Description
As the name suggests, Viva Goa salts its menu with dishes from the southwestern coastal state of India. In dishes like beef assado and chicken cafreal, you can sense the influence of the Portuguese, who settled there five centuries ago, and the chile burn of Viva Goa's pork vindaloo is applied with a lashing of vinegar (the vinegar stands in for "vinha d'alhos," or wine and garlic). The fish curry may not pass muster with Goans, and the seafood platter should be avoided if you hate chewing, but the vegetable caldin - mixed vegetables simmered in a thick, turmeric-tinged sauce of grated coconut - is soothing and spiced all at once, and the vividly perfumed chicken xacuti mingles fresh cilantro leaves and the lemony flash of coriander with coconut and ground poppy seeds.
