This December, all roads lead to Goa’s latest restaurants

Artists, designers, and chefs congregated in Goa through the pandemic, creating what is now India’s most vibrant dining destination, highlighting flavours from Chennai to Delhi. As party season kicks off, table hop with us though the hottest new launches

There are always many good reasons to visit Goa — some better than others. If you have had your fill of December’s Sunburn lists, wars of DJs and frenetic partying, let restaurants be your raison d’etre to visit the state this year, as we ring out 2022.

Almost three years of the pandemic have changed Goa almost beyond recognition. New Delhi, Mumbai high rollers have now parked themselves, if not permanently, then for large chunks of the year, in Assagao villas, seeking to escape the humdrum Greater ‘Kailashness’ of their earlier lives. The earlier trend of migration from the metros has thus turned into a juggernaut, property prices zipping up, but indelibly altering that signature Goan sussegado state of mind.

Read More |How Goa’s iconic five star hotels are revamping menus

These nativised (north) Goans from elsewhere as well as well-heeled domestic tourists who have replaced the erstwhile Israeli backpackers and Russian charters are driving the demand for high quality, even luxury dining in Goa, as it transforms into India’s restaurant capital —a far cry from the laidback outpost it was when Gunpowder first moved in, trading Hauz Khas Village for Assagao in 2012.

Ten years have altered the landscape and tastes; the pace of change quickening through the pandemic. Even now, new restaurateurs and chefs are pouring in, for a share of the sunshine in a market where you can charge as much as the NCR (with the highest per person spend in the country), without diners looking overtly at the menu’s right side nervously.

On my flight from New Delhi alone there are three chefs, and one interior designer handling restaurant projects. All roads lead to Assagao. “This year alone, we are hearing, almost 600 new restaurants opened in Goa... obviously many will not survive”, warns restaurateur Ashish Kapur of Antares, in Goa for seven years, and one of the first national-level restaurateurs to take to the State.

Twenty years ago, when I had first encountered Goa, it was at Mrs Fernandes’ pensione in Miramar, eating her egg and fish curries, picking up poi, bebinca or pasteis de nata from bakeries of the South, spending a pittance on long kingfish lunches in cafes lining the Mandovi. On some days, we would catch the bus to the beaches of the North, but hitch hike back since there was no public transport available post sunset.