There are many things that I want to write about. But for starters, I shall review a restaurant I visited recently.
Somewhere in my early 20's, a dear friend once fondly spoke about her 'sudden' interest to pursue cooking professionally. We laughed it off then as we were already halfway through the process of turning ourselves into computer engineers. But like they say, in India one becomes an engineer first and then decides what to do with his life.
So coming back, teasing her then we tried to find out the 'real' reason for her inspiration. She sighed and mentioned "I was watching an episode of Australian Masterchef yesterday".My other friend chuckled " I knew it!" Turns out, I was the only one in the room who had no clue that a show like Masterchef existed.
That was vaguely my first tryst with the show. Thereafter, I'll be honest, I haven't religiously followed the show. But whenever I chanced upon the same while browsing through the channels, it would make me immensely happy. I loved the way the contestants dished out immaculate masterpieces within a span of barely 1/2 hours. I loved the way the judges devoured the signature dishes and also wondered how would such a small portion of food ever fill anyone's stomach!
So why am I talking about something so vague is such great detail? The reason being - one of the finalists of the 2014 season of Masterchef-Sarah Todd has opened a restaurant named "Antares" in Goa. Since I loved this show so much, it was exciting for me to discover that I could now taste all those signature masterpieces at a place that's a stone throw distance from me.
For people who travel to Goa frequently, Antares is adjacent to the very famous Thalassa restaurant that has built quite a reputation over the years for its fine Greek food and one of the most mesmerizing sunset gazing points.
Sadly, I wasn't aware of this. After staying in Bangalore for almost 5 years now, I have forgotten my way to navigate through these 'touristy' places in Goa. I had to painstakingly navigate my way to Antares only to realise that it was next to Thalassa. Also, it could mean that my background research skills are very poor.
My mum was sweet enough to accompany me that day. It was like a ladies day out for the both of us as the men of the family - my brother & father were busy at work.
The restaurant looked like any other shack that one would find in Goa alongside a beach. I have been told that the scene is much better as the day progresses. There are Music & DJ nights as well & the lighting is supposed to be magnificent against the back drop of the Anjuna beach. We couldn't witness all of this as we ended up at the restaurant for lunch. While initially it was just 2 tables including us, by about 3 pm the other tables started to fill up as well.
Coming to the most important part - the menu.
I am sorry to say, but there was nothing Australian about the menu. All I could she was a fusion-ised version of goan dishes like Chicken cafreal served with bao or Crab Xacuti with a twist. The only thing which I could remotely connect with is the dessert "Nougaut" which was made by Sarah on the show. The dish too is named as "Sarah's famous Nougaut"
The Xacuti & cafreal tasted amazing- no doubt about that. But one doesn't travel all the way to Anjuna to have a dish which can be served by 10 restaurants that would be closer to where I stay.
My point is, since Australian cuisine is her forte, why not stick to that? Probably you'll have an audience that's willing to try Australian cuisine as opposed to Goan cuisine that's available everywhere. I am not denying the fact that I had a good time, I just wish that the restaurant lived up to the image that I had in my mind - that of tasting even one of those dishes that I'd seen on the show. Now,you may argue that not all the dishes cooked on the show were australian. yes, I agree. However, the restaurant did not have anything remotely as exciting or similar to the dishes cooked on the show. All I can remember is alot of pages covering the choicest of wines followed by a food menu that largely covered goan delicacies.
Bottomline, I loved this place for it's ambience, cocktails, the view and of course the food albeit none of which was Australian. It's a lovely place to be visited with a gang of friends or family for lunch ( even better- for dinner) but do not pin your hopes to high as far as the food is concerned.
Ofcourse, this is just my opinion and need not mean that others agree to it.
Let me know your views.
Link: http://antaresgoa.com/#rest_link
Somewhere in my early 20's, a dear friend once fondly spoke about her 'sudden' interest to pursue cooking professionally. We laughed it off then as we were already halfway through the process of turning ourselves into computer engineers. But like they say, in India one becomes an engineer first and then decides what to do with his life.
So coming back, teasing her then we tried to find out the 'real' reason for her inspiration. She sighed and mentioned "I was watching an episode of Australian Masterchef yesterday".My other friend chuckled " I knew it!" Turns out, I was the only one in the room who had no clue that a show like Masterchef existed.
That was vaguely my first tryst with the show. Thereafter, I'll be honest, I haven't religiously followed the show. But whenever I chanced upon the same while browsing through the channels, it would make me immensely happy. I loved the way the contestants dished out immaculate masterpieces within a span of barely 1/2 hours. I loved the way the judges devoured the signature dishes and also wondered how would such a small portion of food ever fill anyone's stomach!
So why am I talking about something so vague is such great detail? The reason being - one of the finalists of the 2014 season of Masterchef-Sarah Todd has opened a restaurant named "Antares" in Goa. Since I loved this show so much, it was exciting for me to discover that I could now taste all those signature masterpieces at a place that's a stone throw distance from me.
For people who travel to Goa frequently, Antares is adjacent to the very famous Thalassa restaurant that has built quite a reputation over the years for its fine Greek food and one of the most mesmerizing sunset gazing points.
Sadly, I wasn't aware of this. After staying in Bangalore for almost 5 years now, I have forgotten my way to navigate through these 'touristy' places in Goa. I had to painstakingly navigate my way to Antares only to realise that it was next to Thalassa. Also, it could mean that my background research skills are very poor.
My mum was sweet enough to accompany me that day. It was like a ladies day out for the both of us as the men of the family - my brother & father were busy at work.
The restaurant looked like any other shack that one would find in Goa alongside a beach. I have been told that the scene is much better as the day progresses. There are Music & DJ nights as well & the lighting is supposed to be magnificent against the back drop of the Anjuna beach. We couldn't witness all of this as we ended up at the restaurant for lunch. While initially it was just 2 tables including us, by about 3 pm the other tables started to fill up as well.
Coming to the most important part - the menu.
I am sorry to say, but there was nothing Australian about the menu. All I could she was a fusion-ised version of goan dishes like Chicken cafreal served with bao or Crab Xacuti with a twist. The only thing which I could remotely connect with is the dessert "Nougaut" which was made by Sarah on the show. The dish too is named as "Sarah's famous Nougaut"
The Xacuti & cafreal tasted amazing- no doubt about that. But one doesn't travel all the way to Anjuna to have a dish which can be served by 10 restaurants that would be closer to where I stay.
My point is, since Australian cuisine is her forte, why not stick to that? Probably you'll have an audience that's willing to try Australian cuisine as opposed to Goan cuisine that's available everywhere. I am not denying the fact that I had a good time, I just wish that the restaurant lived up to the image that I had in my mind - that of tasting even one of those dishes that I'd seen on the show. Now,you may argue that not all the dishes cooked on the show were australian. yes, I agree. However, the restaurant did not have anything remotely as exciting or similar to the dishes cooked on the show. All I can remember is alot of pages covering the choicest of wines followed by a food menu that largely covered goan delicacies.
Bottomline, I loved this place for it's ambience, cocktails, the view and of course the food albeit none of which was Australian. It's a lovely place to be visited with a gang of friends or family for lunch ( even better- for dinner) but do not pin your hopes to high as far as the food is concerned.
Ofcourse, this is just my opinion and need not mean that others agree to it.
Let me know your views.
Link: http://antaresgoa.com/#rest_link
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