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TEN GREAT VALUE-FOR-MONEY PLACES TO EAT OUT IN GOA Frederick Noronha SOMEHOW only the big and luxury names seem to ever get written about in Goa. Probably it has something to do with their long reach, persistence and the fact that they simply have a bigger budget for doing PR. But if you're looking for taste, and not ambience, here's where you could seek. Caution -- some of these places are really rough, though tasty: o AFLATOON 'HOTEL', near the masjid alongside Alankar cinema in Mapusa. Be prepared to share tables with the scruffiest of characters and dig into tasty mutton biryani (Rs 40), beef biryani (Rs 20), soft parathas (Rs 5), seekh kababs (Rs 10) and the rest...This is Muslim-style food. o GOAN-NONVEG fast-food joints (they run out of adapted handcarts) at Santa Cruz (near the church) and Miramar (adjoining Clube Gaspar Dias). Meat-based sandwitches for Rs 10, tasty and easy-to-carry. (Couldn't we learn to use less plastic though?) Real home-style food at down-to-earth prices. No wonder one outlet at Miramar sells 800 bread a day! You can also get similarly delicious Goan cooking at the roadside in Agaciam (just before the bridge) or sausages ('choris-pao') at the Agaciam market. o AJANTA, near the Old Panjim Bus Stand, just before you new bridge over the Pato creek. Typical Pernem-style Goan food. Simple, tasty fish-curry-rice. Spicy too. A favourite when we worked nearby, when riceplates were Rs 5 in the mid-eighties. We journos had this joke about writing a book 'How To Get The Most For Rs 5 At Ajanta'. Now, the standard meal costs Rs 20-25. The special dishes (chicken, occasionally crab) are fiery hot and spicy. o ALISHA, opposite the new Goa legislative assembly. Both these above come from the cuisine of Hindu Goa (there are some variants among this too, depending on region, class and caste). o SAROVAR. What can you get for Rs 20? Two parathas, butter-milk, three curries, curd, rice, a sweetdish, pickle... Naturally crowded in the afternoons. Even more naturally, the waiters can be quite friendly since at this value-for-money it hardly hurts to give a five rupee tip (great by local standards) each time! o GENERALLY, almost every Udupi or 'Kamat' restaurant in the state. This cuisine finds its origin outside Goa's borders, along the south Karnataka coast. But, what the heck, the food maintains its standards and taste, that even some among the local Christian population (who's diet is or has been actually non-vegetarian) have developed a taste for this. Standard meals average Rs 20-30. o THE LONE 'shack' (at the time of writing, 2003) on Siridao beach. This fishing village is tucked away off the Panjim-Margao highway, just before the Agaciam-Cortalim bridge. Fish dishes, it's speciality naturally. o 'HOTEL MANGALORE', by the roadside about a kilometre away from Canacona's main tiny town, Chaudi. Don't get misled by the term 'hotel', this is a roadside eatery. It's close to Char Rasta, literally, Four Roads, the point where they meet. Not to be confused with another restaurant of the same name, that lies closer to the petrol pump. The 2002-end prices were pegged at 'deluxe fish c. rice' (the 'c' is for curry) at Rs 80, a semi-deluxe version for half that price, and a 'local' equivalent for one-fourth. Obviously chicken is its specialty. o CHECK THE fish preparations of the restaurant that's under the bridge at the Cortalim end. Traditional Catholic Goan style, good value for money. o CAFE PRAKASH, a tiny hole-in-the-wall in Panjim. Near the Azad Maidan close to the ferry jetty. Nothing exceptional here, except that some of us local journalists consider it to be the "unofficial" press club of Goa each evening (lots of gossip!) and you could dwadle over a cup of tea (Rs 3) for three hours. No questions asked! After circulating this short-list to a Internet-based mailing-list for journalists in Goa (called Goajourno), a whole lot of other suggestions came in. It would perhaps be unfair to overlook the favourite watering holes and eating places of a number of well-travelled scribes from the state. Reporter Mayabhushan Nagvenkar votes in favour of the oyster-masala at Devata Cafe in Ribandar. Nadia V Menezes, an ex-Herald staffer now in Mumbai, has her own entry for Number 11: "A home-cum-restaurant just behind Kamat Restaurant (towards the old railway station) in Margao that serves simply delicious, very coconutty-n-spicy fish curry rice." She's adds that some time back a 'fish thali' used to go for Rs 15. Vidya Heble, ex-Gomantak Times and now in Singapore, recommends Anandasharam, located in the easy-to-get-lost-in lanes to the west of the General Post Office. It's opposite Venite. She calls it a "no-frills, no-pretences eatery ... (run by an elderly gent whom we called Kaka, or Uncle, and who's) smile is still as welcoming and the fish still as delicious". Naturally, you get better food in the afternoons, rather than nights when business is slack in this government servant-dominated town. Vidya mentions another great family-run place for fried prawns at the Nerul Tinto, in Bardez. Rash Deep, opposite the Land Survey Department, is a place for inexpensive fish-curry-rice was also a journalists' favourite in the past. Indian Express's former man-in-Goa Shiv Kumar had this to say: "Ask me guys! I was scrounging around for some good value-for-money places in Panjim for two years! My short list is tilted heavily in favor of seafood!" "Ajanta is great. Could never have enough of the crabs and shellfish though one had to go early in the afternoon. There is a tiny place next to Sher-e-Panjab, Panjim (I think its called Excelsior or some fancy name) lots and lots of fish freshly fried. One nameless shack a little down the Times of India on the slope to Altinho almost near the market -- great fresh