And if you are wanting to be in the middle of Goa right now, at this moment, but do not see it happening any time soon, Deepa Awchat brings Goa here instead. Well, not literally, but atleast figuratively.
Bindiya Chotrani visits a food haven that recreates the magic of the coastal palette Goa complete with horns and guitars, right in the midst of Mumbai.
What started-off as a joke between husband-wife duo and owner-chef combo Suhas and Deepa Awchat, turned into nothing less than a haven for delectable Goan food. With Mario Miranda’s paintings all over the roof, antique lamps dangling from the ceiling, and a troubadour that moves from table to table playing pop favourites on the guitar – Goa Portuguesa fairly succeeds in bringing a little of Goa to Mahim.
One of the perks of being a blogger – you get to indulge into free food felony.
Lunching at Goa Portuguesa, we managed to detract ourselves from the balmy décor, and began with the Tender Coconut Punch – a concoction of coconut water and lemon juice presented in the most eccentric manner, served in a green husky coconut shell with a cherry tacked onto it. With a certain sweet and tangy taste to it, the appetizer was refreshing and a good respite from the fresh lime sodas of the world.
Unfortunately, vegetarian that we were, we had our own set of apprehensions about Goan cuisine 
sans the seafood. However, all apprehensions and ambiguity were put to rest with every first morsel of a vegetarian item we savoured.
While the plebeian pumpkin so far has had a reputation of being simply smelly and humdrum, it is despised among kids and adults alike. Goa Portuguesa gives the humble fruit a makeover with its Sopa de Abobora, or the Pumpkin Soup. A blend of spiced pumpkin flavoured with vegetable stock and celery, the soup has a very evident garlicky taste to it. While it was only the first item on the menu, we already knew that this one was the star of all dishes. We also tasted the Caldo Verde – a soup made of spinach, boiled potato, vegetable stock and scads of garlic for flavouring. This was what you would probably call Goa Portuguesa’s tastier version of the insipid palak soup.
Moving onto the starters, we first sampled the Cottage Cheese Rissois. A Portuguese delicacy, these were puffs made of minced cottage cheese, cooked in a creamy white sauce and mildly flavoured with spices. The non-vegetarian version of the Rissois, are puffs usually stuffed with prawns or minced meat. We tried their Peas Potato Chops – potato patties stuffed with green peas, coated with breadcrumbs and deep-fried. Served with a mayo dip and ketchup, these were the Goan version of the street-side aloo tikki. We tasted their Mixed Veg Cashew Roll – mixed vegetables cooked with mild spices and coated with slivered cashew nuts in plenitude. Subjective in taste, these cashew rolls are more likely to be opted by those with a taste for cashew-infused delicacies. Next, we sampled their Paneer Masala – cubes of cottage cheese simmered in Goan red masala. The dry gravy, though, was a tad too piquant and fiery.
Munching onto a filler, just before you could indulge into a heavenly meal, can be one risky affair. Set aside those apprehensions and opt for their Garlic Pav. A variation, rather Indian version of the garlic bread, this one tasted just as good or even better if we may say.
A chatty Mr. Suhas Awchat stopped by, and filled us in on about their one too many progenies including Diva Maharashtra that is just a walk away from Goa Portuguesa, and the acclaim received by them from the famed.
We moved on to the main course with Moongachi Gathi a traditional Goan Hindu delicacy – 
sprout moong cooked with spices and onion that had a very discernable nutty taste to it which came from coconuts and cashew nuts. The dish also had a certain slight sweet taste to it because of the jaggery added to the awat. Well, rajma defines Punjabi. But the Rajma Tondak, rajma cooked in coconut based brown gravy & goan spices as defined by Goa Portuguesa was also one of their many traditional delicacies. A very run-of-the-mill item, this one tasted like the rajma you’d have at any restro. We believed we’d definitely had better. What left us completely spell-bound was the Tender Coconut Cashew Sukke. Right from presentation to taste, the dish spelled perfection. With the green coconut husk playing container, the dish served in it consisted of juliennes of tender coconut & cashew nut sautéed with tomatoes, spring onions & Goan spices.
We teamed up the vegetables with soft ambolis, the chappatis and pav.
We were probably entering into what we call the ‘food comatose’ and yet had the Goenchi Dal to taste. Simple, tasty and light – the Goenchi Dal served with rice, was nothing but a thicker version of the usually viscous dal tadka. Split green gram & moong cooked with onion & Goan spices & tempered, the dal was typical, but nevertheless, scored well with us.
Now what struck us and stayed long after the meal, was their concept of using a green-bordered plate for the herbivores. And with that, there was no slip-up, error or faulting by the waiting staff, that would make you got through an ordeal.
Stuffed we were and how? But no way, we were finishing off without some decadent dessert. And what better than the traditional Goan Dodol – a home-made Goan delicacy made of raagi or nachani, milk & jaggery. We also relished the Sweet Potato Sago Kheer – sweet potato cubes and sago cooked in sweetened milk, dry fruits and flavoured with cardamom. With our kind of a selective sweet-tooth, both, the Dodol and the Sweet Potato Sago Kheer won us over.
Now with that kind of food sans meat, there’s no way we would cringe or kick up a fuss about it. Moreso, we’d definitely regret not visiting the place considering the vegetarian plunge we’d taken temporarily.
A meal for two costs approximately Rs1,200 to Rs1,500 without alcohol.