Snack'ing its way to people's hearts since the 1940s

In the land of beef chops, croquets, roast beef sandwiches, prawn rissois, egg chops and the range of snacks that make taste buds drool, this is a place to reckon with. And rightly so! Take a seat at Café Aurora in the heart of bustling Mapusa and within a heartbeat, two plates piled high with a range of tantalizing savouries will be placed before you.

Eat to your heart's content. And if you want a second helping, just a nod is enough. The restaurant, though, is more than just about its snacks. It is also a treasure trove of traditional Goan cuisine.

In existence for well over half a century, Café Aurora was started off by Alecino Fernandes sometime in the 1940s. Back then, the restaurant was located in old Mapusa market in Angod in the vicinity of the famous Swiss Chapel where it functioned for nearly 20 years before moving to its current location in the market in 1961.

Since its inception, the restaurant has been famed for its roast beef sandwiches. Even to this day, people come from as far as Margao to indulge in some of this meaty goodness.

Today the restaurant is run by Fernandes' ever smiling daughter-in-law Agnes and grandson Peter, who is a passionate cook. Also ably assisting them when she's not on working is Agnes' youngest daughter Fainna.

The restaurant has a pride of place in Peter's heart. He took over the reins in 2002 on the demise of his father Lawrence. Since then, he has made quite a few changes, including additions to the menu, re-defining their service plans and alteration to the interiors. "I introduced an a la carte lunch menu which has become very popular. I ensure that customers are served within 15 minutes of placing their order. As for the interiors, the changes, modernization had been restricted to the furniture. Otherwise, I have tried to maintain the original look of the restaurant, especially the Portuguese inspired décor. If you notice, the restaurant has no doors, a sign that everyone is welcome here. This is how my grandfather had envisioned it and I have maintained that look," Peter says proudly.

Peter reminisces how it all started, "My grandfather had a passion for baking and pastries." From there, the senior Fernandes branched out into making a variety of snacks and then added the eternal Goan favourites like fish curry-rice, sorpotel, sannas, vindahlo, beef and sausage chilly fries, Goan-style beef and chicken biryani to the menu and Café Aurora's popularity just soared.

"Not only do we have people who drive long distances to savour our snacks, we also receive orders for sannas from Pune and have had customers freezing croquets to fly them abroad," Peter says. Another factor that has ensured the restaurant's continuing popularity is its reasonable pricing. One can indulge in a wholesome plate of fish curry-rice at just Rs 90.

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