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Happy New Year Twenty-Ten
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The coast with the most
Vivek Menezes rounds up Goa’s hottest spots for the festive and party season.
What to do
Feast of the Three Kings
One of Goa’s most charming feasts takes place on the January 6 in the
picturesque village of Reis Magos on the Mandovi riverfront opposite
Panjim. To commemorate the Biblical story about three wise men of the
East who visited the newborn Jesus in Bethlehem, the villagers
re-enact the scene, with lots of pomp and ceremony including
ear-splitting fireworks.
Wed Jan 6. Reis Magos Church, Reis Magos. Festivities begin from 8.30am.
Latin Quarter Christmas
Centuries-old Christmas traditions are still followed in almost every
household of the Goa’s sizeable Catholic minority (30 per cent of the
population): home-made sweets, home-made paper lanterns shaped like
the star of Bethlehem and carol-singing sessions. There are many ways
for visitors to soak in all this Christmas spirit, none better than
attending midnight mass on Christmas Eve. We recommend the open-air
gathering at St. Sebastian’s Chapel in beautiful Fontainhas, the
winding Latin Quarter of Panjim. Show up with a smile, shake a few
hands and you’re likely to be invited into one of the stately
surrounding homes for some of those yummy sweets or a snifter of port
wine.
Thur Dec 24. St Sebastian’s Chapel, Fontainhas, Panjim. Church
services start at 11.30pm.
Literati Bookshop & Cafe
Goa’s best bookshop promises many special events at year-end,
including a reading by novelist Anjum Hasan from her new book Neti,
Neti, and multiple screenings with the award-winning documentarian,
Aruna Harprasad. But at the time of writing, only one date was fixed:
the local launch of Edge of Faith, Prabuddha Dasgupta’s moody, elegiac
book of photographs on Sunday December 27 at 7 pm. The images portray
a Goa that is “caught in a time warp between comforting nostalgia and
a doubt-ridden, insecure future”. Check with Literati for further
details.
Gauravaddo, Calangute, opposite Tarcar Ice Factory (0832-227-7740,
www.literati-goa.com).
Sunburn Goa 2009
India’s first home-grown international electronic dance music festival
was launched by DJ Nikhil Chinapa in 2007, and has become the largest
EDM event in Asia. The third edition will again be held at Candolim
beach, and features Armin van Buuren, Roger Sanchez and Sander van
Doorn, as well as Ma Faiza, the Jalebee Cartel and Tuhin Mehta (aka
Brute Force). The action continues late into the night, as the venue
shifts to Butter, across the road from the beach.
Sun Dec 27-Tue Dec 29 Dec. Visit www.sunburn-festival.com for ticket
details and schedule. One-day passes Rs 1,500 + 15 per cent tax,
three-day passes Rs 3,000 + 15 per cent tax.
Where to eat
Club Fresh
Club Fresh is the most ambitious and distinctive beach shack ever set
up in Goa, a restaurant, lounge, bar and dance floor set dramatically
close to the waves. The menu is Japanese and Thai, the décor, white on
white, and all this is the creation of Sunil Chawla, who launched Club
Fresh in November. On the baking-hot day we visited, we were
immediately grateful for Club Fresh’s covered space and comfortable
sofas just yards from the surf, and soon came to appreciate the
beachfront shower (wooden platform painted white, of course). While we
were unimpressed with the sushi, the Thai food was very satisfying. We
especially enjoyed the delicious fish cakes. The menu had made clear
that none of this comes cheap, but the cheque still made us recoil in
horror. Then we discovered that it had been padded by more than Rs
1,000. Though we received an explanation for this – the bill was
apparently made from another menu, planned for a special party that
night – the incident was off-putting.
Hotel Marbela, House 82, Gawdevaddo, Morjim (0832-651-4971). Daily
8.30am-10.30pm. Meal for two Rs 3,000. MC, V, AmEx.
