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Restaurant Name: Cafe Goa, Viman Nagar, Pune
Phone: +919820159824
Address: Shop 3-4, Faith Center, Sakore Nagar, Near NEXA Showroom, Viman Nagar, Pune, Maharashtra 411014 India
Time: 12:30pm – 3:30pm, 7pm – 10pm
Meals for two: Rs. 1,100
Cuisines: Goan, Seafood
Facilities: Home Delivery, Wifi, Outdoor Seating, Indoor Seating
Tucked away in a quiet corner of Vimannagar, is Cafe Goa, a restaurant which has been serving delicious and authentic Goan fare since 2016.
Cafe Goa, Viman Nagar, Pune: Food
Dining at Cafe Goa and chatting with owner Akash Athanikar about Goa, its people and the food is always a fun experience. But with the second lockdown in Maharashtra, this week, I decided to order in and enjoy a Goan meal at home. I placed my order through a local aggregator food website. As I was pre-ordering, I was able to pick the date and a time range for delivery. Barring a few dishes from the dine-in menu, all the Goan favorites were available on the delivery menu. I picked the prawn thali, surmai resheado fry, chicken cafreal and solkadhi. I received the food on time, in well packed and sealed containers, without any spillage. Anything and everything prawns is always my first dish to order when at a seafood restaurant. I have tried the prawn thali at Cafe Goa and I was curious to find out if it tastes equally good when ordered at home. The thali consisted of a prawn curry, prawn rawa fry, prawn stir fry, prawn balchao, rice, salad and solkadhi. The prawn rawa fry tasted good, but was slightly soggy. But everything else was delicious. The mildly spicy Goan prawn curry paired perfectly with the rice. I added some spoonfuls of solkadhi to my rice-curry mixture for extra tang. The prawns stir fry was cooked in the flavorful resheado masala. My personal favorite from the lot was the prawns balchao. The intensity and depth of flavour from the spices, oil and toddy vinegar was great. A suggestion to Akash and his team would be to sell portions of this pickle in jars or by the kilo. The ever dependable chicken cafreal was tasty. The coriander base green masala used to marinate and cook the chicken was spot-on. The surmai recheado fry was packed perfectly, but was a tad disappointing. Fried fish is something which tastes the best when served fresh and hot. In addition to the solkadhi in the thali, I had ordered an extra glass. The balance of the tang from kokum and the freshness from coconut milk was perfect. It’s always the best drink to finish a seafood meal. For deliveries, there are no vegetarian and egg dishes available. I would have really liked to order their ros omelette or the pattal bhaji with bread or rice.
Plus & Minus:
As dine-in services are currently suspended, the next best thing is to get the food delivered. In these uncertain times, restaurants that have adapted to the new normal by offering deliveries need to be applauded and encouraged. An exclusively Goan menu at a restaurant is a rarity in Pune. This sets Cafe Goa apart from the other seafood restaurants. The food was well-packed and tasted delicious even after traveling for more than 20 km. I will be ordering again from Cafe Goa soon and this time I will be trying their popular and crowd pleasing pomfret butter garlic fry. Let’s hope that they also start delivering vegetarian and egg dishes soon.
