Here's a tip. Despite the recommendation in almost every international travel guide, the Souza Lobo Restaurant, at Calangute beach, and St. Anthony's Bar, at Baga beach, are definitely over-rated and by any reckoning, impersonal in their approach. The SLB resembles a old school with long corridors and never attentive waiters. As for St. A's, thirty years of serving his customers appears to have fatigued its owner.

Fusion Foods
After Eight, Gaura vaddo, Calangute.
Owned by Virendra Sinh and Chef Soumyen Chakraborty, After Eight sits almost on the border of Calangute and Candolim, the two hotspots in Goa's north coastal belt. Of modest size, this alfresco restaurant has an interesting sunken bar, the kind you would find in a swimming pool, but minus the water of course. A wee bit difficult to find as it is located outside the known areas where most restaurants have pitched tents (literally), but certainly a landmark in the eating industry.

The garrulous - by Chef standards - Soumyen is an ex-Taj Mahal, Mumbai, product and worked in a single kitchen that served both the Roof Top Rendezvous and the Menage-e-Trois. Soumyen's recommendations: fillet steaks with a choice of sauces (pepper, mushroom sauce or red wine sauce.) Or Steak Diane which is their mushroom sauce steak. INR 195.
No service charge. Tel. 0832-279757.

Cantorian, Gaura vaddo, opp Tarcar ice factory, Calangute.
This recently opened restaurant built on the first floor of a Goan colonial house, serves more of Thai food, a bit of Korean and some Vietnamese. Of modest size, dining here could be an experience considering its quiet location and open-air ambience.

Its owner, Kanta Doshi, recommends a Som Tam (Thai) or papaya salad, which is raw papaya marinated in vinegar, coarse chili powder and fish sauce. Then tossed into marinated carrots, spring onions, lemon grass and bean sprouts. INR 95 plus taxes, serves two.

Or, Tom Yum Platalay, a mixed sea food soup. INR 75, serves one. Chongol, a Korean table top simmer pot in variations of chicken, beef or pork. INR 350, serves two. And Goicuon, Vietnamese spring rolls made from rice and pepper, served raw. INR 135, serves 6 pcs.
Mobile: 9821055508.

Fiesta, Saunta vaddo, Baga.
Set up inside and around a Goan colonial bungalow built in 1932 over the sand dunes of Baga overlooking the Arabian sea; this esclusivo ristorante Italiano is the type that is becoming a rarity in the eating world of old charm. Which is also saying that you can only find restaurants like this one only in Goa. Even the pizzas at the Fiesta are baked in a wood-fired oven hand made from bricks and a few iron rods where needed.

"This is definitely the only one of its kind in India, where the pizza is shovelled. Fiesta's pizza are rolled, thrown to size (to get the right diameter), the toppings put on, lifted off the marble table with a shovel and dropped on to the floor of the oven for two minutes only," says Maneck Contractor.
Mama Mia, it really does work.

Check out the Fiesta's Filetto Steak, Pepper Steak or Plain Steak. All at INR 225. Its range of Pastas served 'al dente', that is, never overcooked. The fresh spaghetti, smoked meat and smoked tuna. Or, Maneck's "perfectly baked, but still soft, elastic and crisp pizzas like the Margarita pizza."

And if you still want to make a meal out of it, sail on the "Viva Fiesta," a motor-sail catamaran owned by Maneck who offers two inland cruises. A two hour sunset cruise for INR 750 per head which includes beers and snacks, and an 8 am to 4 pm island cruise to the Grande Island, including lunch, beer and snacks at INR 1500 per head.
Tel. 0832-279894. Mobile: 9822104512.

Bernard's Place, Cobra vaddo, Baga.
A modest restaurant with great tuna served with garlic-butter sauce. Bernard Sieiro often serves the most wholesome portions you could ever caste your eyes upon.
Tel. 0832- 276712.

The Tamarind, Anjuna.
Kamala Monteiro, the owner, always makes eating a pleasure. I have never risked asking Kamala to suggest her choice, knowing the challenge would well be "try anything." Its location inside a clump of trees including a huge tamarind tree (the tangy spice from which many Goan curries are prepared) ensures that the restaurant is hidden from the outside and vice versa which gives it the 'lost world' look.
Tel. 0832-274319. Email: kamron@bom2.vsnl.net.in

Don Pedro's Mexican/Goan Restaurant, Villa Petronette, Near Holy Family Church, Alto-Porvorim.
Owned by Peter Fernandes - who has worked in restaurants in Dubai, Abu Dabi and learned the business in Hiedelberg, Germany - the four-year-old Don Pedro can take credit for being Goa's first Mexican-styled restaurant. And it's cheap. Worth a try if you are hanging out at Candolim-Calangute, are not dependent on a taxi and are a tad tired of the beach restaurants, or if you are on your way to Panjim, the capital of Goa. Don Pedro has a Mexican buffet every Saturday night at INR 110 per head. DP also has a new takeaway section of ready-to-cook food, which could be handy if you have a self-contained studio and have a frying pan.

DP's top-selling starters, according to Peter:

• Jalapeno Poppers (Mexican chillies stuffed with cheese and fried.) INR 55.
  
• Chicken or Beef Nachos (corn tortilla chips spread with refried kidney beans, strips of chicken/beef, jalapeño and cheese). INR 50.

Entrees:

• Enchiladas, chicken or vegetarian (flour tortillas rolled with your choice of chicken or vegetables and topped with jalapeño sauce). INR 75.
  
• Fajitas, chicken or beef (marinated with Fujita seasoning and cooked with bell peppers and onions). INR 70.
  
• Platillo Combinado (choice of chicken enchilada, beef taco and vegetable enchilada.)

Email: donpedro@goa1.dot.net.in; tel: 0832-413415; mobile: 98221 24570.

Axirvaad, Rua De Boa Vista, 483, Bouta Vaddo, Assagao.
A gallery restaurant its owners, Ranjeev Mulchandani and Deepti Datt, claim has an eclectic menu of recipes inspired by world cuisine. Thursday at the Axirvaad - tucked in somewhere on the Mapusa-Anjuna main road - is dedicated to music. Ranjeev calls the restaurant a "music laboratory-a serious music listening space." This quiet out-of-the way restaurant, done inside a Portuguese-Goan villa, needs to be tried out for its food and music, especially if you are hanging out at Anjuna and Vagator. It has an art gallery too.

Check this out.

Appetizers: Arab Mezze.

Soups: Koph Panh Ngan (red lentil, chicken, cilantro, fresh coconut and cream soup). INR 90.

Entrees:

• Fu-Man-Chu (chicken and bacon roll simmered in white wine with a fresh mint cream sauce). INR 160.
  
• Mumfali Macchi (tuna fish cakes with peanut sauce). INR 160.
  
• Basillica (kingfish or prawns prepared with basil peanut pesto sauce). Fish, INR 180; prawns, INR 210.
  

Dessert: Baccio (a cosmic, aphrodisiac and highly arousing bout with chocolate and ice cream.) You will need to head for the gym after this.

Hours: 6-11 p.m. Email: sybarite@vsnl.com; tel: (0832) 256949.

PS: In recommending these restaurants, I have followed the method of asking one restaurant to recommend another, the reasons being obvious.

The Author
Lionel Messias is a journalist based in Hyderabad, India and can be emailed at tigon@sify.com.

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