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| - Fact Check: Silly Souls Cafe in Goa doesn't serve beef, viral menu card is from different restaurant
Silly Souls Cafe in Goa doesn't serve beef currently. The viral menu card is from a different restaurant in Goa.
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India Today Fact Check
The menu card with the beef item is not from Silly Souls Cafe and Bar. The present menu of the restaurant features no beef recipes. But we cannot confirm that the restaurant never served beef in the past.
An eatery in Goa has kicked up a political storm after the Congress party alleged that it was owned by Union minister Smriti Irani’s daughter Zoish Irani. The Opposition party claims that Zoish's Silly Souls Cafe and Bar in Goa’s Assagao is “illegal”. However, Smriti Irani has defended her daughter, saying that Zoish is just a student and owns no bar.
Meanwhile, according to some posts on social media, both beef and pork are served at Silly Souls Cafe and Bar. The photo of a menu card, purportedly from the said restaurant, is being shared to back this claim.
Multiple verified Facebook and Twitter users made the allegation with a collage which shows the menu card, a meat recipe, a display board of the cafe and the picture of Smriti Irani and Zoish together.
The caption of the Facebook post in Hindi translates to, “If by mistake a Congress leader had served beef in his hotel or restaurant, then BJP and "Godi media" would have set the country on fire today, it would have created havoc. But this is Smriti Irani's daughter's restaurant, so everyone has forgiven. There is no statement from BJP Mahila Morcha now? Hail Lord Ram”.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the menu card being shared with the viral post is not from Goa's Silly Souls Cafe and Bar. The current menu at Silly Souls does not feature beef dishes. We couldn't confirm whether the establishment served beef in the past or not.
The viral posts are saved here and here.
AFWA probe
A reverse image search revealed that the viral menu card featuring beef and pork dishes was a copy of the online menu of another Goan diner called Upper Deck, Radisson Blu Resort. This restaurant is situated in Cavelossim, which is at least 60 km away from Assagao where Silly Souls Cafe is located.
This menu card can still be seen on the websites of food delivery app Zomato and restaurant booking website Eazy Diner.
While the menu card is from the Radisson restaurant, the picture of the meat dish has been lifted from the internet. This image has been used by multiple food blog sites over the years.
Is beef served at Silly Souls Cafe and Bar?
As per the recent online menu available on the websites of Zomato and Eazy Dinner, there is no mention of beef on the menu of Silly Souls Cafe and Bar.
Even an older menu from 2019 showed no beef dishes.
We tried but could not contact anybody from the Silly Souls restaurant as the phone numbers on their website were unreachable.
However, we contacted food vlogger and writer Kunal Vijaykar, who had covered this restaurant three months back on his YouTube channel “Khaane Mein Kya Hai”.
This was a talk show with Smriti Irani’s daughter Zoish Irani at the Silly Souls Cafe and Bar. In the show, Kunal Vijaykar introduced Zoish as the owner of the restaurant before trying several food items.
AFWA spoke to Kunal Vijaykar over the phone and asked whether beef items were part of the restaurant's menu.
"We ordered the food from the menu and I don't recollect seeing beef on it. Pork was there and we showed it in the video”, said Vijaykar.
This fact-check report is not verifying the ownership of Silly Souls Cafe and Bar in Goa.
However, it is clear that the viral screenshot of the menu posted by netizens does not belong to the Silly Souls Cafe and Bar. The recent menu of the said restaurant does not feature beef. We could not independently confirm if Silly Souls Cafe served beef in the past or not.
(With inputs from Yash Mittal)
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