It's lunctime on a Monday and hungry customers are monitoring the electronic board placed outside Highway Gomantak's kitchen in Bandra, Mumbai. The board displays the day’s menu, based on the morning’s catch. The patrons are mostly office-goers and the occasional tourists. Busy at the cash counter is owner Ramesh Potnis, 83, settling bills and greeting customers as they enter. Since opening its doors on September 5, 1991, the restaurant hasn't spent a penny on advertising, but the tables, says Potnis, have been full since day one. “The only advertising we have ever done was putting up two cloth banners announcing the opening,” he says. Potnis, however, is quick to credit his wife, Shashikala, 74, for being the guiding force behind the restaurant’s success. “She has always been an amazing cook and learnt from her mother back in Goa from the age of 12,” he says. Shashikala’s mother, Mohini, ran a roadside stall in Margao, Goa, selling seafood cooked in the Gomantak style, which is distinct from Portuguese-influenced Goan Catholic cuisine. For example, in Gomantak dishes, the souring agents are kokum, raw mango, lime and tamarind, whereas Goan Catholic dishes use vinegar. Although she's recently given up her longstanding practice of personally buying all the seafood for the restaurant, Shashikala still rises at 7 am each day to oversee the grinding of the various masalas. Highway Gomantak's interiors are basic, with no air-conditioning or fancy crockery. Their focus, says Potnis, is the quality and taste of food and hygiene. Signature dishes include pomfret curry with bhakhri (rice flour bread) and spicy stuffed pomfret with fried items including fried kingfish, bombil (Bombay duck) and Indian mackerel. “We do not use any artificial colours or flavours. All our fish are fresh and we don't freeze anything. If a certain fish is not available, we skip the items altogether, rather than use frozen fish,” he says. Anyone who loves seafood — including Bollywood celebrities such as Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone — are fans of Highway Gomantak's wholesome and reasonably-priced food. “It is great that famous names love our food but we pride ourselves on serving the best quality affordable food to the common man. I remember seeing a gentleman bringing his old parents here some time ago and the father, who was probably in his eighties, came up and told us ‘Gavachi yaad aali (I'm reminded of home)’,”says Saylee, the Potnis’ daughter-in-law. The couple’s sons, Prawal and Vishal, help in running the restaurant, having set up a website and planning their social media presence. The family, however, is in no rush to expand the business, fearing a drop in quality. As lunch hours come to an end at 3 pm, Potnis rises from his spot to go home, a few blocks away. “Yeh sab mere Mrs ka kamal hai (this is all my wife’s magic),” he smiles, watching satisfied customers lick their fingers as they walk out. This article appeared in the print edition wth the headline: Families in Food: The Call of the Sea
