A Japanese Food Affair

A shout out to this special place in Anjuna called MATCHA where we had the most wonderful Japanese cuisine experience.

Prawns Tempura Sushi Roll

Japanese Fried Chicken

Chicken Katsu

Best Sushi I have had in a long while!! And we also made a friend 😺

Our North Goa Visit Part 2

Day 2 Continued..

We ended up for lunch at Gratitude Cafe. It is a vegan restaurant and considering we hadn’t ever had vegan food before, it was a good first impression.

Ramen Bowl (Medium Spicy)

The vibe of this place is minimalist and peaceful. There is also a thrift store attached to the place that sells second hand items.

After lunch, as we were headed back to Calangute, we stopped by the Benz Celebrity Wax Museum. There are about two dozen wax statues here and we goofed around a bit clicking pictures.

In the evening, we went to Ozrant beach or the Little Vagator Beach to look for The Shiva’s Face.

It is not known who carved this face on to the stone and it has also started weathering out now. Surprisingly we found the spot on the beach without having to search much.

We waited till the sunset on the beach and then while heading back to Calangute had dinner at The Burger Factory.

The food here was good but it again has a long waiting period.

Definitely try the Coconut Cashew Milkshake!!

I wanted to visit the Tibetian Handicraft and Souvenir market but the street that it is on leads to the Baga Beach and it was jam-packed with traffic. We had to re-route and park a kilometer away and walk on foot.

I guess I was expecting a lot from this place, hence I was slighlty disappointed to see that it was full of all touristy stuff.

Day 3

On the last day, we checked out early and ended up too early for breakfast at The Morgan’s Place by the Sea. Since the place hadn’t opened yet, we spent some time on the Sand beach.

Shadow Play!!

The ambience at Morgan’s place is perfect. Loungers facing the beach view so u can just relax and enjoy the view and food.

I’m definitely thinking of returning here for an evening for the sunset and a chilled drink!! 🍸

For Day 3, we decided to cover all those places that we had missed earlier. So after breakfast, we headed straight to Baba Au Rahm to await our turn. And it was a long wait.

The food was good too. We had pizza because we were gonna skip lunch on the way back.

The Kumquat Cooler was really chill 👌

We went once again to Reiss Magos. Appreciate the way the fort was restored and the history of Goa and the freedom fighters displayed in the halls. Also enjoyed the views from the top of the fort and the smooth stoned pathway that leads upto the fort.

Loved the idea of the “Death Hole”. This is a hole right over the entrance from which the people within the fort would pour hot oil down onto intruders. 😈

And then we headed home!! It was a good trip and something that has prompted me to explore more of our beloved Goa and encouraged me to take timely breaks from life!! 😊

Our North Goa Visit

This year, for our anniversary trip, we decided to explore more of Goa!! Since we are from the South of Goa and I hadn’t been much to the North, we went on a 3 day break exploring Calangute & Anjuna.

Day 1

We left from home a little late as we were planning to reach Verem for lunch. Thankfully, the rain was just a patter. We were actually intending to visit the Reiss Magos fort before lunch. However, since it was a public holiday, the fort was closed.

We visited the protected site of The Three Kings Church which is next to the fort.

We ended up arriving early for lunch at Spice Goa, Verem. And it was soo worth it!!

Every dish we had here was simply delicious. I personally loved the Khube Sukka and the Crabs in Butter Garlic.

Crabs in Butter Garlic

Khube Sukka

I have literally scraped the last bit of Soi and masala off the plates!! 😋

Our tummys happily full, we went to check in the Air B&B flat in Calangute that we had booked for the weekend.

Casa de Laura during the evening

Too full after our meal, we took a nap. In the evening, we went to see the Sinquerim fort.

I loved the circular shape of the fort and the way it juts out onto the beach. It was packed with a lot of crowd enjoying the beach and the water sports until late evening.

For dinner, we went to The Fisherman’s Wharf and decided to call it a night!!

Day 2

The next day, our first stop was at Artjuna. I had heard so much about this place, it was a must visit on my list.

I liked the vibe of the place – restaurant cum lifestyle cafe. There is also a workstation area, a games zone, and a boutique attached to it.

Though the boutique was charming, it also felt a little pricey for us locals to shop at.

There was a library corner and I got very excited only to realise that the books were all in foreign languages 😅

After breakfast, we went to Chapora Fort. We had arrived early, so we didn’t get the crowd. By the time, we were leaving, the place was swarmed.

There are shops lined right from the base of the fort to the top. This is where I bought my jade stone plant from.

Chapora Fort, otherwise famous as the Dil Chahata Hai fort, has a beautiful blue view from the top. I guess, sunsets here would look amazing.

For lunch, we wanted to go to Baba Au Rhum, but we hadn’t considered the rush here, that is almost 24/7. The place was full and there was a 45 min waiting period, just to book a table.

But we were too hungry to wait. So, we decided to go someplace else.

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