resulted in a fresh stock having to be glazed and marinated and we arriving when that process was on. But all is well. A day later another group form the west doffed their hats and endorsed this “as truly international and even better”.
And no review, even if this is work in progress can leave out Horizon in Candolim, though a visit this season has not yet happened. Horizon has perfected the art of getting the best cuts and hanging the meat out to dry before marinating, giving its steaks a unique texture and flavour. But more about this in a later column.
Yes the steaks are indeed high in Goa and you can’t let the standards drop – of what you want from your steak or steakhouse that is.
