No celebration is complete without traditional sweets and farsan. If we start naming these, the drool list goes on, endlessly. So, the question now is where in Panjim can you satiate your craving for sweets and farsan?
Well, without blinking an eye, head to Sweet Nation based on the ground floor of Edcon Mindspace building at St Inez in Panjim.
Sweet Nation was set up in 2020 by Ujjwal Tripathi to extend the delicious vibes of tradition infused with modernity. Over the last two years, it has become the go-to place not only for sweets and farsan, but some great chaats and vegetarian food.
After pursuing his education in hotel management from the V M Salgaocar Institute of International Hospitality Education, and then an MBA from the Goa Institute of Management, Ujjwal's interest in the food industry lingered on.
He recalls, “Sweet Nation was born out of a bet between my father and two of his business partners. My father always had a dream of opening a 'mithai ki dukaan' that would have snacks and chaats prepared with the greatest attention to quality, hygiene, and a great ambience."
"He could not make the time for this project because he had his hands full. Finally, I ended up on the road to fulfill his dream and entered the food industry,” Ujjwal recalls.
Quality, hygiene, indigeneity and customer service are what define Sweet Nation and it has been understanding the pulse of Goan foodies and sweet lovers closely.
At Sweet Nation, you can spot families, friends and even office colleagues enjoying their encounter with sweets, chaats and fresh savouries.
Jalebi and rasmalai may sound like common sweets, but, here, they are sought after. It’s very tough to find rabri in Goa, especially the kind you get in Old Delhi. You could club it with jalebi or try it as it is.
If you feel you deserve some quiet enjoyable time in the comfort of a nice, modern ambience and seating, Sweet Nation is the place to be. It has all kinds of chaats, from aloo tikki, and papdi chaat to pani puri and kachori.
And if this is still not good enough, you must try out the buttery pav bhaji which is again so Mumbai-like. There’s chhole bhature made the Punjabi way with chatpate aloo and sirke wale pyaaz along with snacks like dhokla, kachoris and samosas.
The chakhna that most Indian homes have to compulsorily have like potato chips, mathris and namkeens can be found here, made fresh by hand, using only the best ingredients.
“The badam milk has actually been our bestseller. People come in sometimes only for the badam milk which includes lots of dry fruits, Kashmiri kesar and makhana in it,” says Tripathi.
“We make sincere efforts to ensure that our customers are getting only the best quality. Our potato chips are handmade using chip potatoes that we source from Himachal and the ghee is brought from UP. We also grow mint, coriander, tamarind, onions, etc which are used to manufacture many of the condiments and products you see here.”
Sweet Nation has just launched its new menu. In the new menu, pav bhaji has been given a twist. It is now also served with buns made of wild garlic grown in-house.
Also, litti chokha is something that features on the new menu. The litti and chokha are cooked on uplas that we get from farms at Sawantwadi. The main attraction on the new menu are the paratha thaals.
Fluffy stone-cooked parathas, served with home-made tomato chutney, arbi pickle, adraki dahi and kaddu ki sabzi (pumpkin vegetable) are the other additions.
“We have a unique mint paratha in that it contains some mawa that we make ourselves for our sweets, and it is flavoured with some mint and lemon, making it akin to the stunning combination of mint and ricotta,” explains Ujjwal.
From the chaat section, one can try chop suey bhel, Indian version of the American chop suey. It’s made with fried noodles, chilli sauce, tamarind chutney, fermented wheat sauce, green chillies, spring onions, cabbage and some feta cheese. This bhel is similar to Chinese bhel sold in New Delhi, but here it’s differently tweaked.
Once you set foot inside Sweet Nation, the aromas of chaats and snacks will make you succumb to the goodness served. The ambience is just perfect to have some great chats over chaats!