The day-time avatar of the famous live music venue Cantare is a breakfast café.
Once upon a time, an old home in Saligao would retire for the day after a night of heavy revelry. It was a party where the drugs were music and dance: jive nights, Latin, ballroom, and jazz music. In the day, the space would be quiet, with nary a squeak heard on the wooden floorboards.
Until recently.
A few weeks back, the house of Cantare launched its day-time avatar, Cantare By The Day.
Despite being on a busy road, the house is quiet on a weekend morning. It is framed by banana and jackfruit trees, laden with fruit and crawling with creepers. A metal staircase leads upstairs to where the seating area is divided among two balconies, and an indoor hall. A sign midway up the flight of stairs says ‘This is a village tavern. Rude arrogant behaviour is not tolerated’. It is a sign that needs to populate more eating establishments.
There is nothing fancy or hip about the place, barring the bright dancing figures under the bar and a sign saying Jazz it Up. The exposed stone walls are original and not the faux versions preferred by some new restaurants. Time stands still in some corners: the cane chairs, the heavy metal and glass chandelier hanging above the staircase, the cupboards set in the walls, and the wooden floorboards. Cantare revels in its old worldliness, in the solid wooden and steel furniture, the wooden doors, the rooster-shaped clay water pot, and a beautiful grand piano.
One balcony looks out onto the main road. The ideal spot is in the one that overlooks the beautiful yellow and white Saligao Institute with its Solomon Souza mural of priest and cricket administrator Anthony de Mello. Look down below and you can see the family well. Reach out your hand and you can almost touch the sturdy bark of the jackfruit tree.
Our table is small, with one solid coloured runner and an upcycled vase. They use recycled wine bottles as glasses and water bottles, too.
The café has a compact menu, with breakfast items, some sandwiches, snacks, and rice bowls. They do specials — the grill is fired up some Sundays, and monthly pop ups.
We order the café’s special, cilbir or Turkish Eggs. It is a dish that gained popularity in the lockdown for being a comforting, filling breakfast or brunch dish. Ours comes liberally doused with chilli oil, which unfortunately coats the mouth and masks the flavour of everything else. The eggs are poached well and there is a nice bite from the garlic, but the yoghurt is too thin.
It being a humid monsoon day, we skip the hot beverages and seek out some cold comfort. The kombucha, which is locally sourced, is unavailable so we stick to cold brew. It is refreshing, not too bitter and the slice of orange adds a nice mild tartness.
The Beef Poee Sandwich is a winner, aided by chunky bits of perfectly cooked beef with a nice crusty char. The accompanying fries are thick cut and well-cooked. The side salad and the beef (when eaten on its own) are slightly salty. The poee is one of the best we have eaten, not the maida-filled version available everywhere but a nice, crusty, bran-dusted one.
We order a side of sausage chilli fry (which is part of the Goan Breakfast); it’s adequately spicy, greasy, and blessed with too many onions. Prawn Rissois is fatter than usual, with a nice thin covering and a pleasant prawn chilli fry stuffing. The Rice Bowls are a good brunch option, piled high with braised veggies and chicken/beef mince and a tomato basil sauce. It is a filling tasty dish, only let down by the surfeit of oil at the bottom.
Cantare By The Day outsources some of their food items, including some desserts. Service is slow, but it allows us to take in the beauty of our surroundings. Cantare by the Day could work as a co-working space because it is quiet and has strong WiFi. And, above all, it is a beautiful old house.
At 7/72 B, Cruz Vaddo, Saligao. Call 8369564481. Open from 8 am to 3 pm. Instagram
Overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Max: 5 stars)
Food: 6.8/10
Drinks: 8/10
Service: 7/10
Interiors/Décor: 9/10
Vibe: 9/10
One dish we loved: Beef Poee Sandwich
One dish that did not work for us: Turkish Eggs
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