“Drink Feni, save Goa!” That's what Hansel Vaz, a Goa local and the owner of the Cazulo Premium Feni distillery and tasting room, wants the official Goa T-shirt to say. It's a departure from the classic smiling coconut with sunglasses, but for Vaz, it still captures the quintessential Goan spirit of staying true to one's roots while having a really good time. Vaz has spent years trying to change the perception of the Goan liquor feni—usually made by double-fermenting cashew fruit or coconut-palm sap—from burn-your-eyelashes-off hooch to something truly enjoyable. He tells me he's finally seeing a shift.
Goa, on India's western coast, was a Portuguese colony from 1510 until 1961, when it became part of India. Just a few years after gaining its independence, the small state saw a new influx of Europeans land on its sandy shores as it became the last stop on the famed hippie trail, an overland journey that started in Western Europe, wound through the Middle East into Afghanistan and Pakistan, and swept down into India. By the 1980s, these same beaches were ground zero for the rise of the American DJ and musician Goa Gil and the Goa trance movement, marked by naked ravers and endless dance tracks. The subculture of the moment has changed often in the decades since independence, but Goa's generally progressive outlook has remained a constant.
The latest chapter for India's favorite beach destination includes much more than the world of feni. Goa is entering a new phase of self-discovery driven by locals as well as recent transplants who are tapping into the state's free-and-easy ethos to embark on next chapters. Over the last few years, tired professionals have become the latest wave of seekers hoping to find solace in India's sunshine state—its salty breezes and healing sea serving as antidotes to pandemic-induced career crises. They're looking to cultivate susegad, a Goan concept that, like the Danish hygge, is more a way of life than a mere adjective and means something along the lines of “happiness through laid-back living.” These burned-out professionals are channeling the concept in the hopes of finally finding work-life balance or even taking a totally different tack, like opening a restaurant or starting a business. The result, as I learned firsthand from a recent week spent rediscovering the state, is a fresh energy in a place that has long embraced experimentation.
I arrive at Vaz's plantation, Fazenda Cazulo, at dusk, thirsty after an hour-and-a-half drive from Goa's capital, Panaji, to the southern part of the state, where Vaz has opened the world's only feni cellar and tasting room. Here he offers intimate, immersive experiences that typically start with a foraging trek through his lush ancestral property—fragrant, biodiverse grounds where he introduces visitors to the plants behind the most familiar Indian tastes. Later, guests can use their new knowledge to build their own cocktails in a DIY mixology session. A jolly Vaz greets me and promptly blows my mind with his vast knowledge of Goa's culinary history as he leads me through the plantation to gather ingredients. There's nutmeg, fennel, and bay leaf, but also regional surprises like cherries, air potatoes, and the mouth-puckeringly sour bilimbi, or cucumber tree. Naturally I have to try the “floating feni” experience, in which I join a small group at a table set up in the shallows of a palm-shaded pond and feast on traditional Goan goodies like prawn patties and steamed rice cakes while sipping cashew and coconut feni. “Increasingly, we find guests reaching out to us, asking to see a side of Goa they haven't seen before,” explains Vaz. “These are not the kind of tourists the state used to see. They're people who really do their research, chat with us on Instagram, and truly want to go beyond the beach-and-bar experience so synonymous with Goa.” The experience is over-the-top in the best way, and Vaz's work is done: I leave, a feni believer.
Back in Panaji, over pillowy pastéis de nata, a Portuguese egg custard sprinkled with cinnamon, Ralph Prazeres explains how Goa is literally eating out of his hands. Prazeres, a Goan local who returned home after international success, launched the bakery Padaria Prazeres last year with his wife, Stacy Gracias, in a market that takes its daily bread—from crunchy pão to lightweight poee—very seriously. While Prazeres worked at Michelin-starred restaurants across the globe, including Noma, Gracias honed her finance chops at some of the biggest banks in the world. During my visit to their cheery café, I see them smile at regulars, graciously accepting compliments for their breads and pastries. I ask for their recommendations, and they rattle off a list of new spots that weren't already on my list.
“There's definitely a lot happening in Goa right now,” says Gracias. “There's been such a wave of people that have relocated here, as well as an influx of tourists from within India and elsewhere, that business owners here are placing big bets.” Parth Timbadia, the owner of Goa's buzzy restaurants Mahé and Roboto Goa, echoes this sentiment when he tells me that the state is coming into its own as a food-and-drink destination. “It's a self-perpetuating cycle. Because of the new crowds that Goa has attracted over the past two years, more businesses catering to them are launching. This, in turn, leads to better vendors and suppliers—it's a win-win-win.”
