There is hardly a place in India, apart from Goa, where within a kilometre or two, you have an Italian restaurant, a Mediterranean restaurant, a Continental restaurant and several cafes and other places where you can eat. But, even Goa, with its unrivalled variety, didn’t have a restaurant, where you could have Peruvian food, till recently.
Few people know that Peru was named World’s Leading Culinary Destination in 2016. And, not long after that, Peruvian entrepreneur Marco Crisanto started his cafe called ‘On the Go’ in Porvorim on Chogm Road.
Marco explained the wide range of influences on Peruvian cuisine, as he said, “Peruvian food has influence of Spain, primarily because it was a Spanish colony for more than three hundred years. But, it also has influence of Chinese, Japanese, Italian and some African food as well.”
Peru has diverse geography with hills, coastlines, jungles and plains all forming part of the country. That along with its rich history has had a huge impact on its cuisine. Marco continued, “Peruvian food is famous world-over. But, it’s nothing like the food you get in other Latin-American countries like Brazil and Argentina.”
Before opening ‘On the Go,’ Marco ran a restaurant in Morjim. He said, “I started this business in Morjim two years ago. But, after the tourism season ends, there’s not a single customer. I used to get customers from Porvorim there. I thought it makes more sense for me to move here.”
It made great business sense for Marco to move to Porvorim, because at Morjim, his clientele was predominantly tourists, who don’t spend more than a few months in Goa. At Porvorim, most of his customers are locals and some foreigners as well. But, it wasn’t easy at all for Marco to introduce Peruvian cuisine to Goa. On the menu of ‘On the Go,’ you will see ‘Peruvian Spinach Pie.’
Marco said, “When they make this pie in Peru, they use acelga, which is a leafy vegetable. But, it is not available in Goa. That’s the reason, I use spinach leaves.” Some ingredients may be available in Goa, but they taste really different here compared to Peru, where Marco honed his culinary skills. He added, “The red pepper here doesn’t taste like red pepper in Peru.”
That requires Marco to constantly experiment and use his imagination to mix various ingredients so that food comes close to how it tastes in Peru. Marco also had to adapt to the fact that a lot of people in India prefer vegetarian food. Due to that, ‘On the Go’ offers vegetarian sandwiches also.
Among vegetarian sandwiches at ‘On the Go’, Mediterranean Sandwich is a huge hit. This sandwich has aubergine, zucchini, red pepper, cream cheese and pesto. Marco said, “Yes, I am doing vegetarian food also. And, it’s a challenge to do that, as some people don’t like garlic, some don’t like onions and one has to constantly innovate.”
Often, Marco’s skills and imagination help him in substituting Peruvian ingredients with Indian ones, but sometimes it does become difficult. For instance, ‘On the Go’ has a sandwich called ‘Triple,’ which is made up of avocado, tomato, eggs and mayo.
Good quality avocado is not only expensive in Goa, but is also rare to find. So, it becomes tough for Marco to offer this sandwich to his customers, at times. Rest of the times, he blends ingredients locally available to get the desired result.
Blending comes naturally to Marco, as he explained, “I make a lot of ice-tea as well. I love tea and I love fruits. Rather than having juice, I thought it would be a good idea to make ice-tea. At On the Go, I have several flavours of ice-tea like water-melon, guava, lychee, mango, passion fruit, musk-melon, blueberry and cranberry.”
Of these, it is easy to get water-melon, guava, lychee, mango and musk-melon in Goa, but Marco has to rely on his supplier to import blueberry and cranberry from either Mumbai or Europe. Whether imported or locally sourced, Marco assured that he uses only top quality ingredients.
Marco swears by the quality of his food. He said, “I come everyday at around 8 am and start making food. I make fresh sandwiches and pack them in a thin-wrap and paper box. I keep these sandwich boxes in the fridge, as that keeps them fresh for the day.”
Apart from being a one-man team at ‘On the Go’, Marco also takes orders for parties and gatherings. He said, “I recently got an order for ceviche, which is fresh fish cooked with dressing. This dressing includes lemon, garlic, coriander, salt, pepper and chilly.”
Ceviche is also known as the national dish of Peru and Marco said that his way of making it is just one of the innumerable ways this recipe can be made. As of now, Marco doesn’t have support, but he said he is willing to work with people, who are as passionate about food as he is.
In the meanwhile, Marco is constantly experimenting and adding new dishes to his menu. For example, he also has organic brown rice combined with chicken cooked with coriander.
‘On the Go’ has clearly made a good impression on its customers, as people kept on pouring in when ‘The Goan Everyday’ was interviewing Marco. This looks like a good start and it seems that this café will have a long innings.
