Giardini

Critic´s Review

• Food: 3.5 / 5
• Service: 2.5 / 5
• Decor: 3 / 5

-By Odette Mascarenhas

This alfresco restaurant, in a pleasant garden setting, is located off the NH17 in Bambolim, just outside Panaji city. The menu is exclusively Goan-Portuguese and offers all the classic Goan catholic cuisine dishes, and the food is completely authentic in taste and flavours, with good portions too. If you’re looking for a Goan seafood experience, they have everything from Prawns Caldein, which is a mild prawn stew typical of Goan-Portuguese food, to a fiery Shark Ambotik, both of which can be had with the Goan Rice (red). For side dishes and accompaniments, you can order the masala Prawns Peri Peri, Fish Balchao (fish in a vinegar based sauce made from dry shrimp) and a Mackeral Recheado, having 9 stuffed mackeral). But there’s much more, in fact almost all Goan dishes feature here, from the popular Chicken Cafereal, done to perfection, to a sensuous Chicken Xacutti (flavoured with coconut milk and spices), plus all the pork and beef dishes like Beef Stew, Pork Chops, Sausage Pulao (made from Goan sausages, besides soups like the classic Caldo Verde (veg), Sopa Goa Portuguese made with chicken, etc. Also a few European-style dishes like a Pepper Steak (the classic beef steak), Steak Diana and Beef Stroganoff. For desserts, go for the traditional Caramel Custard. The service is a bit ladiback though. They also have live music on most nights.