Jila Bakers and Confectioners
The Jila bakery is a miraculously intact time capsule of traditional
recipes and techniques. There are no mixers, everything is made by
hand. There are no cooking ranges, only the laterite-encased coal
oven. There is no modern equipment of any kind and all of Jila’s
specialities are made with recipes and techniques created decades ago
and passed on to the master-baker, Reginald Antao, by his father, Jose
who worked for several years in Mumbai. We’ve never tasted éclairs as
wonderful as these (Rs 96 for a dozen) or anything that melts in the
mouth likes Antao’s suspiros, tiny meringue cookies (the name means
“sigh” in Portuguese, Rs 50 for 250 gms). Best of all is the apple
strudel (Rs 60), which really has to be tasted to be believed.
Reginald Antao tells us with quiet pride that there’s nothing quite
like these strudels anywhere else. The incredibly light, layered
pastry technique was taught to his father by skilled chefs from
Moradabad who once worked in Mumbai.
Ambora, Loutolim (0832-277-7224). Mon-Sat 7am-7.30pm Sun 7-11am.
Sublime
The Indian-American chef Chris Agha (he is the late actor Jalal Agha’s
son) trained at Culinary Institute of America, and his food has a
reputation for being impressively executed. His restaurant, Sublime,
has just re-opened in a pleasant garden in Saligao, its fourth
location in as many years. A recent meal there began with great
promise. The appetisers, shot-glasses of asparagus soup, topped with a
yummy locally-made corn chip and fresh tomato salsa, arrived briskly.
The mozzarella salad (made with Goa-sourced artisanal cheese, Rs 175)
was first-rate. Agha’s Mexican-style take on ceviche (Rs 165) was also
good. But after that, things went off the rails. Several enticing
options turned out to be unavailable at lunch. And then our main
courses looked better than they tasted, each confused by an overdose
of ingredients, making for a culinary cacophony. The snapper, already
wrapped in smoked bacon (Rs 310), came crowned with a salad, atop a
robust coulis of black-eyed peas, with big wedges of Goan bread on the
side. Some of this wasn’t on the menu, and not all of it made sense.
We were already disappointed when the warm chocolate cake (Rs 120)
arrived resembling lumpy cocoa. With this new location, the latest
avatar of Sublime clearly has a shot to become one of Goa’s landmark
restaurants. But the menu and service will have to be tightened
considerably before that can happen.
House 1/9A, Grande Morod, Saligao (98224-84051). Daily noon-3pm,
6.30-11pm. Meal for two Rs 1,500, Cash only.
Sea for celebration
Our pick of the best beach locations to ring in 2010.
Café del Mar
Invited guests only at this popular beach bar in Palolem and its clone
in Baga. But we’ve kept place for you. Just tell the owner, Kennedy
Lobo, that Time Out sent you.
Palolem/Baga. Call 98233-76520.
Club Fresh
Club Fresh is rumoured to have planned something over-the-top, with
tickets priced to match at Rs 15,000 per head. The owner, Sunil Chawla
told us it is “by invitation only. Direct inquiries to my personal
phone”.
Morjim. Call Sunil Chawla on 0832-645-0599.
Joet’s
Before reaching this much-loved beach shack, the party starts with
live music and a poolside buffet at the nearby Coconut Creek hotel.
Bogmalo. Call 0832-253-8036, 253-8090 Rs 2,000 per head.
La Plage
No hiked-up prices at this superb
modern-French restaurant in a coconut grove. Foie gras (prepared two
ways) will make its annual appearance on the menu.
Ashvem. Call 98221-21712.
Montego Bay
No additional pricing again, at the Goan family favourite, which will
rock to its usual mellow, retro vibe.
Morjim. Call 98221-50847.
Zeebop
Zeebop’s annual buffet dinner is held on powder-soft sands.
Utorda. Call 98221-54541. Tickets Rs 2,000 per person.
Source : Time Out Mumbai ISSUE 9 Friday, December 25, 2009
http://timeoutmumbai.net/consume/shopping_details.asp?code=345&source=1
