Goa’s iconic eatery, Bomras, moves to a new location

Even after 16 years in business, Burmese eatery, Bomras doesn’t have the stodgy air you often associate with old restaurants. A lot has to do with Bawmra Jap, the gregarious chef and owner, who has charmed the pedestrian and the posh with his creative dishes. “I’m terrible with business, but I have a passion,” says the Goa-based chef, “About 25 years ago, I decided that this is what I want to do; I like sharing with people what I enjoy eating and that has kept me going.” 

But 16 years is a long time, long enough for even a famous hotspot to lose its appeal. “Candolim’s tourist belt has now become too busy, and a lot of my regulars have moved this side. So in terms of location, Anjuna is brilliant,” he adds about moving Bomras from one touristy belt to another. With Goa’s favourite ice parlour, Mr Gelato, on its left and Mahe, a trendy coastal cuisine restaurant, 10 steps away, Bomra’s new location will give Anjuna’s lively restaurant scene another boost.

“I have been wanting to move to a bigger space for a while so I can grow more vegetables  and food for my restaurant kitchen,” says Jap, whose previous space also had a prolific garden that produced everything from mango ginger to pandan, used graciously in his menu. In Anjuna, he employs the help of Yogita Mehra, co-founder of urban gardening service, Green Essentials, to design a herb and kitchen garden that will bring lettuce, basil, rocket, sissoo, lemongrass, kaffir lime and mustard leaves and other produce to the table and ensure nothing detracts from the high-quality, freshly-sourced ingredients he has made his signature.  

Old and new 

Most regulars, which include culture powerhouses (and part-time Goa residents) such as author Amitav Ghosh and photographer Dayanita Singh, will find the Anjuna address oddly familiar. For one, the restaurant’s mascot—a fuchsia-painted auto rickshaw—is parked right at the entrance porch. Inside, a wooden pavilion with low-lit fittings and pared down decor, enveloped in a canopy of trees doesn’t just channel riffs of the classic decor of his Candolim eatery, but manages to transport the former’s distinctly unpretentious vibe completely. “We wanted to bring the Candolim element here, so we brought in some old furniture, kitchen equipment and even elements like our coconut lights,” adds the Burmese chef from London, whose food is as unique as his accent. 

“Bomras is not just a Burmese restaurant, our cuisine is like the Asian Golden Triangle, influenced by regional food from Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Hunan,” adds Jap of his restaurant that has attracted epicures from far-flung places such as novelist Orhan Pamuk and actor Jude Law. On the new menu, signature dishes like their tomato salad and crackling pork and pomelo salad remain irreplaceable, while their khow suey will be available only for specials. “We are starting with a smaller menu because our kitchen staff is fairly new,” clarifies the chef of his plan to launch with a menu of 10 starters, 10 mains and four desserts. But regulars from his Chef’s Table will be happy to learn that off-the-menu hits like his famous Scotch eggs with Manipuri black rice will also find a place in Bomras 2.0. Other additions on the menu include a tiger prawn ceviche with celery and lemongrass, an aromatic mutton curry with peanuts and cinnamon and a chicken shiitake dish that is marinated in herbs and cooked on fire in a banana leaf. 

Plan ahead 

Jap had sealed the deal on this new space last May, but the pandemic slowed down the opening this year. “It took a while to figure out the new rules of dining and plan the health measures while designing this space,” he adds, “Restaurants are the kind of place where a lot of people from different places visit, so we had to figure out best practices of monitoring this while keeping our diners safe.” Socially distanced tables, a QR code menu and an al fresco dining space ensure that the dangers of cramped, air conditioned spaces cease to exist here. And while Goa has opened bars and restaurants post lockdown at a pace like no other state in India, Jap’s second-in-command and Bomra’s new general manager, Kartik Vasudeva (a familiar face for patrons of Bombay Canteen and O Pedro) is now tirelessly planning for their delivery services, something they have never had to do before. 

Ask Jap why he hasn’t considered expanding to other states, and he combs his memory to one of his famous guests: “Charles Correa, when he was alive, used to visit us very often,” he recalls, “He once told me, ‘Jap, don’t leave Goa. Wherever you go, you will do much better in business, but you are an asset to Goa, so stay with us.’ It was such a nice thing to stay, and that has kept me anchored.” For those of us in Goa, let’s just say Amen to that! 

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