Chef Avinash Martins Blends His Love For Cricket & Regional Ingredients With A Bold New Restaurant In Goa

It was a sweltering March afternoon in Goa, but fortunately, I had stepped into a cool air-conditioned oasis. I arrived at Janot, Chef Avinash Martins’ latest culinary venture, on the second day of its opening. Located inside Panjim Gymkhana, Janot overlooks the lush Bhausaheb Bandodkar Cricket Ground and the shimmering Mandovi River in the distance.

At the entrance, a striking marble ingredient table sets the tone. It’s topped with several ingredients, from long pepper to black salt and dried turmeric to paunk, offering a sensory preview of what’s to come. As I sipped on some refreshing coconut water, the man of the match himself arrived. Chef Martins, seated with his wife and best friend, greeted me with a warm smile and welcomed me into his all-new, ingredient-agnostic restaurant. Suddenly, the ingredient table made perfect sense.

Martins is the chef behind the acclaimed South Goa restaurant Cavatina, which reimagines Goan cuisines, and Table In The Hills, a by-reservation only, farm-to-table concept. However, at Janot, he aims to bring his culinary flair with regional ingredients mixed with French techniques, unshackled by the need to stick to a specific culinary identity. “People often box me in as a Goan chef,” he says. “I have so many recipes—maybe a hundred—but only 20 make sense for Cavatina, where it has to be about Goa, storytelling, and artisanal ingredients. So what happens to the rest? That’s where Janot comes in. I’ve done flavour pairings from my imagination and my travels. I wanted to bring something new to Panjim—not just another Indian or Asian restaurant.”

Interiors 

The entire space was once an open terrace, now transformed into a thoughtfully designed restaurant that extends out to overlook the cricket ground. Sitting on the third floor of Panjim Gymkhana, Janot offers sweeping views of the pitch below. And it’s no coincidence—Chef Martins is a cricket fanatic, and this restaurant is as much a tribute to his love for the sport as it is a platform for his culinary exploration.

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The terrace doubles as a thriving farm where the chef grows many of the restaurant’s ingredients, from Thai basil and buransh to mulberries, peppermint, thyme, and calamansi lime. It’s also where pineapples, oranges, and grapefruits are left to sun-dry.

The interiors are unfussy yet refined: wooden and cane chairs with tropical-print cushions and soft lighting from woven cane lamps. The layout is playful too; one section of the restaurant features a soaring ceiling which carves out a mezzanine-level space. A short stairway leads to this cosy upper area, which holds just five or six tables, creating a semi-private perch perfect for quieter meals with a view of the restaurant below.

Drinks

Tanishq Hinduja heads the mixology programme at Janot and has crafted contemporary cocktails to pair with your meals. Being in Goa in March, it’s a sin if you don’t have feni or urak cocktails. And so my eyes go straight to the first two drinks on the bar menu: Palo-Mandovi, a coconut feni-based cocktail with grapefruit, lime and honey, and Urak On A Pedestal with urak, mint, chillies, kokum, ginger and vanilla—both refreshing and well balanced in their own right. Given that picantes are the flavour of the season, I also tried the Cherry Picante, however, it was a tad bit sweet for my liking. The bar also features classics like Negroni and Whiskey Sour as well as zero-proof drinks like Umami Berry Cooler and Flaming Guava Spritz, among others. 

Food

The menu is simple and concise, offering a mix of appetisers, mains, and desserts that spotlight regional ingredients alongside a selection of local and imported meats and seafood. It’s designed to evolve with the seasons. “For every non-vegetarian option, there’s a vegetarian counterpart. So nobody can say that there aren’t too many vegetarian options,” shares Martins. And don’t expect paneer. “I’m not a fan of that ingredient,” he adds, with a grin. But don’t worry, you’ll find many beautiful vegetables like cauliflower, beetroot, asparagus and jackfruit, among others, get the spotlight. 

For my meal, I let the chef take the lead. I began with Essence Of The Sea, a seafood appetiser with fresh prawn, clam and calamari nestled in a fragrant tefal lime foam. A delicate net-like blue cracker tops the dish, a visual nod to traditional fishermen’s nets. Its vegetarian counterpart, Essence of the Orchards, is just as memorable—goat cheese and beet ravioli, tambdi bhaaji (amaranth leaves) goujons, and a guava chilli sphere that bursts with flavour, all resting in a spiced tomato sauce. Each is served with a brun maska, perfect for mopping up the sauces.

Next came the Albondigas, juicy chicken meatballs finished with a smoky pepperonata sauce. The vegetarian version, made with jackfruit, held its own and then some. Sesame Toast A La Mode (with either prawn or corn) is a solid pick, but it was the next two small plates that caught my attention, and dare I say, I liked the vegetarian ones even more.

 

The Bolinhas (Bolinhos de bacalhau) are croquettes made with imported salted cod, served with avgolemono and apricot thecha. But the vegetarian version? A revelation. Made with tender coconut and finished with a crisp almond-shave crust, it had the perfect texture and unexpected depth. Then came the Cured & Crafted, which looked like art on a plate. The non-vegetarian version features Norwegian cured salmon paired with truffled caramelised cauliflower nabe and gaunti limbu emulsion. Again, the vegetarian version stole the show: Tender Coconut Carpaccio paired with sol kadhi, aam ras, saffron leche di tigre and crisp quinoa. I’m a seafood lover, but I’d go back for this dish for sure.  

It was time to dig into the mains and Chef Martins surprised me with an unusual combination. He served me Roasted Chonak sitting on a bed of cherry tomato pastiche, green pea ragout and roasted banana and passion fruit sauce. I never imagined bananas could pair so well with fish, but the chef showcases how odd combinations can work. The vegetarian version with Roasted Sweet Potato was cooked well too, but this time, the seafood was the clear winner.

The other dishes mentioned in the mains—Lobster Tail, Lamb Chops, Lactogenated Cauliflower Steaks/Chicken Thigh, and Jackfruit Herb Chilli Rub—looked fascinating, but I was pretty full by then. I couldn’t get to the desserts, though there are only two: Raw Honey Flan and Dark Chocolate with Orange Marquise. 

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Before leaving, I asked the chef what Janot means. “It means God's grace in Portuguese,” he shares. If grace had a flavour, this dining experience would be it! 

ELLE Gourmet’s Verdict

With unusual flavour pairings, sensible ingredient-driven plates, and techniques that stand testament to Martins’ culinary expertise, I’d say the chef has knocked it out of the park with a hat trick! Make sure you add Janot to your itinerary when you visit Goa next. 

 

Address: Third floor, Panjim Gymkhana, Dayanand Bandodkar Marg, Campal
Contact for reservations: +91 8459716905
Price: INR 4,000++ for a meal for two with one drink