Star attraction, by the sea

The food at Antares, former Masterchef Australia contestant Sarah Todd's restaurant in Goa, speaks for itself, but mediocre service lets it down

Living in a country with no Michelin-starred restaurants, the second-best option one has to try truly innovative cuisine is to head to a restaurant run by a celebrity chef. In comes Sarah Todd, Masterchef Australia contestant from 2014, with Antares, a sprawling new restaurant with Australian cuisine in Goa. While the assumption is that Australian cuisine is much like the usual Continental fare, the emphasis on fresh and unique ingredients and a fusion with Asian cuisine set it apart.

Located in Vagator and right next door to Thalassa, the ever popular Greek restaurant, the entrance to Antares is much more understated than its boisterous neighbour. My friends and I have a reservation and it takes repeated corrections for the gentleman manning the desk to understand that we're three and not eight. A Caucasian woman, possibly the hostess, guides us to our table on the sea-side. While the yellow fairy lights are soothing and set the mood for a relaxed evening, the loud and almost jarring music doesn't really allow for much calm. Besides the lights, the decor is unremarkable, which is unfortunate for a restaurant that has a beautiful location and could have done so much with it.

Waiting for water to be served, a waitstaff with an "I couldn't care less" attitude keeps the menus on our table while looking the other way. I try not to get irked and wait for someone to introduce us to the menu or answer our questions about the food.

While limited on the whole, a big point in the restaurant's favour is the ample vegetarian options on offer. Specialty restaurants tend to focus too much on the meat and offer only basic vegetarian fare, but that is not true for Antares. The pesto linguini has a burst of fresh flavours and despite the olive oil, it doesn't feel heavy on the palate. But before the linguini is ordered, my friend has a rather frustrating conversation with the server, who refuses to make any customisations to the dishes or explain what flavour a particular unfamiliar ingredient has. His answer to most questions is a "no", followed by an eyebrow raised in disdain.

I order the spiced chicken with carrot puree, anchovy salad cream and charred broccoli. The portions are quite large and I can easily share it with the friend who orders a small platter of chilli barbequed prawns. There are nearly four pieces of chicken, which slide off easily with a fork. My friends make fun of me for always ordering chicken and not experimenting with other meat, but one bite off my plate and they're sold. The prawns, I'm told (I didn't taste them because of an allergy), are perfectly cooked and retain their juiciness. After polishing off the plate, including the pickled cucumber and paprika mayonnaise that come with the prawns, she promptly declares, "These are the best prawns I've ever had."

Barring our designated driver for the night, my friend and I order a red wine sangria and a glass of Chandon Brut to accompany our food. The base wine for the sangria was good quality and not very sweet. I, for one, was too happy with my glass of the India-made Chandon Brut, which is rarely sold by the glass, if at all it is even available.

For dessert, we order a dark chocolate brownie with salted butterscotch. We decide that trying one dessert first would be a safe bet and once it arrives, we are thankful for this minor moment of wisdom. The serving is huge and after a large meal, the three of us can easily share the dessert without fighting over it.

The bill, though is disappointing, especially when one considers restaurants in Goa - prices at Antares are on a par with restaurants in Delhi or Gurgaon. I leave wishing that Antares could be a bit more like La Plage, a French restaurant in Ashvem and one where servers actually offered menu suggestions without raising their eyebrows at your questions. The food at Antares speaks for itself, but I wonder if it will be able to sustain its buzz beyond its star attraction.