Social media posts claiming the cafe in Goa allegedly run by Union Minister Smriti Irani's daughter Zoish, serves beef are false as the screenshots of a menu card circulating online are not from Silly Souls Goa Cafe & Bar.
BOOM found the screenshots are of the menu at Upper Deck - a restaurant at the Radisson Blu resort in Goa.
The Silly Souls Goa Cafe & Bar in Assagao, made headlines last week after opposition leaders from Congress claimed that the restaurant was owned by Zoish Irani and the liquor license it was using was "illegal". The opposition further alleged that Silly Souls had renewed their liquor licence by providing documents of a deceased person – Anthony Dgama. As the political row escalated, Congress workers started sharing a clip from food critic Kunal Vijayakar's show
Khane Mein Kya Hai, when the food critic visited the restaurant and interviewed Zoish - introducing her as a "young entrepreneur".
However, Smriti Irani has denied the allegations and defended her daughter saying that "my 18-year-old daughter is studying…my 18-year-old daughter does not run an illegal bar."
Several posts on social media also shared a photo of a restaurant menu serving beef tongue claiming it was from the menu of Silly Souls Goa.
The posts have insinuated hypocrisy as the Bharatiya Janata Party has banned the same in several states where it is in power.
Goa is one of the few states in India where beef is not banned.
FACT CHECK
We ran a Google search for the keyword "S.F.O Beef Tongue" - the dish as mentioned in the viral menu and found a Just Dial page for the menu of Upper Deck, a restaurant in the Radisson Blu resort in Goa.
View link to the menu here
A search for Upper Deck - Radisson Blu Resort on food delivery app Zomato also shows the same dish in their menu.
We then went through the menu of Silly Souls Goa as shown on Zomato and did not find a beef dish mentioned anywhere. Below is a screenshot of the one of the pages from the menu. You can view the same menu here as uploaded on Zomato.
BOOM also spoke to a few food bloggers from Goa who have visited and reviewed the restaurant. The bloggers who did not wish to be named said that they did not find mention of any beef dish on the menu of Silly Souls Goa Cafe & Bar.
We also found a review of the restaurant written by food writer Nolan Mascarenhas as part of his piece Goa Garnishes for a food magazine, Upper Crust, for their October 2021 issue. Mascarenhas in his review does not mention a beef dish anywhere and additionally while describing a dish - Baos (a type of bread) - states the meat options for the same are "pork and chicken".
Additionally, none of the restaurant reviews on Zomato mention any beef items on the menu.
Several attempts to contact the Silly Souls Goa Cafe & Bar went unanswered. The story will be updated if we get a reply.