Most of the restaurants around the city are complete with tasty food, pleasant ambience and great service. However, Peep Kitchen at Taleigao has something more to offer. What makes it unique is the fact that it is now wheelchair accessible, making it Goa’s first (and probably only) disabled-friendly, family restaurant. Peep Kitchen located at Taleigao, near the capital city of Panjim, is an authentic Goan family restaurant. Started as a small takeaway joint by brothers Amey and Gaurish Naik, the restaurant serves authentic Goan recipes formulated over the years by their mother, Vidya Naik. Amey and Gaurish consider Vidya to be their source of support and inspiration.
PEEP itself is an acronym for ‘Place for Everything and Everything in its Place.’ With its serene and pleasant ambience and the authentic mouth-watering Goan delicacies, the restaurant can win anyone’s heart without a doubt. The pastel colours used in its interiors keep them rooted in the Goan culture. But what makes it even more special is the attention given to those customers who are old and disabled.
A place for everything
Due to the infrastructure of the restaurant, the customers have to take a small flight of stairs to enter the establishment. This was a matter of concern for those who could not walk up the steps. It is here where the Naik brothers found the opportunity to make a difference in their customer’s experience.
“You cannot stop anyone from getting service”, says Amey Naik and this is also the motive behind the introduction of the hydraulic lift. With the setting up of this innovative system, anyone on a wheelchair is lifted from the ground level to the restaurant entrance without any hassle.
Avelino Dsa, the President of the Disability Rights Association of Goa has appreciated the initiative taken up by Peep Kitchen in view of its disabled customers. He has also recommended other eateries around the city to implement similar initiatives to ensure that there are more wheelchair accessible and disabled-friendly establishments.
Everything in its place
Lloyd Fernandes, a resident of Taleigao had met with an accident a few years ago, and since then has been in a wheelchair. Unfortunately for him, not many restaurants are wheelchair accessible. His only solution up until now has been to eat his meals in the car along with his wife. Thanks to the Naik brothers’ initiative of installing the hydraulic lift at Peep Kitchen, Lloyd can now have a comfortable meal in the restaurant’s pleasant ambience. “I now enjoy my meal in the AC rather than in the car – and it’s much better now”, says an ecstatic Lloyd.
From the owner’s point of view, Amey feels extremely satisfied and happy in his ability to cater to everyone who visits his restaurant. “Ours is a family restaurant and with every family that visits us, there is in most cases an elderly person who has a problem taking the stairs,” says Amey, “and the hydraulic lift has definitely solved that problem”.
The disabled-friendly Peep Kitchen is ‘the’ complete family restaurant that literally takes care of everything. So, what are you waiting for? Get your grandpa and grandma, and the rest of your family down to Peep kitchen for some amazing and authentic Goan cuisine, and let us know about your experience in the comments below.
