Come October, a new restaurant in Goa will treat diners to modern Australian cooking with an Asian influence. Marrying these two unique cuisines in the kitchen is former MasterChef Australia contestant, Sarah Todd.
Sarah discovered her love for food culture on the many journeys she took across the globe as a model. Meeting her partner, Devinder Garcha, drew her to Indian cuisine, which she excelled in; this was what set her apart in the popular reality TV show. Her food dream, which was to open a contemporary Indian restaurant, started to take shape when Ashish Kapur of Moods Hospitality approached her with a plan.
“I was hesitant at first, at the thought of launching a restaurant in India. But once I saw the property, I was hooked,” laughs Sarah, talking on the phone from Goa. Antares by Sarah Todd will open for business next month, just in time for the October tourist season.Explaining the name, she says, “All the partners are really into their Zodiac signs. While we were discussing names, we came across Antares, which is the brightest star in the Scorpio constellation, which is my sign; since everyone liked it, we went settled on it.”
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The casual fine-dining restaurant will feature fresh ingredients and classic cooking techniques, especially flavour from the charcoal grill, which Sarah says will be the highlight. “It’ll be kind of young and free, with an Asian twist to it, especially the spices. We always had a barbeque in our home backyard, so the charcoal grill is a tribute to that,” she says.Some of the dishes she created in the MasterChef kitchen find their way onto this menu, with chicken and her take on aloo gobi, with more to be added later. There will also be a wood-fired pizza oven. “There’s going to be a little bit for everyone at Antares,” says Sarah.
On her future plans, she says, “At the moment, my goal is to make the restaurant as successful as I can; this is the biggest project I have undertaken so far, and I am focussing on this before moving on to other things.” Antares Restaurant and Beach Club will open mid-October at Small Vagator, Ozran, Vagator, Goa