As they played on the streets, lanes and the church compound
of the laid back magnificent Curtorim church, Mackustoy Almeida and Jonathan
Fernandes, probably had a boyish dream of planning a professional future
together. But as it invariably happens, in the salubrious embraces of Curtorim,
a village created out of the elixir of agelessness, both the boys embarked on
their respective life’s journeys, before coming back to kick start their
unspoken dream – of creating something together.
Jonathan followed in the footsteps – or shall we say waves –
of many male Curtorkars, and set sail as a seafarer working on ships and spending
his youth on sea. About six months ago, the pangs of his roots grew stronger and
one of his visits home, got talking to Mackustoy, whose mother is a banker, who
had already started his career running a popular restaurant in Margao.
They both settled on starting a contemporary restaurant (as opposed
to a Goan restaurant), bringing to it an international joie de vivre. From then
on, they cooked their idea on slow fire, slowly turning up the heat till plans
and their execution started following each other. An old home with sprawling
lawns on the Colva coastline was leased, giving them the space to make it a hub
of music, arts and other forms of creativity.
And they called it Uzzo or Fire. The christening of the
restaurant itself has a story. The father of one of the boys came to the restaurant
before its opening and over a drink was listening to the brainstorming of the
two young boys who kept saying that name had to be peppy and yet Goan. And then
all of a sudden, the senior gent quipped “Uzzo”, and the young lads responded,
“That’s the name”.
These simple success stories gladden all Goan hearts, including
‘outsider’ hearts soaked in Goan spirit. While, Uzzo has raised the bar for a
perfect beef steak by several notches with its great cuts and seasoning, the
vibe is the real cuisine. You are surrounded with big screens, showing EPL
matches and if you predict that a team is going to score and they do, you get a
peg of whisky. At the end of the evening the family predicted two goals for Chelsea
and one for Tottenham but all the “prizes” had to wolfed by yours truly.
When you see and sense these stories of enterprise, of sons crafted
by the earth of Amchem Goem, it’s a
simple happy feeling. On this note, yours truly shall be excused for pulling
the narrative back to Loutolim and House No2 with a caveat that the natural
Loutolim bias isn’t the cause of this. While we raved about the cuisine in
previous despatches, this tribute is to the history of House No2, the second
home built in this village. It belonged to one of the most illustrious families
in Goa, the family of Mons.
Dr Gregorio Magno de Souza e Antao, a Doctor in Canonic Law,
(he wrote 42 articles in Canonic Law in Latin and Portuguese), a Professor of
the Seminary of Rachol and Chancellor of ‘Curia Patriarcal de Goa e Damao since
1964 till death. It is on this bulwark of history that Orson Dias and Linekar Furtado
ventured to be a part of Loutolim’s first and obviously the finest fine dining
restaurant, yet another signpost of local enterprise built on the foundation of
heritage.
And while you soak all this in, our in house food expert recommends
‘Cajun Blackened Fish’, marinated with Caribbean herbs and served with steamed
rice and assorted vegetables; and a ‘Spiced Pork Chop. This is only after at
least one meal of the medium rare steak fillet mignon, though.
In the same village, footsteps away there is a place which
has made Ambora, Loutolim and Goa world famous. At Jila Bakery you hear the
riveting tenor of the violin, the strains of the guitar and the aroma of
freshly baked pastries and éclairs. It’s the home of an Antao family again,
which serves happiness with no fuss.
These places were not boxes we had to check, but after unconnected
wanderings, realisation dawned that if locals can keep the mantra of goenkarponn going, with their spirit of
joyful and unencumbered enterprise, in these beautiful little ways, we will not
need a pitch for or politics around goenkarponn.
