NEW FOOD BUZZ IN GOA'S LATIN QUARTER

Old Goan homes and shops in Fontainhas and Sao Tomé are being converted into restaurants, serving contemporary dishes

- Joanna Lobo

The usually crowded streets of Panaji's Latin Quarter, which refers to Fontainhas and São Tomé, are quiet on this Sunday. Inside the Larder & Folk restaurant, people mill about, petting a poodle, munching on cookies and doughnuts, and striking up conversation with strangers. It is a lovely way to spend the afternoon, in one of Goa's hottest neighbourhoods.

Panaji's heritage wards of Fontainhas, São Tomé and Mala are easily the top of most tourists' itineraries for their Goan architecture and picturesque lanes where every corner has a surprise: an old bakery, a mural, a well, or a colourful façade. Heritage wards refer to parts of the city that go back over a century.

Until recently, much of the food found here was typically Goan, offered in family run establishments, cafés or in old-school tavernas (drinking holes). Lately, these areas are attracting a different kind of crowd: entrepreneurs and restaurateurs keen on changing the food scene.

The new places are mostly set in old Goan homes or shops, renovated to give them a modern feel. They are colourful, big on space, abundant with foliage, with large windows. The food is familiar and modern, ranging from grannystyle Italian and European to Indian seafood.

"Fontainhas/São Tomé is now buzzing.

If you are opening a restaurant in Panaji, you would want to be here," says Priyanka Sardessai, who owns Larder & Folk. She began in a small space in Mala, before moving to the current location in Decemberonce a typewriter repair shop, it's a big space with high ceilings, exposed walls.