Where to eat this July… in Goa

The monsoon, once called off-season in Goa, is no longer an annual pause in the tourist state. It is now just another time to explore the year-round destination spot, with some pretty new F&B offerings even launch this month.

In July, Goa’s capital seems to become the centre of activity. If recent openings are anything to go by, everyone wants a front-row seat to the Mandovi. On offer this month is a balcony café doing Goan-Portuguese home-style dishes, a beloved bar serving warming bowls of food and equally warming drinks, and a sundowner spot borrowing inspiration from the cosmos.

Here’s where to go this month. In Panjim and around.

Verre, Vivanta Miramar

The state’s newest sundowner spot is a glass-walled rooftop resto-bar. Situated atop the Vivanta Miramar, Verre (means glass in French) looks out onto a stretch of the Mandovi untarnished by casinos and rampant construction. The Verre universe — complete with quirky characters like the lobster, camera-happy memory collector — spills across menus and cushions. You can choose the one that feels most like you. Cocktails here are colourful and vibrant, with some flair. A touch of miso in the Black Garlic Penicillin and Midnight Miso, and buttery cacao richness in the Cacao Manhattan. The food is comforting, familiar fare from around the world — standouts include Acapulco ceviche, sticky smoked pork belly, pepperoni pide and Goan recheado butter prawns. It’s a shape-shifting space that moves from from a relaxed sundowner spot to a high-energy resto bar as the night progresses. Coming soon are live gigs and music nights.

Grilho, Cunchelim

On the road joining Cunchelim to the highway, if potholes don’t slow you down, the signboard of Grilho certainly will. Bright and welcoming, it leads you down a side alley to a section of the D’Souza home that’s been converted into a kitchen. Here, Gavril D’Souza plays several roles: receptionist, chef and server. At Grilho, he dishes up burgers: spicy BBQ, classic beef, crispy chicken, choris, and a vegetarian option. As you wait for your burger to get grilled, snack on the well-sauced chicken loaded fries. Pro tip: ask for the extra chicken. Grilho is open for sit-downs and takeaways.

Slow Dough, Sernabatim

It’s two guys and a new pizza place. Davide Stampini and Nicholas Compagnone, owners of Italian restaurant Goodfellas in Benaulim, have now opened Slow Dough in Sernabatim. The pizza place focusses only on classic Roman style pizza, Pala Romana, and focaccia sandwiches. Ingredients, like the sausages and porchetta, come from Italy or are made in-house. The main concept of the project, the owners say, is fermentation—from the starter of the dough to the drinks. Signature items include burrata focaccia (think fresh burrata with kalamata olive pesto), caprese focaccia, and burrata kalamata pala. Tiramisù comes in two flavours —classic and pistachio—and they brew their own kombucha. Slow Dough is mainly a takeaway space but they do have a few tables for those who prefer their pizzas fresh out of the oven.

Chafé Braz, Panjim

This tiny café occupies the balcony area of a 200-year-old Goan home overlooking the Mandovi River. Cháfé Braz is named after the legendary Goa-based saxophonist, Braz Gonsalves, and is part of the Centre for Indo-Portuguese Arts or CIPA. There’s a small room next to it, reserved for jazz concerts (side note: if lucky, you may even get to see the legend in action). The café was shut for a few years, and has reopened with new focus and new dishes. The trio who run it—Ian de Noronha, his wife Elisha, and sister, Ingrid—also do the cooking. The food on offer, according to Noronha, is “exactly what is served in our home”. Imagine a feast of vindalho, serradura, rissois, molho de camarão (prawn in spicy gravy), caldinha, tosta mista (chicken, ham and cheese sandwich), and gelado goês (house-special cheesecake ice cream). There’s coffee and tea under beverages, and the delicious xarope de brindão (kokum cooler).

Vera’s Patisserie, Siolim

Vera Sosnova started her baking journey in 2022, selling Russian medovik (honey) cakes and desserts in Delhi. She moved to Goa last year and now runs this “modern European-style patisserie”. A vibrant blue board announces the new patisserie in everyone’s current favourite gentrified village, Siolim. The minimalist space does handcrafted desserts, specialty coffee, and sandwiches. The eight-layer medovik remains a signature, along with salted chocolate and orange tiramisu, and her other cakes: the almond esterhazy (a decadent meringue cake), her signature chocolate cake; and a vegan dark chocolate and raspberry cake. She does vegan and gluten-free versions too.

NEW MENUS

Oya’s Umami, Miramar

Kohima’s Ati Aier has been feeding people delicious Naga-inspired meaty dishes for a year at Oya’s Umami. This season brings in new dishes, which sport a bolder flavour profile and funk that reminds her of home. On offer are three dry fry items: pork dry fry with axone and bamboo shoot, chicken dry fry with perilla and axone, and cauliflower dry fry with black sesame and axone. Coming in a week’s time: kimchi fried rice and bao burger.

Bar Outrigger, Dona Paula

Bar Outrigger is a great sundowner spot—perfect for a swim, sunset and getting happy high on rum. This monsoon, they’re embracing their cloudy, stormy side with a monsoon menu (on till August). Imagine a Cozy Sweater, knitted with Scotch whiskey, coffee bitters, spiced tea and banana stout. Or an Outrigger Cold Chocolate with coconut milk, honey, dark chocolate and whiskey. Pair these with steamed gyomos in a spicy jhol gravy, street-style chowmein, or a hearty congee bowl.

Jolene by the Sea, Anjuna

Chef Mrunal Dhamaskar’s new menu at this sundowner spot brings together global influences with Goan ingredients in dishes like Madrid-to-Mapusa prawns, Goan chorizo pizza, Bangkok coconut green curry, Greek-style lamb chops. The most exciting part is the section called Chef’s Special Coastal Susegad Vibes, with reimagined or inspired dishes from Goa. Think jungle juice-infused mushroom chilli with poi, cashew and potato chilli croquettes, squid frits with Aldona chilli mayo, and peri-peri jumbo prawns with kokum butter.