Putney's Ma Goa Gets Thumbs Up

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Despite chaos on the Upper Richmond Rd the food ontinues to wow guests

After an unseasonably rainy day in August, I was looking forward to meeting some Putney pals at Ma Goa. Fortunately the Putney pals are Ma Goa regulars and knew that it was essential to book as the restaurant looked filled to capacity when we pitched up.

Upper Richmond Road is currently undergoing incredibly extensive works which means it is single lane and one way for the next four months and the businesses along this stretch are understandably concerned about the impact on their businesses. However plucky Putney residents proved they were more than willing to brave the mud and fencing and were out en masse creating quite a buzzy Saturday-night-out feel  to the area.

Once seated at our table, I realised that Ma Goa doesn’t refer to My Goa but more like Mummy Goa. The restaurant is run by a mother and son team using many of their family recipes which are Indian with a Portuguese twist so interweaved with Samosas and Chicken Tikka are Peri-Peri sauce and Chorizo.

We started with two lots of  Ma’s salmon Peri-Peri which were chunks of salmon with Indian spices and a peri-peri masala on top, Sorpotel which comprised pork belly, lamb’s liver and kidney in masala sauce and the fourth person chose her favourite Stuffed Papard of lentil flour parcels filled with spiced potato only to realise after the waiter had departed that she had really meant to try one of the day’s specials from the blackboard.  

My dinner companions then enthusiastically chomped down on Aunty Bella’s Lamb Kodi and Achari Chicken Tikka while I opted for a vegetarian Thali. I always think a thali is a good way of getting lots of little tasters of food without having to persuade your fellow diners to share their dishes while the thali tray itself has a nice high rim which acts as a defence against any forays from neighbouring forks. This thali was divine with 4 vegetable dishes along with rice, salad, yoghurt and a chapatti.

Our coffees at the end of the meal came with a complimentary glass of Port (that little bit of Portugal manifesting again) and a perfectly acceptable bill of £138.09 for four people including 8 beers, sundry side dishes and a service charge. The service was incredibly courteous throughout even though we realised as we left that we were the last customers to leave and they must have been itching for us to go.

 I fully intend to return to Ma Goa soon and eat my way along another branch of the Goa family tree.

Caroline Villiers

August 19, 2010