First, the city folk came to Goa. Then came their big-city restaurants

It starts like Chinese whispers.

A chef doing repeated pop-ups or hobnobbing with industry folk. A well-known restaurateur scouting locations. A ‘coming soon’ notice on a new Instagram account. The whispers are followed by frenzied speculation about the new place. Is it a new concept? Is it a cocktail-forward bar? Is it a celebrity chef? There’s always something happening in Goa.

The lists and awards have it right: Goa is an exciting destination for food, aided by some fantastic homegrown chefs, and a slew of imports from Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru. The latest in this long chain of restaurants is Mizu Izakaya, chef Lakhan Jethani’s Japanese restaurant, which makes its way from Mumbai to North Goa’s gentrified village of Siolim. Earlier this year, Morjim beach saw the launch of Massive Restaurants’ Farzi Beach, a shack-style iteration of Farzi Café, which has outlets in not just Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, but also Kolkata, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Indore.

Both are popular existing brands, but how would they work in Goa’s already overcrowded food space?

Same same (name), but different (city)

The recipe for a good restaurant in Goa starts with a simple base: First, find a ‘Portuguese’ house—the misnomer used to describe stately old Goan homes has proven to be the ideal place to set up shop.  

Gunpowder did it back in 2012, while also marking themselves as one of the first Delhi imports to make Assagao their home. The restaurant did so well that they shut down the Delhi space to focus on the more lucrative one in Goa. Even today, Gunpowder is on many tourist itineraries, enjoying the first-mover advantage in a now-overcrowded Assagao.

But success isn’t guaranteed with just a beautiful location. In 2022, in the same neighbourhood of Assagao, Delhi’s popular Fig & Maple took over a massive bungalow, and designed it extensively, only to down its shutters in two years. Riyaaz Amlani’s Antisocial faced a similar fate in 2023, when it opened an outsized spot on Morjim beach, a turtle nesting site, and ran into local ire and legal regulations shortly. Massive Restaurants’ Bo Tai, offering stunning beach views, couldn’t hold an audience left confused by their Thai and Italian offerings.

So where lies the success for this tricky yet tempting F&B destination? Passcode Hospitality’s decision to bring their Ping’s Bia Hoi franchise to Goa was heavily influenced by chef-partner Rahul 'Picu' Gomes’s desire to return home. It helped that they had his mother’s ancestral home as a location. It was 2019, and Goa was still testing the waters, with new restaurants in residential spaces being a one-off feature. “We knew Goa was an emerging market. The form of tourism was changing, becoming more domestic than international. It was proving to be an all-year destination rather than the traditional six-month one,” says Gomes.

Another reason for the move, and the subsequent opening of the other Passcode brand, Jamun, was financial. “Goa offered access to Mumbai, Bengaluru, Gujarat and Hyderabad. It was a good space to get people warmed up to what you were as a brand before moving to another big city. It was financially smarter to open in Goa; it gave us the scope to experiment and the space for R&D.”

Goa also became a testing ground for another hospitality group when Rohit Khattar, founder chairman of EHV International, which is the famous group behind Indian Accent, brought Hosa and Fireback to Goa. Hosa opened in late 2022 in an old Goan home, right by Siolim’s St Anthony’s Church. The start was slow, but today Khattar attests they are doing good numbers. The backyard and garden space turned into a testing ground for the Thai-focussed Fireback, bringing in the expertise of chef David Thompson from Bangkok. “We are now taking them to other cities. The next few years will see three Fireback and two Hosa outlets across India,” he confirms.

The perks of not being a wallflower

Goa may not have the numbers of a big city but it still is a good market, offering new restaurants the luxury of space and the chance to experiment: with a new menu, audacious drinks and a distinct design idea.  

Kishore DF entered this market in 2023, opening the fourth branch of his famous Tamilian restaurant, The Tanjore Tiffin Room (he already has three in Mumbai). The restaurant is the most Instagrammable South Indian restaurant in Goa. “It [the journey] has been exceptional. It has given eyeballs across India, which we cannot do in Mumbai. Goa is good to attract the Indian audience and to showcase our food to an international audience.”

Before Izumi opened in Assagao, the Japanese restaurant was already a coveted spot in Mumbai, known for its stellar cuisine. On the cusp of their third anniversary, chef and co-founder Nooresha Kably says Goa has proven to be a ‘fantastic market’. “Being in Goa has given us a pan-Indian reach. We have guests from all over India and not just Mumbai. People have heard of Izumi… We are known as one of the Japanese places.”

Zorawar Kalra, founder and managing director of Massive Restaurants, explains the opening of Farzi Beach as the natural next step for the Farzi brand. “It is exciting to see the growing number of chefs moving to Goa, bringing with them fresh ideas and creativity that they may not have been able to explore in their home cities,” says Kalra of his latest opening.

One of the latest export is chef Lakhan Jethani, whose Izakaya-style Mizu in Goa is done up to resemble a Japanese garden. In the days to come, it will have its own Omakase room and a different menu.

What’s Goa got to do with it?

Goa’s hospitality scene also hides many failures—restaurants that open and close in the blink of an eye, or ones that persevere for years without earning a profit. Today, the rent is high, as are attrition rates, the tourist season is in flux, and the constant chatter about tourists deserting Goa for cheaper destinations like Thailand hasn’t helped. How does one survive in this volatile market?

“You have to adapt,” says Gomes. “A chain restaurant is not a copy-paste model. You have to imbibe the culture of the place, become more local, and celebrate the ingredients available there.”

Ping’s and Jamun did just that. The Goa outpost of Ping’s has more of a beer garden vibe than its other city outlets. Jamun’s Goa menu has more meat options, and many Goan dishes too. At Izumi Assagao, Kably is now working on more beef dishes, and using her favourite local produce, chonak. Kishore, who is also a partner at the Sri Lankan restaurant Jaffna Jump in Panjim, believes it is important to not “take Goa away from Goa”. “The essence of Goa doesn’t only need to come through food but also through the natural aesthetic and ambience, the vibe, and the sense of freedom.”

The Second House (TSH) in Saligao has touches of Goa scattered throughout the space: It is in its half window-half door (inspired by late Goan architect Charles Correa), in its cane archway woven by 12 Goan fisherwomen, and even in its dishes like Not So Balchao. “The amount of Goa we have put into this place is next level… It goes into the ethos and the design,” says Dishant Pritamani, the founder of Luna Hospitality, which owns The Daily All Day in Mumbai and Pune, and Tsuki in Pune. Pritamani was clear that Goa didn’t need an outpost for one of his popular city restaurants but something that was its own.

Beyond good food, high-profile clientele, winning awards and finding top positions on lists, there’s a key factor to staying relevant in Goa. Consistency. Consistency. Consistency. “You have to provide the best-quality food and service consistently. Consistently good food is underrated,” says Gomes, whose Ping’s Bia Hoi is now as favoured by tourists as by locals who know exactly what to order (claypot rice, angry beef salad and drunken noodles, you’re welcome). “You need a balance of history [of the place], location, local culture, and a great offering. It doesn’t need to be fine dining.”

And it doesn’t have to be in Assagao.