Later that evening, over lip-smacking cocktails, chef Pablo Miranda—the name behind the hip bar and restaurant António at 31 in Fontainhas, Goa's Latin Quarter—tells me that, free from the shackles of big-city restaurateuring, business owners in Goa breathe a little easier. “I don't have to think about a 70 percent vegetarian menu or list avocado toast as one of my offerings,” says Miranda. Diners too, Miranda tells me, are more relaxed and ready to experiment when they're here. Miranda's menu includes playful riffs on Goan Hindu dishes and Goan Catholic cuisine (largely influenced by Portuguese ingredients and technique), featuring surprises such as crackling recheado okra and zippy snapper ceviche.
There's no better example of experimentation in the state than For the Record Vinyl Bar in Panaji—simply referred to as FTR by those in the know. India's first and only vinyl bar is an intimate space to hang out in and listen to records over drinks that spotlight Indian craft spirits. Started in December 2019 by vinyl aficionado Buland Shukla, it has grown into a space that connects those wanting to buy or sell records. In the same building as FTR, Shukla also operates a shop that repairs analog sound systems, as well as a fermentation lab and bakery. At the bar, albums are played from start to finish, and no requests are entertained, period. Despite the rules, FTR is welcoming, largely a locals' spot where, after a few drinks, you'll walk away with a handful of new friends and at least one business contact.
“What's cool about Goa right now is that ‘the scene’ isn't catering to just the tourists anymore,” says bartender Arijit Bose. Bose moved to Goa from New Delhi in early 2020 and launched Bar Tesouro with partners Donovan Vaz and Pankaj Balachandran. The cocktail-forward bar in South Goa serves up slick drinks to a majority-Goan crowd. In any other hot bar across India, the chances of a star bartender talking more and bartending less would be next to none. But in Goa, everyone seems to have time, and later that night Bose takes me to see the Den, a new speakeasy-like lounge where he and his partners conceived the cocktail program. It's located in an obscure South Goa shopping complex, but step through the wood-and-brass door and you'll find yourself in a moody, sophisticated lounge.
A new entrepreneurial spirit is infusing more than just Goa's food-and-cocktail scene. Mackinlay Barreto, a.k.a. Mac, moved back to Goa after several years in Mumbai and found himself acting as a de facto tour guide, showing visiting friends and family the state's secret spots. This past year, he decided to turn this hobby into a profession, and he set up an eco-tour agency called The Local Beat to showcase a side of Goa that most travelers never get to see.
Mac, along with Altaf Mulla, one of his team members, leads a small group to a lush green spot dotted with waterfalls, about an hour away from Panaji. Altaf points out grooves I can use to climb to the top of a smooth 20-foot-high rock. I dive off into a cool pool, and while I'm not as swanlike as I'd like, I'm grateful (despite my smarting backside) that this secluded paradise of chittering birds and gushing streams exists not too far away from the madding Goa crowds. I'd tell you where it is, but in an effort to save these magical spots from said crowds, Mac asks all his guests to keep his secrets safe. “If people really want to come, they can get in touch with us,” he says. When we're done soaking, Mac guides us to a nearby home where an elaborate meal has been prepared on a veranda overlooking rolling green hills. We feast on chicken curry, fried fish, country rice, fried potato, and red spinach, which we wash down with feni-based cocktails. This one-of-a-kind experience (and, okay, the feni) leaves me with a warm buzz and a new respect for Goa's natural beauty.
The next day, I join a kayaking expedition on the Chapora River with Konkan Explorers, an outdoor-adventure company run by Poonam Daryanani and Pascal Ribo, a couple who moved to Goa several years ago in search of a quieter life. They just won a contract with Goa Tourism to develop the state's nautical travel experiences, and they are on a mission to do this in “the right way.” As we glide through the calm water, I gaze up at langur monkeys playing in the trees and down on teensy mangrove crabs. We spot egrets, coucals, and kingfishers as Ribo, a trained sailor and anthropologist, rattles off biology and botany facts. This region is home to 25 different species of mangroves, trees that help protect the inlands from soil erosion and flooding and preserve the delicate ecological balance.
As morning turns to afternoon, we clamber back onto the pocket-sized yacht after a quick dip in the river. We aren't far from the bustling beaches of the North, but as I watch the dappled sunlight play on the water, that version of Goa melts away. As the area enters a new era, I wonder if this next phase will be the one that wipes out Goa's enduring laid-back vibe, ironically the very thing that has ushered in this new generation of transplants along with a fresh energy. But as I chat with Ribo and Daryanani about their dedication to amplifying sustainable travel and think back to Vaz and Mac's passion for preserving and celebrating Goa's traditions and natural treasures, the good vibes at FTR, and how one of India's hottest bartenders always makes time to chat with customers, I'm confident that Goa's soul will be alive and well for years to come.
Unlike the wave of professionals who have recently started over here, I may not have to shift base to Goa (just yet) to rediscover myself. For now, it's enough to visit from time to time. After all, Goa isn't just a destination, it's a state of mind. Vaz should put that on a T-shirt.
This article appeared in the March 2022 issue of Condé Nast Traveler. Subscribe to the magazine here.
