Breakfast this morning was at the tiny Café Shubham in the beautiful coastal village of Morjim in north Goa.

Bhaji-Pão-Chao: Rs 14 ($0.28).
Taste, Service & Warmth: Priceless.

Chao (tea) served in faceted glass
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

A leisurely start - Vishnu Shetgaonkar of Morjim
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Dipping 'kanknam' (crisp bangles) in chao - Anthony Fernandes
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

My breakfast
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

The mere mention of jackfruit stirs fond childhood memories of Goan summers. The baby jackfruit meant breakfast to us brats unshackled from the tyranny of the school year. You slit the fruit open with your hands, scooped up the fleshy nuggets and then spat out the seed.

The Konkani word for jackfruit is the same as the Sanskrit panas. In Goa, two varieties obtain, differing in the nature of the flesh: the pulpy rasaal, and the firmer, crispier kaapo. The fruit is abundant along India’s Konkan and Malabar coasts. Look up the Wiki link above for details.

A more generous fruit would be hard to cite. The flesh is eaten as is, or used as the main ingredient in several traditional preparations. The chewy saatth, prepared by grinding and flattening the pulp and then drying it in the sun, is much relished in Goa and other south Indian states. The roasted seed is a wholesome snack and jackfruit chips make for irresistible nibbles. To cap it all, the neighbourhood cow is ever grateful for the skin tossed her way.

Jackfruit mountain near Thrissur, Kerala
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Low hanging fruit - Mayem, Goa
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Jackfruit tree at Nunem, Goa
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In one short verse, the great Goan poet Bakibab Borkar (1910-1984) captured the essence of what it means to be Goan1:

Please Sir, God of Death
Don’t make it my turn today,
not today
There’s fish curry for dinner.

[1] Great Goans by Mario Cabral e Sa and Lourdes Bravo Da Costa, N.N.A.P. Publications, 1991.

Fish is the Goan’s raison d’être, and to say that our seafood cuisine has no equal in the world is a statement of fact, not a boast. When two Goans meet, the conversation opener is always “What fish did you have today?”

Entire communities in the coastal fishing villages were once committed to the occupation. The advent of commercial fishing and its big trawlers in recent times has considerably weakened the older socio-economic practices. And with access to education and alternate career choices, the children of traditional fisherfolk have taken to casting their net on Facebook instead. There is still enough critical mass of fishing culture left in Goa to perhaps last another generation or two.

The photos in this sequence were taken in Siolim and Siridona, and convey a sense of the informal market setting in a Goan village.

Catch of the Day
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Fresh fish for the early bird
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Sorting
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Traditional fisherwoman in Siolim
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A classic Goan village scene - in Siridona
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

In Siridona
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

The Goan fish market - by Mario Miranda
From 'GOA with love'

This is Part 2 of the conspectus on the cafés of Panjim. The first installment outlined the city’s café culture and covered the iconic Café Central. Here we survey the pioneering houses of the genre that are still active and thriving.

The menu at all these cafés has much in common. They distinguish themselves by their house specialties and through variations on familiar dishes. Panjimites are deadly serious about their cafés and brand loyalty is fierce, with affiliations carrying seamlessly over generations within families.

A few of the older cafés have now adopted a two-tier seating (and pricing) arrangement by adding an air-conditioned annexe. The comfort it provides in the summer months is welcome, but to those of us weaned on the originals, the new upgrades have diminished some of the spirit and character of an earlier era.

As mentioned in the earlier post, Café Central no longer supports a sit-down setting. Café Tato is today the top dog, located only a few steps away from the old Café Central site. It was founded in 1913 by Keshav Govind Dhuri from the village of Nerul, and is the oldest of the surviving cafés. It began as Hindu Upahar Griha, which was later dropped in favour of “Tato,” the founder’s cognomen. Today the enterprise is run by the grandson, Pradip Govind Dhuri.

Café Tato is internationally known for its bhaji-puri. See this and drool. (Note: the t’s in Tato are soft, the ‘a’ is long, and the second syllable ‘to’ is phonetically similar to the Engish ‘raw’.)

Breakfast of the Gods - Café Tato
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Pradip Dhuri, proprietor
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Café Aram – earlier known as Café Remanso – came online c. 1945. It is the birthplace of the world’s greatest batata-vada. I’m sorry to say that, all the hoopla notwithstanding, the vada-pão from Bombay is a thundering flop. The ability to tell a good batata-vada from a great batata-vada is what separates the men from the boys. The key to the batata-vada is encrypted not in the filling (as is commonly and mistakenly imagined) but in its shell. The herbs & spices, thickness, consistency, coefficient of porosity, and the overall softness of the coat taken together are vital to the success of a batata-vada. My research has shown that only Café Aram meets the highest parametric standards in this regard. The Bombay batata-vada with its thin, wimpy shell stands no chance against the genuine Goan article.