coconut prawns curry and lots of fresh fish. For some reason, it's the best place where the fresh fish goes best with the beer!" Of course, there's a caveat: keep an eye closed with regard to the hygiene. That holds for many of these places. Shiv also says he chanced upon a home-cum-restaurant in Cuncolim "where on some mornings they make you wait while the owner rushes to the market to get some fish!" Another is a hole in the wall joint in St Inez that served lovely home made food. But take care, for as Shiv says, not long back another journo in Goa "called up from Goa to tell me the 'kokum' in the 'sol kadi' turned out to be a big fat cockroach!" Margao's Kamat Hotel has some good 'puri bhaji'. Shiv's other favourites include the Khansamah at the Mollem forest guest house, which prepares "some lovely fish, chicken and mutton for guests". Another place opposite the Panjim mosque is Ghazali. "Lots of seating and the food is home cooked. Again I know only about the seafood there. One time I opened my wallet a bit, i found huge pomfret still cold from the freezer at the core. But then in Goan restaurants one should buy only the moderately priced stuff that go quickly off the shelf," says Shiv. Via the Internet came a hint from Lawrence, who mentions Cafe Firdaus at the Juma Masjid Road near Margao's old railway station. "It's a hole in the wall joint, scruffy characters et al. The egg masala fry, kheema fry, and parathas are superb. Rates almost half that of Aflatoon," claims Lawrence. Can it be? Says Mayabhushan: "It is a cardinal sin for a journalist (tee-totalers included) to miss out Abel's Best In The World opposite the Gomantak office at St Inez. Some of the finest grub. A limited menu and food which says eat me. Guy called Ryan (Peter's son) runs it. Food... food... at night. Peter's it has to be." Other journalists too remember Peter's. Says Vidya: "I don't think any of the old-timers (among journos) need to be told about Peter's! I don't think I would go there now that the late Peter isn't around to say 'Saba!' at the door and assure us that the chicken is 'best in the world today!' -- those were indeed the days and they really will not return. Sad feeling." Inacio Oliveira, earlier with Gomantak Times, tells of Bappa's Sukhi Bhaji Pao at Merces that is "so special that even people from neighbouring villages especilally visit the place". Swapna Sardessai, one of the members of the founding team of Gomantak Times' Weekender, says: "There's this 'gaddo' outside GMC that comes alive after 8 pm. The food is Chinese and simply too good. Stays open way past midnight." Alisha, mentioned above and opposite the new Secretariat Complex, serves great garlic naans, rawa fried 'chonak' fish and the 'tisreo' seafood and is open till late. "On afternoons, the fish-curry rice is a treat. The view is refreshing here. One gets to see a side of Panjim not visible from anyplace else," says ex-journalist Swapna. Coco Chin at St. Cruz 'bundh' overlooks green fields on all sides and serves a great starter called chilli garlic potato. The rest of the Chinese grub served here is good too. One day, sitting at the Cafe Prakash -- our journalists' unofficial press club -- we discussed various options. Like Marietta, for homely Catholic non-veg food (the proprietor would translate your bill into paise, giving the uninitiated a mild heart attack -- 3300 instead of Rs 33!). Or Uday Upahargraha (below PTI, next to Navhind Times in the Panjim market area) for its delicious prawn biryani. Bharat Lunch Home next to Ajanta is known for its ginger soda. Want something ultra cheap? Try Public Cafe, near Don Bosco's in Panjim. Bhaji and parathas for Rs 7, and tea for Rs 2! Anything to beat that? The KTC Bus Stand in Panjim has a Keralite called Babu selling white 'bhajjas', tomato omlette and onion pakodas. Allegro in Panjim and Anand in the building somewhat grandiloquently renamed as 'Pudhari Bhavan' (it's home to that newspaper's office) is also known for its Goan food and paraboiled rice. Check out the 'kalva bhaji' at the restaurant near the Four Pillars. At Bainguinim, on the way to Old Goa, Pritam is supposed to be even better than STAR, both know for their Hindu styled tasty Goan fish. For parathas try Everest at the old Cine El Dorado building. Daniel Fraguso near the Taleigao's Church has had a reputation for home and party cooking. Kumer, next to Alisha's, run by the kin of ex-MLA Babuso Gaonkar, is also appreciated for its food. Taj next to Kalpatru offers special limbu soda, big 'battatawadas' and mutton 'samosas'. Karishma is an interesting Muslim-run outlet near Margao's old railway gate. Don't miss Fernando's at Raia and Siddhi's Sukhi Bhaji-Usal. Before ending, one must issue a statutory warning. These places are best visited during peak hours, which usually means lunch-time. Reach there at 9 pm, and what could be a good (read tasty and crowded) eating-out place in the afternoon could become a lousy place by evening, serving cold and tasteless food as the clientel dwindles. This listing has obviously missed out on a number of other worthy places which do deserve a listing. Other candidates include the elderly man at the Parra market, selling Goan fast food (boiled eggs, boiled peanuts, etc)... The bias favouring Bardez and places around Panjim does show due to geographical reasons. Your suggestions and tips for enhancing this listing are more than welcome. PS: I did not eat a free meal in any of these places... -- Frederick Noronha : http://www.fredericknoronha.net : When we speak of free Freelance Journalist : http://www.bytesforall.org : software we refer to Ph 0091.832.2409490 : Cell 0 9822 122436 : freedom, not price. _______________________________________________ Goanet-news mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.goanet.org/mailman/listinfo/goanet-news