3 Restaurants To Visit On Your Next Goan Escapade

Saligao Stories

Stepping into Saligao Stories feels like setting foot into an alternate universe with high ceilings, ornate dining chairs, and tiles that have survived a century or more. This is Anisha Hassan’s ancestral home, a quaint, beautiful 150-year-old Portuguese villa that has been part of the local community for as long as anyone can remember, having hosted everything from village weddings to birthday parties.

Following her passion for food, Anisha, with the help of restaurateur Siddharth Hegde, restored and reopened the house, offering guests warmth, elegance and delicious food. While Anisha focuses on Hyderabadi and Goan cuisines, Siddharth has curated a few global delights, offering a wide variety of choices for all palettes. Anisha takes immense pride in the fact that each of the dishes is cooked exactly as they would be cooked in her home, including some of her mother’s recipes, which took some serious cajoling to procure.

The bar looks out into a green backyard with walls covered with photographs from the past.  The cocktails — smoke on the water (an excellent take on whiskey sour) and the fresh mandarin mojito are delicious and just right for a sweltering Goa afternoon.

The food is a succession of delicacies from the melt-in-your-mouth shikampuri kebabs to the lamb chops in a juicy rosemary merlot reduction. Try the Hyderabadi story, a platter with biryani, nalli gosht, mirchi ka salan, tamatar kat and a few other accompaniments. In addition to these, there is a selection of famous Goan dishes like the balchao and the prawn curry. For the desserts, opt for their famous khubani ka meetha, the Portuguese serradurra and the homemade coconut ice-cream (from coconuts grown in their garden).

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