In Goa’s Panjim, a home chef turns her love for Sri Lanka into a cozy restaurant

It’s sweet, the colour of the night flecked with pieces of cashew nuts and the unmistakable aroma of coconut milk. As if reading my mind, chef Lisa Sadanah (who prefers to go by her first name), confirms: “It’s not dodol.”

The ‘not dodol’ is a Sri Lankan sweet, watalappam, which has a lot in common with the Goan dessert—both are made with palm jaggery, coconut milk, and topped with roasted cashew nuts. The watalappam contains egg, which is folded into the coconut and jaggery mixture, and then steamed. Much like dodol, it is delicious. 

Served in a ramekin, the watalappam is the only dessert on the menu at the recently opened Sri Lankan bar and bistro, The Jaffna Jump, where Lisa is chef and partner. It’s also the only dish that is not Lisa’s creation but that of her mother, Barbara John, who learnt the recipe from a friend during her time in the island country. “My mum is a home science student, so she weighs everything out and won’t mess with the recipe,” says the Calcutta-born chef whose family moved to Sri Lanka in 1983. That was a time of turmoil, when the country was simmering with anti-Tamil pogroms and war was imminent. “We heard the gunfire and the bombs, we went through curfews, we’ve seen the bodies in the rivers...I’ve been through it all,” recalls Lisa, who lived there till 1998, and has an indelible connection with the country.

It’s a connection that has often shown up in the form of comforting plates in trying times. “In the lockdown, we would do potlucks and I always cooked Sri Lankan food...Since then, my friends would encourage me to join the home chef scene,” shares Lisa, who in 2021, did turn her passion into a catering venture, Bentota Box—named after the Bentota River where she would jetski as a child. Today, the link has only grown stronger with her first restaurant, which she named after the region that was home to a majority of Sri Lanka’s Tamilian population.

Located in Panaji, The Jaffna Jump is a two-storey space that’s hued in pastel shades and dotted with potted plants and comfortable seating. The décor doesn’t scream Sri Lanka, but there are hints: a nameplate announcing Jawatta Road (where Lisa once lived), pictures of Sri Lankan masks, Tamil calligraphy posters, and an arresting mural of an old map of Sri Lanka. “When I first saw the map, I had tears in my eyes...That stretch, from Colombo to Tangalle and Yalla, is my stretch. It’s where I go to visit, where I took the children on holidays, and where I still have people,” says Lisa, who makes a striking ambassador for the country, clad in a beautiful batik chef’s coat made by Sri Lankan brand Buddhi Batiks.  

Until last year, Lisa could not have imagined running a restaurant. But like most good stories, it all started at a party. Bentota Box was catering a Diwali party in Goa. The guest list of 15 soon shot up to 35 when people heard she was catering. It was then that her close friend, restaurateur Kishore DF (of The Tanjore Tiffin Room), told her, “Sweetheart, you’re wasting your time and your talent. You need to start something.” Lisa dismissed it with a laugh: “I said no. I love the freedom, ability to do what I want. I am catering eight fabulous meals a month and I travel a lot.”

But Kishore was persistent. A few months later, he called to say he had acquired a rundown place opposite Panjim Gymkhana, and named Lisa, whom he lovingly calls “the original Sri Lankan import”, the chef-partner. “He didn’t give me a choice but, it is great,” admits Lisa. “I am a partner here and I get to serve authentic Sri Lankan food.” 

The food at The Jaffna Jump is predominantly Sri Lankan. And while authenticity is key to Lisa’s cooking, diners will notice that she’s not a stickler. Her mustard prawn gambas has a touch of kasundi for a pungent aromatic kick; the bone marrow valuval stands out for its delicate fattiness contrasting with the onion-rich masala; and her Bentota fried fish comes topped with pandan, lemongrass, and curry leaves.

Lisa is most excited about the mains—it’s where her curries and hoppers get to shine. “All the curry and the devilled stuff is mine,” she says. The hoppers are feather-light and fluffy, pairing well with a rich pepper pork or a smooth, flavourful Jaffna Crab Curry. Both dishes come with the Sri Lankan platter—a pickle-like brinjal moju (so good, you could eat it by itself), a salad, papad, pol sambol (“like kismur without the prawns” she says, breaking it down for her Goan diners), and chilli pineapple. Even the drinks are undeniably Sri Lankan: take the aromatic rampeh liqueur in Sticky Situation or the pandan-infused vodka drink called Rampe Rambler.  

By the time the famed watalappam reaches my table, I am replete. The dish was such a hit during trials that now Lisa has to lend a helping hand to her mother to cater to the high demand. Traditionally, the dessert is made with kithul, a dark, syrupy palm jaggery, but John has substituted it with the Goan black jaggery. “I’m not one of those chefs who wants to proclaim that their honey comes from this tree and so on. We couldn’t get kithul here so we used a substitute, and it worked,” Lisa shares matter-of-factly. 

And while the success of her Bentota Box owed a lot to how particular she was about her recipes and ingredients, it's her ingenuity at The Jaffna Jump that shines through. A cocktail celebrating Sri Lankan cinnamon liqueur shares space on the drinks menu with a tequila that features notes of coconut feni and curry leaves; Goan poee bread goes well dunked into curries that are flecked with nai miris, the spicy Sri Lankan chilli.  

Anyone who has followed Lisa’s journey over the years, from her time as Helmet Girl Bandra (where she would go to schools and talk about road safety) to now, knows she isn’t afraid of hard work.  Of late, her days start and end at the restaurant. In Panjim, she’ll greet you at your table and offer her recommendations. If it rains, she will drop some of the staff before heading home. “The hours feel long and it gets a little lonely. And I am tired…I will be 52 soon,” she says. But none of this will come in the way of her work. “I hope I inspire a lot of older women to see that life doesn’t end when your children graduate and leave home.”

Meal for two: Rs 2,000
Timings: Open all week; 7 pm–12 am
Address: The Jaffna Jump, Pinto Arcade, Opposite Panjim Gymkhana, Campal, Panaji, Goa 403001. For reservations, call 95133 14398