The Goan Stories at Tease aims to revive and promote Goan culture through food and drink. The ambience with its dim lighting and popular Konkani songs playing throughout the restaurant, the napkins at the table made from the popularly recognized Kunbi cloth along with table mats having a bright yellow color to resemble the brightly painted Portuguese style houses around Goa and of course the service staff dressed the part with a traditional local influence in their clothes, all add to the Goan experience.
The Taj group have always been one of the front runners when it comes to hygiene and good practices and Vivanta by Taj in Panaji has done well in following suit. The Taj group has microbiological labs and in-house officials all over the country who regularly check the quality of not only the food and drinks but also things like the environment, linen and everything involved in the whole experience at a Taj property. The hotel also loves giving back to the community and has done so in regularly inviting the local vendors and stall owners in Goa to their property to observe and learn the importance of hygiene and how a 5 star property functions. Their important role in promoting the local Goan community was also seen in the first part of my meal at the restaurant. We started with an assortments of bread and butter. However this wasn't your usual bread and butter, the breads included popular Goan bread like pao, poi and katre sourced from local bakers along with three different types of butter that were infused with popular Goan masalas. There was a cafreal butter, a recheado butter and a xacuti butter. The bread and butter was also accompanied by some Goan pickles once again all sourced from local people in villages across Goa, the masalas were outsourced and the pickles prepared at the hotel.
We started our meal with a classic and crowd favorite, the Goan thali. Priced at Rs.500/- this thali comes with a tisryo (clams), dried prawn kismoor, prawn curry, a veg dish and a crab dish. The thali also comes with a piece of rawa fried fish, salad, rice, a glass of sol kadi and dessert in the form of a piece of bebinca and doce. My favorite part of the thali was definitely the curry, I love the infusion of coconut in my curry and I can never really have enough. This curry was really creamy and had a good amount of prawns in it. The hotel along with Chef Rego have set up a great menu that comes cutely enclosed in a big clam shell. The menu has a wide range of seafood, meat dishes, veg dishes, starters, desserts and a lot more. I started with the classic chicken jirem mirem. As funny as the name sounds, the dish is actually based on those two words that translate to cumin and pepper. The boneless pieces of chicken were cooked with the two spices and had a dominant flavor of roasted chili in it as well. The pieces of chicken were extremely succulent and juicy and not dried out at all, which clearly shows the precision and care that they were cooked with. The great thing that struck my mind after eating the thali and the chicken was the hotel did a fabulous job in trying to emulate the authentic flavors of the Goan cuisine. Every dish had some element or the other that would remind me of the food I grew up eating at my house or even the food that my grandmom would cook me, from the crab xec-xec in the thali to the chicken jirem mirem. I also tried the mutton sukhem cooked in a preparation of roasted spices, coconut and coriander. Besides the flavor, the quantity of the dishes was something that need to be noted as well. Something that caught my eye on the menu was the pomfret recheado, this one was a full slit, de-boned one. Yes, a pomfret coated in everybody's favorite recheado masala with absolutely no bones. I was greeted by two beautiful pieces of pomfret on my plate that looked really good, one could easily be fooled by the lack of masala on the outside but open the slit half of the fish and you'll find it heavily laden with a rich coating of the masala. Be careful though, this dish packs quite the punch in terms of flavor and spiciness. Any seasoned Goan foodie would be able to tell that this masala was probably procured from a very local authentic village-type vendor. I then tried the lombinho de galinha com caju which was pan grilled chicken on sticks in a coconut and cashewnut sauce. The chicken was doused in a very rich, creamy and nutty sauce that was full of flavor considering it was made of only two key ingredients. If it weren't for the formal setting, you'd definitely find me licking my plate. I ended the main course with a caranguejos recheado which was stuffed crab shells marinated in local spices, onion, tomato and coriander which was then deep fried to leave you with a wonderful balance of crunchy and creamy.
Dessert certainly ended on a great note with a delicious tender coconut soufflé that was light and well balanced with just the right amount of a coconut flavor and candied berries. This was followed by a port wine caramel custard. Yes, you heard right. A coconut milk custard served in a beautiful port wine sauce with poached pears and cream. I really enjoyed the flavour of port wine along with the caramel custard, something totally different and unique. On that note, I really enjoyed this whole Goan experience that Vivanta by Taj has created too. I also love the fact that unlike most hotels who introduce these food festivals for a limited time, the hotel has decided to not make this a limited promotion but more of an experience that will run throughout the year. Do stop by Tease at the Vivanta by Taj for a 5 Star Goan experience, literally.
(Akio Fernandes is a passionate foodie and the owner of The Hungry Wolf food blog - that showcases various culinary delights across Goa)
