Black Sheep Bistro: One of the most exciting new restaurants, this buzzing favourite spins brilliant new dishes
Bodega: Hidden away inside the courtyard of a beautifully renovated aristocratic Goan home (now the Sunaparanta arts centre) on the Altinho hill above Panjim, this superb café serves up sandwiches, soups, salads and astonishingly good cakes and cupcakes. All these are the handiwork of Vandana Naique, who spent years honing her trade in New York. Her obsession for quality shows throughout. Lunch for two: Rs 800. www.facebook.com/bodegagoa
Palacio do Deao: Less than an hour’s drive from the Dabolim airport, another world opens up in the agricultural hinterland of Quepem. Here, in the marvellous heritage Palacio do Deao, the diligent Celia da Gama researches and re-interprets classic Goan food using the best local ingredients in a farm-to-table prix-fixe lunch that compares with the best you’ll experience anywhere. Incredible value for money at Rs 700 per head (drinks extra). Reservations required. www.palaciododeao.com
Go With the Flow: Pick the right evening, and this beautifully located restaurant at the tip of Baga Bay overflows with football fever. That’s because chef Guto Souza is Brazilian, and his menu features many of his country’s specialities, and the hometown FC Goa team is heavily Brazilian. You get the picture; now try the dishes that bring them back every couple of days. Superb steaks, pork belly (imported from Belgium), sushi, luscious home-made cheesecake. Dinner for two: Rs 3,500 (drinks extra). www.gowiththeflowgoa.com
Baba’s Wood Café: This restaurant can exist only in Goa. Maria Grazia Raschi operates what can only be described as a temple to real Italian cooking: beautiful hand-made pastas, deeply flavourful olive oils, imported salumi and cheeses. The wood-oven pizzas are fantastic, the ravioli worth driving across the state to sample. Don’t forget the gelatos. Meal for two: Rs 2,000; www.facebook.com/Babaswoodcafe
Bomra’s: The best Burmese restaurant in the world? The best restaurant in India? These labels have been flying around the rocket-speed hands of chef Bawmra Jap ever since he opened his “modern Burmese” restaurant a decade ago in a modest location on the tourist strip in Candolim. Now a must-visit for foodies from around the world. Meal for two: Rs 3,000. www.bomras.com
Horseshoe: This singular bistro gem is the equivalent of a one-man orchestra. Chef Vasco Silveira creates virtuosic renditions of classic Luso-Indian cuisine all by himself in a spotless kitchen—you can watch him ablur, through a window behind the bar. This is the best version of bacalhau (the iconic dried cod of Iberia) you will taste this side of the Mediterranean, but don’t miss his beans-and-pork feijoada either. Meal for two: Rs 1,500. +91-832-2431788
Gunpowder:Delhi’s loss is Goa’s gain. Once a Hauz Khas favourite, this showcase for South Indian non-vegetarian specialities now shares space with the People Tree store in a converted old house in Assagao. It’s a unique menu that’s worth working your way through on repeat visits: Coorg-style pork, Kerala-style beef, Madras chicken curry, egg appams, and that deadly gunpowder to accompany everything. Dinner for two (without alcohol): Rs 2,000. www.facebook.com/gunpowdergoa
Bhatti Village: Those who bemoan the demise of great Goan food have probably never been to this restaurant, tucked into a charming location far along a bylane of Nerul. There is no menu, because the owner Patrick D’Souza knows what has come fresh to the market and what he wants to present to you on the day. But worry not, the selection will be mind-bogglingly vast including unbeatable seafood, and mouth-watering curries. Meal for two: Rs 900; +91-9822184103
Cantare: Just a few minutes’ drive away from the main tourism strip of North Goa is Saligao, ancestral village of great Goan artist Francis Newton Souza and the beloved singer Lorna Cordeiro. Nestled inside, this atmospheric lounge spills with music and bonhomie late into the night. Meal for two: Rs 900; +91-832-2409461
restaurants in Goa
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