Local Food, Goa

On calngutu Beach near Domino's pizza there is small restaurant where you can get Gujarati thali. with garama garam rotli.
2 shak, 4 rotli, dal-rice, achar, papad, Chash...just only 70rs full limited meal.
so its gud option for Gujarati pure veg thali.
Mob No. 09923177226

Favorite Dish: there are so many dish i find and yes jain food and dishes also available.
i just eat gujarati thali full dish.
but you can try gobi paratha, pannet paratha. jain and many thing once visit who are pure veg and roaming around Goa.

On the Pundalik Gaitondi road, between Canacona station and Palolem beach, there's a little family dhaba which does great local food, and is much cheaper than the touristy restaurants near the beach. The family running it are very friendly.

The Round Cube Beach Cafe is a cross between a restaurant and a bar. They do very good food, and dinner for two there cost us 245 INR including drinks. The guy running the bar was very friendly, and played some decent music.

If you're after something a little more local, go to the little stall on the corner of the road where Hi-Tide huts are situated. It's run by a very friendly husband and wife team, they generally only have one dish a day, but it's always tasty, and it is cheap compared to the restaurants on the beach, although more than you might pay in other parts of India (144 INR for two thalis and two teas).

This is also the place to come if you fancy hiring a scooter!

Feni is the locally brewed alchohol of Goa. It is mainly prepared from the fermented sap of the coconut flower-stalk and also from the fruit of the cashew tree. So there are Coconut fenny and cashew fenny. Other forms of liquor are widely available across the state, but the Goans are very fond of their own feni as well. I liked it!

While in Goa one should definitely try the typical Goanese cuisine. I did. I would not say that I really liked them, but they were definitely worth trying. I tried two chicken dishes, Chicken Xacuti (a very rich gravy chicken cooked with aromatic spices) and Chicken Cafrel (roasted chicken in garam masala). I kind of liked the latter, but both were really very spicy, and they seemed so even to my Indian tongue

Favorite Dish: Chicken Xacuti
Chicken Cafrel

As it’s so long since we were there I can’t recall the names of all the restaurants we went to, and some may well have closed or changed management since then. But a couple stand out in my memory as being the best of those we tried, and would be worth others searching out.

Fiesta is a popular and fairly upmarket choice. The cuisine is Italian, so it makes a change from the otherwise ubiquitous Indian choices – I love curry and tandoori dishes but was pleased to have a break on a couple of evenings. The service was very good and the setting is lovely, with tables in a pretty garden festooned with lanterns. We ate here on my birthday and were treated to an extra light-show – a storm was brewing and the lightening was pretty spectacular, although luckily the rain held off until we were almost back at the hotel.

Tito’s is a Baga institution and has even given its name to a road: Tito’s Road, which leads down to the beach from the main Baga Road. It is in fact a row of establishments, with a coffee shop furthest from the sea, followed by a bar and nightclub and a restaurant. We ate in the latter a couple of times. The food wasn’t the best we had in Baga but it was pretty good, and we liked the tables scattered in the large open courtyard setting. They do a great Bloody Mary too, if my memory serves me right!

But our favourite restaurant was one that was very recently opened and was away from the beach on the Baga Road: “Over the Flames” . The cooking here was excellent, especially the fresh fish and seafood cooked in the tandoori oven. The chef would bring a platter of the day’s catch to our table for us to select the exact fish we would like and it would then be cooked to order while we enjoyed our starter. On our next-to-last evening we ate here and told the waiter that we were tossing up whether to come back again on the next evening for our final dinner in Baga, or to go back to our other (and less visited) favourite, the Fiesta. When we duly appeared the next evening he was grinning from ear to ear. It turned out that he had a bet with his boss that we would come and was thrilled because our arrival meant that he had won some money! We were given free cocktails as “regulars”, and I was given a little, cheap but pretty, bangle. We were so pleased we’d chosen to spend our last evening in this friendly place.

