Avinash Martins is ready to be more than a Goan chef

“I cook from the heart for the gut,” says chef Avinash Martins. “Food should not only be good-looking but also soulful. Think of it like how a mother cooks for her child… Those energies are important. It has to be artistically different and offer a burst of flavours in your palate.”

Validation for Martins’s soulful food comes from the popularity of his restaurant Cavatina, now over a decade old, in South Goa’s Benaulim. Now, his latest venture, Janot, at the Panjim Gymkhana, sees Martins pushing the boundaries, quite literally.

Janot, which is Portuguese for ‘God’s gift’ (not too different from the Urdu jannat, which is ‘heaven’), is a significant marker of Martins’s evolution. When the former Oberoi chef opened Cavatina in 2013, he veered towards Goan cuisine even when he had not trained for it. His name is now synonymous with a chef who celebrates—and puts his spin on—local cuisine.

But with Janot, Martins wanted to let loose his creative instincts, produce “food without boundaries”, and use influences from across the country to construct fare that cannot be easily bracketed. For instance, his Naga Saga (broccoli or tenderloin) comes with furikake (a Japanese condiment) and smoked chilli pepper. The Nest in the Forest has spiced edamame and shaved black truffle with akuri tofu or egg. There is a tender coconut carpaccio with sol kadhi, aam ras and quinoa, and a soy chaap that features a jackfruit cutlet with beetroot hummus and tambda rasa. “Janot celebrates ingredients and combinations that are classical food marriages,” says Martins about his venture into the denser culinary centre of Panjim from the relative quiet of the south.

The chef’s itinerant year shines through this menu. “I dedicated last year to travelling, to the mountains, the Western Ghats and southern Nilgiris; to Dehradun and up to the Nepal border; to the Seven Sisters… We are using these in our food. We are using timur (a Nepalese pepper) with Himalayan berry, and black sesame from Meghayala in our pork. There is nothing generic here—no pizza, burger, sushi…”

Unlike Cavatina, where the food is the experience and not the space, Martins seems to have found a location that is as good-looking as his plates. On the third floor of the Panjim Gymkhana, overlooking the open expanse of the Campal football ground, with the Mandovi river on one side, large glass windows allow for a generous sense of space. The corridor leading to the seating area has a display of some of the spices used and an introduction to what lies ahead. Janot is, as Martins calls it, his personal studio, with a large canvas to play with.

That imagination is evident in the presentation of the food, which he is particular about. Take The Essence of the Sea, a seafood platter, which comes on a plate surrounded by seashells, or The Nest in the Forest, which rests on what resembles a shrunk tree trunk, with the roasted chonak (that succulent fish native to Goa’s shores), lying on a bed of passion fruit sauce with green pea ragout and a roasted banana on top. “If you have two different-looking plates, [a customer] would appreciate the one that shows more effort. I look at the intricacies, at the thought process that goes on a plate,” says the chef whose new restaurant will have a stall at the upcoming Goa Cashew Fest on the adjoining grounds.

With Janot, Martins is also looking to go beyond his Goan chef image: “I didn’t want to be known only for Goan food. In fact, I never trained to make Goan, because it was made only at home. When people accepted it [at Cavatina], I crossed that milestone. Now, I am getting back to my creativity, so people know what I am also good at.”

Before he moved back to his home state, having worked across the globe, Martins understood all types of cooking. Inspired by how the world’s best chefs worked, he started Cavatina in 2013 and “played it safe” with Goan-inspired world cuisine. “With Cavatina, we did not even cross the boundary, not even up to [neighbouring] Mangalore. Like, we didn’t make a gassi (a Mangalorean curry),” he specifies, before adding: “Goa is my love; this [food] is my passion.”

“I didn’t want to be known only for Goan food. In fact, I never trained to make Goan, because it was made only at home. When people accepted it [at Cavatina], I crossed that milestone. Now, I am getting back to my creativity, so people know what I am also good at.”

South Goa, unlike the more touristy north, is more orthodox, with the clientele being largely local and possibly less malleable to experimentation. Over time, Martins felt he found more space for innovation, so was able to minimise the generic components in his offerings.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit five years ago (and because Cavatina didn’t do home deliveries), he used this time to do research in villages, local communities, amid toddy tappers and bakers—“all things Goan”. At the end of six months, he had a collection of recipes and narratives that he wanted to share. “The roasted chonak (also referred to as sea bass) with banana sauce and passion fruit… People will back off when they see that (on the menu). But I want to say, try it. When you give the guest a little nudge...,” he pauses before adding, “Now chonak is the fastest [selling] thing on my menu.”

Martins is also careful not to let the marinade overwhelm the dish and ensure the diner can taste the ingredients. “Sauces are the catalyst that enhance the main ingredient,” he says. “If the prawn does not taste like prawn, or if sweet potato does not taste like that, then I have failed.”

Meal for two: ₹3,500 (without alcohol)

Timings: 12 pm- 3.30 pm and 7 pm to 11 pm; open all days

Address: Third floor, Panjim Gymkhana, Campal, Panaji, Goa

Reservations: +91 8459716905