Bombay to Goa
Indian restaurant · Jersey City ·
Authentic Goan cuisine, seafood, Ros omelette, BYOB
Authentic Goan cuisine, seafood, Ros omelette, BYOB
"When the new restaurant appeared last year in Jersey City’s India Square, it felt like a big event; the spot is at 785 Newark Ave., between John F. Kennedy Boulevard and Herbert Place, and is easily reached via the PATH to Journal Square. Sharing a name with a 1972 Bollywood thriller, the menu leans heavily on Goan cuisine (with some Mumbai street snacks), reflecting Goa’s Portuguese influence and its lavish use of pork and vinegar. The owners, husband-and-wife Jainson Fernandes and McQueenie Fernandes, hail from South Goa and still run a beach resort called Salida del Sol; McQueenie is the chef, with Bryan Carvalho as chef de partie and 15 years’ experience cooking Goan food. Highlights we tasted include a bright-red chicken vindaloo ($12.99) with a strong vinegar hit that can be ordered with lamb, shrimp, or fish for a dollar more; Calangute shrimp ($13.99), seven grilled pink shrimp coated in spices that leave a chile burn in the throat; a coconut-laced xacupti curry folded into an omelet and served with a basket of buttered Portuguese bread; a trio of minced mackerel cutlets; an “old Goa chicken fry” with a very dark green, highly spiced dipping sauce I found myself licking up; and xaccuti de galinha ($13.99), boneless chicken tidbits in the same mellow sauce as the omelet. We also enjoyed mutton sukka (tender, assertively flavored meat sourced from a nearby halal butcher, Bangladeshi Supplies), a bright yellow Goan pulao, and the pungent Goan yellow dal. Many dishes come with a Goan vinegar dressing salad — a cabbage-based slaw — and if you want digestive help there’s a kokum-based “digestive booster” ($2.99); the restaurant is BYOB. The room is airy and colorful, plastered with beach and colonial photos, and the tables are even named for Goan and Mumbai cities like Margao, Vasco, and Panaji; if you’re yearning for a winter beach escape on the Arabian Sea, Bombay to Goa provides a cheap, flavorful alternative." - Robert Sietsema
"A short walk from the PATH in Journal Square, Jersey City, this snug, square restaurant—decorated with photos of beaches and street-style signs naming Goan locales—focuses squarely on Goan cuisine (with a few Mumbai dishes). I came for the ros omelette, and despite its earthy, unglamorous appearance it tastes leagues better than trendy Instagram-worthy egg dishes: the omelette itself is punched up with green peppers, onion, and cilantro and is sturdy and fat so it doesn’t disappear into the sauce. The defining element is the brown gravy of chicken and coconut, whose richness is tempered by a chorus of onions, curry leaves, black mustard seeds, and dried red chilies; the result is a thick, heady, sultry sauce that begs to be soaked up with the bread served on the side. The menu also includes xacuti (a coconut gravy served with paneer or mushroom), the state’s fish coconut curry, and galinha cafreal, the spicy chicken with Portuguese/African roots—just don’t forget why you came: the delicious eggs in brown sauce that make you keep sneaking spoonfuls even after you’ve declared yourself full." - Chris Crowley
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