Café Remanso (Aram)
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Café Aram
5D Mark II, 24-105L

All the Goodness
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Mother of all batata-vadas - Café Aram
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Café Prakash was founded in 1955 by Vasudev B. Sakhalkar, and named after his son Prakash who is now in charge. This is the watering hole of Goan journalists (known locally as patracars) who divide their time between the café and work (95% café, 5% work).

Prakash Sakhalkar, proprietor of Café Prakash
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Café Bhonsle was established in 1920 by Rama Bhonsle. The family legacy is today handled by his grandsons. Specialties here include mix-bhaji with chapati, and the piquant mirsang (batter fried hot chili pepper).

Mix-bhaji - Café Bhonsle
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Café Bhonsle
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Chao (tea)
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

The final pick is Café Real (the Portuguese ‘Real,’ meaning royal), founded in 1946 by Gajanan Shirodkar, and celebrated for its exceptional bhaji-puri.

Café Real
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

This is the first installment of a 2-part series.

The cafés of Panjim are part of its living heritage and inspire deep affection from its residents. Although called cafés, they are nothing like their counterparts in Europe. These are modest eating houses that serve breakfast and small meals throughout the day, and where the beverage of choice is chao (tea). The mains consist of bhaji-puri and curries of legumes accompanied by Goan pão. Rounding off the menu are waist-expanding, soul-enriching sides such as samosa, batata-vada (potato fritter), and mirsang (batter-fried hot chili pepper), all distinctively Goan in flavour. The food prepared at the cafés is vegetarian.

Our cafés have been good social levelers. Here, one’s position on the socio-economic totem pole is of no consequence. The menial worker, the doctor, the fisherwoman, and the mining robber baron frequent the same cafés, and share – sometimes jostle for – a table at peak hours. These establishments are owned by Goan Hindus, and the Catholics count among their most fervent patrons.

The earliest cafés of Panjim – Shivramachi Brahmani, Café Puna – no longer exist. For the past several decades, Café Central has been considered the primus inter pares of the city cafés, and is the subject of this post. In Part 2, we will survey the best of the rest. [Update: Part 2.]

Atmaram S. Gaitonde opened Café Central in 1932 on the ground floor of Residênçia Fátima, the (now-demolished-and-replaced-with-third-world-concrete-rubbish) building near the Municipal Garden, across the lane from another city institution, Clube Vasco da Gama. Today the space is occupied by Mr. Baker and the Jesuit House. A word on pronunciation: “Central” is intoned Portuguese style, with a long ‘a’ and trilled ‘r.’

The bhaji-puri was not invented at Café Central but it was perfected there, and in time came to be regarded as the gold standard, pronounced so by Goans as well as the resident Portuguese gentry of the day. Accounts of the zeitgeist of that period invariably figure Café Central, the attendant bonhomie, and the bhaji-puri. Several other traditional delights emerged from the café’s kitchen bearing a unique interpretation, and the secret formulae at the heart of these delicacies have survived to this day.

In 1971, Café Central shifted to the premises it occupies today, less than a kilometre away. With this move came a major change in business model, one that dealt a blow to its devotees: both the bhaji-puri and the café’s sit-down operation were retired. From then on, Café Central would recast itself as a conventional store, stocking in-house bakery goods and signature treats. The sublime bhaji-puri is gone but many of the old classics still line the shelves – such as the world’s finest samosa, the bread toast (‘fatio’ in Konkani, from the Portuguese ‘fatias’), and the award-winning batata-vada, all made fresh every day, year-round. (Batata is the Portuguese word for potato, a crop first introduced in India by the Portuguese.)

The popularity of Café Central remains undiminished. It is now run by Ravindra Gayatonde (founder’s grand-nephew) and his partner Kedar Bandekar. A few jewels from the icon’s culinary collection are displayed below. I was given unfettered access to the cavernous interiors of the very busy kitchen attached to the store. In an environment thick with flour particulate and sputtering oil, wielding the camera was a bit of a challenge.

This is the Panjim of my childhood – elegant and uncrowded, a far cry from the swamp it has now turned into. The arrow points to the original location of Café Central. The structure on the left of the frame has given way to today’s hideous Velhos & Filhos building.

