Vivenda dos Palhaços
Goa
Breakfast is complimentary and low-key, served from 8.30am-11am and normally eaten communally at the 20-seater altar table, although as with all meals you can request a private setting. Breakfast is comprised of the typical continental options: tea, toast, eggs, pancakes, fruit, although the full english fry-up is well worth it too!
It’s custom to book your place at the set dinner during breakfast, where the menu is displayed in advance.
Lunch and snacks are available between 11.30am and 5pm. A wide range of sandwiches, soups, salads, noodles and pastas, bar snacks, pizzas and puddings cater to all tastes and appetites.
Dinner is announced by the horn at the bar and is a gratifyingly grown-up affair (with an informal sense of fun depending on the company and how much alcohol is consumed), with guests seated around the large table and conversation flowing while the three courses are brought out in turn. As a general rule the presence of small children is not encouraged at the table.
Vivenda is rather accommodating, so special requests such as lobster can be catered for with advance notice. By the same token, snacks and children’s meals are available so long as the kitchen is open.
The bar is a short step from the dining room, and deserves special mention for being made out of the back of a north Indian truck, complete with artwork, metal chains and decorative bottles of Haywards 5000. The barkeeping here is impeccable, and the range of alchohol is truly impressive.
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Menu
Continental breakfast, wide range of lunch options and a set dinner which should be booked in advance.
We particularly enjoyed our squid and chorizo salad which was robust and powerful. The pasta with pesto, while appearing nondescript on the menu, was lip-smackingly, bowl-lickingly good and the “Slightly Turkish” chicken wrap oozed both juice and flavour.
Dining nearby
Majorda isn’t as blessed as other areas north and south in terms of food, but there are some absolute gems to be found nonetheless.
The closest and most highly recommended by Vivenda themselves is Zeebop, a seafood heaven and haven on the beach about a 1km away. Martin’s Corner is also recommended and full of action of an evening. Fusion, on the beach not far from Vivenda, is reputed for its steaks.
Inland, in the village of Raia, there’s Nostalgia, the famous Goan-Portuguese restaurant kept alive by Margarida, the wife of original chef and owner Fernando, who traces her ancestry all the way back to Vasco de Gama himself.
Further south, in the Catholic heartland of Quepem, stands the Palacio de Deao, a restored Portuguese mansion that by prior appointment also serves some of the most exquisite old Portuguese cuisine around, and is not to be missed.
Also check out our guide to eating in Goa.