Sweet Nation

Serving up yumminess since August 2020, the idea of Sweet Nation was born when managing partner Ujjwal Tripathi’s dad happened to remark, “ ‘UPites’ (people from Uttar Pradesh) are usually called ‘bhaiyas’ and a ‘bhaiya’s’ life is complete only once he has opened a sweet shop”. “My dad always wanted to have a sweet shop with a Haldiram-type set up where people could come and eat chaat, sweets, and snacks prepared in a very hygienic fashion in a nice ambience. But he did not know how to go about it.”

Coming from a business family, Tripathi went on to do hotel management. As part of his on-field training, he worked in the UAE and then at a five-star hotel in Goa, where he first met the present sweets chef of Sweet Nation. “We ended up connecting and thought we would do something together in the future,” he says. Thus, Sweet Nation came into being. “I executed the entire project right from the menu to the interior and everything,” he says.

The delectable food

In the beginning, Sweet Nation mainly had chaats and sweets. Slowly, they moved on to snacks and savouries. The menu has some really exciting soul-satisfying dishes. One of the highlights of their new menu is the litti chokha, a traditional street food from Bihar, which is something they wanted to add for a long time. They have also begun selling paratha thaals along with kaddu ki sabji (pumpkin vegetable), U.P.-style tomato chutney (made of tomatoes, onions seeds, jaggery and garlic), adraki dahi (ginger curd), and their homemade arbi ka achaar (elephant foot yam pickle).

Tripathi says that though the mint mawa paratha has been there on the menu since the beginning but compared to the other stuffed parathas he used to think it was a little dry. And so he came up with paratha thaals. The paratha options include sadha paratha, mint paratha, pyaaz paratha, aloo paratha, paneer paratha, and turbo paratha. “Turbo paratha is something we sort of discovered I think in Nigeria. There are a lot of Indians who live there and on the naan they put cheese, chilli and a lot of garlic so that it becomes a turbo naan.”

Also on their menu is chop suey bhel inspired by the Chinese bhel that is popular in Delhi and other cities. “We tweaked the flavours a bit. While this usually has grated paneer and cheese on it, we decided to go with feta cheese because it has both the qualities.” The tamarind chutney for the bhel is made from the tamarind tree located behind their central kitchen in Goa Velha. They also grow their own onions, garlic, and mint there.

The pav for pav bhaji is different from the usual pavs. “We use garlic leaves to flavour the buns for the pav bhaji and add onion seeds on top of the buns.”

The sweets and desserts section includes some classics like their bestseller motichoor ladoo, kaju katli and rasmalai. They also have savouries like the mathri, namak para, and chips that can be enjoyed over drinks and conversations. “The potatoes used for the chips are sourced from Himachal. Everything is made from scratch at the factory.”

One can enjoy beverages like badam milk, jalebi shake, shikanji, and iced teas among others. They also have seasonal specials like aam panna. The menu has allergens specified.

After the success of their outlet in Panaji, Sweet Nation recently opened another outlet in Margao.