While several members of the general public have lauded Babaas all the rage when it comes to authentic Italian fare, there are a smallsegment that may well disagree. Recent developments have seen fellow countrymenset up shop in Goa, with arms laden with prosciutto and mozzarella that provideperhaps a slightly better end result that would be far more cost effective. Butit is Baba that we speak of, and Baba shall remain the focal point of thisreview.
The menu is limited, and thereby will result in visits beingfew and far between. With the view that everyone has an off-day, or perhaps intrue romantic fashion, the cook ran away with the scullery maid, it is highlypossible that my meal was cooked by the ‘next best person’ on call. Havingordered a fillet cooked in port wine with liver paté, one would well expect atenderly seared chunk of meat, perhaps swimming in a reduction of said port,with just a hint of liver paté suggestively teasing the taste buds. However,the end result was a chunk of beef from a dissatisfied and disgruntled cow in apool of port poured over the meat, with a dollop of paté above it. Upon cuttinginto the fillet, it was overcooked till the meat was ‘gravel grey’ as opposedto the ‘rosy pink’ that was expected and asked for. But fair play to the staff,as they replaced it with a second fillet that was at least a little closer toexpectations.
With the fame of the venue lying in its conventional Italianstyle of cooking, one simply had to try the freshly kneaded, homemade pasta.The ravioli was (as it usually is) something that simply had to be consumed. Ofthe two variants, the first, proved to be an utter disappointment. The meatstuffing proved to have no seasoning whatsoever, while its béchamel styledsauce had an excess of salt that made it look like it was going out of fashion.The pasta had also been brought to a boil rapidly, and plated so hurriedly,that without the proper drainage that it required, turned out extremely soggy.The saving grace though was a fish based pasta in tomato and basil/rosemary.The freshness of the herbs simply popped through the rest of the ingredients,making it a whole different experience from its counterparts at the table. Allin all though, it is not the soundest of dinner investments that I have made.
