The Goan-Portuguese Connect

With decades of serving authentic Goan-Portuguese cuisine, O Coqueiro continues to impress.

- Alexia Fernandes

A FREQUENT FOR weekend nostalgic brunches and dinners, O Coqueiro needs no introduction to Goans. Aside from its reputation earned over years of serving flavourful Goan-Portuguese delicacies, the restaurant shot to fame after notorious criminal Charles Sobhraj was nabbed dining there in the mid 1980s. After that, people began to pour in from around the country and the world to see what O Coqueiro had to offer, that even the most infamous of criminals succumbed to. In memory of the incident, the restaurant had a white statue of Sobhraj erected, sitting at the veranda of the restaurant that remains iconic in the years to come.

O Coqueiro began in the early 70s and was later acquired by Goa’s Alcon Group in the year 1997. This modish little restaurant, stands prominently with its white and yellow walls and low rising roof, at vantage point, just off the Porvorim highway. The restaurant shut down briefly for renovations for two months, which kept people wondering what their favourite restaurant had new in store for them. After much suspense, O Coqueiro finally opened kitchens on December 16 2016, just in time for the festive season.