Baga beach is lined from one end to another with these beach bars. All are temporary, built new every season and taken down at the end (as you can see in photo 3), and all look very much the same. The main difference as far as we were concerned was the degree to which the staff hassled you to choose their bar, so we developed a policy of going to one where we weren’t waylaid as soon as we walked nearby bit were left to make up our minds in peace.

During the day the bars put out beach chairs so when you choose your chair you also choose your bar. You can order drinks and snacks where you sit, or go into the bar area itself for some welcome shade and a wider choice of refreshments. We had some nice grilled shrimp one day but mostly only drank here. As well as cold drinks during the day, we came several times for a beer at sunset – a very relaxing way to end the day or start your evening.

The bar we frequented most was “Travellers’ Rest”, towards the southern end of the beach by our hotel. The staff were very friendly and relatively laid-back, but towards the end of our stay they changed and started to ask us to pay money for hospital treatment for one of their number. We really weren’t sure whether this was genuine or a con, but we felt we were being used so we moved on and drank elsewhere for the last few days.

With almost everything under the sun on sale and the excitement of frenetic bargaining, one can really work up an appetite. So if you're feeling hungry let the traveller in you explore the myriad options at Ingo’s.

On offer is a wide range of international cuisine from Greek, British and authentic Italian pasta and pizzas. Try out diff cuisines or savour the best Japanese Sushi in India. A must try is the delectable varieties of kebabs, tandoori chicken and the good old Goan cuisine.

Most of the restaurants on the popular beaches stop serving after 11pm. So the best thing is to take a walk down the road along the beach and look for the local restaurants which are mostly run by people in the front room and verandah of their homes.

Tip : Try the local goan cuisine, I am sure you would love it.

First night Delhi Belly The food here was not clean or prepared right, spoiled three days for us,
maybe we were first customers of the night?
Not particularly friendly service that you expect in Goa.

Favorite Dish: None

plaintain leaf - popular south indian hotel u will get everything from idle to dosa to south indian thali. located at start of main market road which finally ledas to calangute/baga beach.

little italy - pure veg meal available - excellent pasta and nice place for enjoying romantic dinner. they serve pizza, pasta and lots of italian salads with combo meals at attractive rates. location is a bit difficult but if u have bike than it's easy just go straight from market road towards candolim and after domino's pizza which falls on right hand side there is small right turn go little ahead and turn left that's where it's located. as i said if u have vehicle or bike easy find.

navtara restaurant - u will find thie hoardings/billboards everywhere onm highway when u land and reacvh your hotel in north goa. they are located at 2 places far off but provide good food almost everything is available. average decor but friendly staff. they close down early by 10.30pm so make sure u reach on time.

subway / domino's - no need for introduction

if u r going to anjuna beach flee market on wednesday than there is popular big beach shack which will give u nice sandwiches, north india food, fresh juices to enjoy.

Baked onsite cakes and pastries, both European and Goan-style.
attached to the bakery next door ,a small,clean,basic cafe for you to have a little break and enjoy a snack!
All pastries baked fresh everyday,also distributed to other outlets.

Favorite Dish: all the goan pastries,and Sausage rolls! yum!

It was 20 years ago I was in Goa...
I can just imagine that the quality has gotten better.
On most of the Beach resorts an abundance of seafood places.
Watch just after dawn when the fishermen bring in their catch.
Panjim Market was interesting too.

Oh my lordy! The food in Goa was absolutely blinding ... I've never been anywhere with a better selection of well-cooked dishes from the most diverse range of eating establishments. From the top-end resort restaurants down to the most humble beach shacks, I dined well. Most places cook in a range of styles and will have several separate cuisine pages within their menus. Oh, and it's bloomin' cheap!!!

I would say that on the whole, Calangute was to be avoided, but Candolim's full of lovely places. During the day, you'll get great food (and the same range of choice!) from the numerous beach shacks but you'll have to forgive me as I don't remember many names.