5 minute read
MumMai
MumMai
Situated at the Arora Gomes building on Menezes Braganza Road in Panjim is MumMai, a family-run restaurant that specialises in serving authentic Goan dishes and snacks. The restaurant is run by Emilia Victor, her son, Chef Elvis Victor and her nephew, Chef Roland Sequiera.
While the restaurant commenced operations at its present-day outlet in April 2021, the journey of MumMai actually began in 2020 during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Emilia had always been passionate about cooking and over the years, her dishes had garnered appreciation from her family and friends. Despite the restrictions of the pandemic, Emilia still wanted to find ways to spread joy with her home-cooked recipes and extend it beyond her family and friends.
With the help of her son Elvis, MumMai came to fruition as a cloud kitchen. Initially, they operated on weekends, preparing food and inviting people to pick up their orders. As they established regular customers, Emilia’s younger son, Stanford Victor set up MumMai’s social media to get the word out.
Word about MumMai spread fast and they started to receive more orders than they could handle over the weekend. Hence, in April 2021, with the help of Emilia’s nephew, Chef Roland Sequeria, they opened their outlet in Panjim.
The inspiration behind the name, MumMai, came from Emilia’s mother, Maria Georgina Victoria, whose grandchildren lovingly called her “mummai,” which means, grandmother in Konkani. Emilia’s recipes at the restaurant have all been passed down from her mother and she considers her the driving force of inspiration for the restaurant.
About The Founders
Emilia Victor, with her roots in Panjim, Goa, is one of the Founders of MumMai. She cooks, conceptualises and brings her years of experience in the kitchen to life in MumMai. In the past, she co-owned Ge Gems Gift Centre along with her husband, George Victor. The shops. offered toys, books, merchandise, crockery and cutlery and cutlery and was popular amongst tourists and locals. The business strived for a good twent
years with a niche market of customers. People still remember the location as it was located at Trionara Apts, at the heart of Panjim Market.
Emilia’s son, Elvis Victor, is a qualified Chef and has worked with brands such as Taj Holiday Village, JW Marriott, Mumbai, and Royal Caribbean Cruise Liner. He fulfilled his vision of starting his own establishments with a couple of restaurants. He also started a food truck Antojitos, which is also the food partner for Pinch Bistro & Bar at Panjim, Goa.
The third co-founder, Emilia’s nephew, Roland Sequiera holds a BA in Hotel Management from IHM, Goa and holds a Diploma in Culinary Arts from Canada. He has worked with restaurants across the world with brands such as The Hilton, The Marriott, Radisson, Taj, Kuwait Airways, and Crown Plaza and also managed a few hotels in Goa.
Food and Drinks Offered
MumMai aims to serve homely meals to its customers. The restaurant specialises in hearty homemade meals, and small bites, and is popular for its bestselling dishes such as xacuti, pork sorpotel, chops, cutlets, and its signature dish, pulled pork choris pao. They also specialise in the traditional Goan dessert, ‘Vonn’, made of coconut, jaggery and lentils.
As a tribute to its foundation, every weekend, MumMai curates a special menu based on fresh produce. Some of the dishes on the specially crafted menu include pork solantulem, cafreal, kokum spiced pork ribs, and beef tongue roast. They also serve caramel pudding, Seradurra, homemade bebinca, and kokum soda infused with basil and orange.
Their USP
MumMai brings home-cooked delicacies to the plate. The authentic Goan taste can be found in each dish served by them and customers have vouched that it reminds them of their grandma’s food. They use local ingredients and work with local suppliers for meat such as chicken, and seafood, among others. Also, their seafood menu is updated daily to maintain freshness and ensure that they only serve quality dishes to their customers. Dining at MumMai is a cosy and comforting experience, bringing the wholesomeness of the food to its ambience. The owners of MumMai are at the premises, most times and customers can chat with them to learn more about them and the restaurant. If the setting is right, they might even strum a few tunes on their guitar.
Response From The Public
The response from the public to MumMai when it just started operations was a lot warmer and more welcoming than expected, especially by locals. The owners consider themselves lucky to have several loyal customers and seeing the familiar faces actualises the vision that they started off with. They have also received appreciation from foreign tourists.
Challenges Faced and Future Plans
Emilia says that the growth of the restaurant was slow initially, but word of mouth and their social media presence helped the business to grow steadily. “Also, procuring a steady supply of raw materials such as fresh produce was a hassle at the beginning”, she says.
As for the future, she would like to expand to a full-fledged restaurant, with the scope of serving over a hundred people at a time, she adds. “Also, we are looking into starting a second
establishment, like a Tapas with a bar.”
Final Words
Emilia says that with the ongoing developments in modernisation, traditional Goan food is losing its demand. “Our project aims at keeping the tradition alive and providing our local and tourist customers with a taste of history. We believe that with each dish we prepare and serve, we are recreating a part of our roots. With each visit, you can help us in our quest to preserve the culinary aspect of Goa’s tradition.”
MumMai, Panaji
Phone: 097653 44560
Facebook/Instagram: @mummai.in