Original location of Café Central in Panjim
Photo credit: Snapshots of Indo-Portuguese History by Vasco Pinho

Atmaram S. Gaitonde, Founder of Café Central
Photo courtesy: Ravindra Gayatonde

Café Central today
5D, 24-105L

World's #1 samosa
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 Makro Planar

Fatio - bread toast
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 Makro Planar

Melt-in-the-mouth chocolate cake
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World's second-best batata-vada
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Jagdish Pednekar, member of the culinary team
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Open for business
5D Mark II, 24-105L

All the posts in my ongoing series on Panjim‘s heritage are consolidated here.

Shiro is the classic Goan dish made with semolina, milk, sugar, and ghee. Variations on the theme are found elsewhere in India but the shiro made in Goa has its own distinct signature. When fresh banana pulp is added on special occasions, ingestion of shiro becomes a sublime religious experience. It can be consumed as a standalone item or as a plugin with the main course. Shiro is also known for its medicinal properties and will cure you of sound arterial health.

Note: A word on Konkani pronunciation – the ‘ro’ in shiro is phonetically similar to the English ‘raw’.

Shiro
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Hearty Goan breakfast
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Purveyors of shiro - a village café in Siolim
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For over 1000 years, the Icelandic sheep has remained a pure breed. Raised wholly on natural mountain grass and without hormones, the quality of Icelandic wool and lamb meat is rated to be the finest in the world. The annual sheep roundup in September, known as réttir, is an important cultural tradition, an occasion for both work and celebration, where families and friends gather on farms all over the country to participate in the ritual to track down, corral and sort the animals.

Traffic jam on the Ring Road near Höfn
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Herding sheep on the Ring Road near Höfn
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Curious - at Núpsstaður
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Icelandic lamb - at Gerði
5D Mark II, 85L II

The annual autumn roundup - at Skaftartungur
5D Mark II, 70-200L f/2.8 IS II

More scenes from around Goa in our ongoing romance with the monsoon.

Morning in Campal, Panjim
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Monsoon foliage: Colocasia (tero) and Cassia tora (taikilo)
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In the fields at Korgaon
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Sugandi Toraskar of Korgaon
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Harvesting salt from the land is an ancient practice in Goa, one that predates the Portuguese by centuries. Not long ago, wide open spaces of salt pans graced the Goan countryside. Specific villages and sub-communities – such as the mithgaude (“mith” being the Konkani word for salt) – specialized in the occupation of salt farming.

As is now well known, Goa is being rapidly third-worldized. With their lands and homes under pressure from the real estate juggernaut, the traditional salters are now on their last legs. This going to seed of Goa‘s salt culture has been documented by Reyna Sequeira of Goa University (I haven’t read her thesis but am well aware of her conclusions).

It didn’t have to be this way. The salt harvested in Goa is renowned for its flavour and is a vital condiment in every traditional Goan kitchen. No Goan cook worth her salt will touch the packaged rubbish sold in stores. An American entrepreneur would have marketed Goan salt crystals in an attractive bottle, slapped the “Organic” label on it, and made a lot of money, and maybe saved the tradition in the process.

I recall my young days when farmers in bullock carts laden with salt went door to door during these final days of May before the arrival of the pre-monsoon showers. This coincided with the festival of purumento (“purumetachem fest”), a seasonal open bazaar where folks stocked up on provisions for the coming season.

Salt of Goa's earth
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Salt pans at Agarvado
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Geometry of salt
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In Agarvado
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Harvesting salt in Batim
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Fresh salt for sale by the roadside in Batim
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Breakfast this morning at one of Panjim‘s legendary cafés, Café Tato (established 1913). More on the city’s storied cafés in a future post.

The bhaji-puri is Café Tato‘s signature dish. The main ingredient in the bhaji is boiled potatoes, blended and cooked in a mix of secret spices and herbs formulated in the distant past. What distinguishes the bhaji at Tato is the patented ‘cut’ of the potato. Served with puris made of maida (refined flour) or Goan pão (if you are watching your arterial health), and washed down by chao (tea), this is considered the touchstone of a Goan breakfast.

As a lad in shorts, the bhaji-puri at Café Tato served as my basic unit of currency. Every rupee that came my way would be converted into an equivalent number of plates of bhaji-puri (around 6 to a rupee then).

Bhaji-Puri at Café Tato, Panjim
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50mm f/2 Makro Planar