In a nutshell:

A marvellous lunch at a home turned restaurant in Goa, in the erstwhile distillery zone, run by a family. The lady of the house directly manages the kitchen & the rest of the family manage the hospitality & rest of the business.

Address & other details:

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Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everything & give a honest account of the same to you.

YUMMRAJ rates all the food items & then gives a final overall rating, which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster

Short description- in case u r in a hurry

We had read good reviews about this restaurant on social media. So it was in our shortlist when we planned a trip to Goa.

A week before our trip we met our Goan friend Crescentia Scott Fernandes at a social get together. She had been running a Goan restaurant in Gurgaon for almost 2 decades in Gurgaon. Cres also mentioned Bhatti village & this option got sealed in our itinerary.

We expected a restaurant. We were delighted to see a home converted to a restaurant.

As we walked inside we saw many antique & other display objects all over – from local alcohol casks to lookalikes of crabs & seafood.

The seating was in small roooms like in someone’s home. The bar area was small & nicely set up.

We could see the kitchen through its open door.

We met a young man who welcomed us & came to discuss the menu. We got to know that his parents had started the restaurant few decades back. Now he has joined the business.

We also got to know that his mom is in total control of the kitchen & she cooks with help from staff & oversees as well.

Bhatti refers to the many distilleries that were located in this village earlier.

We ordered some items from the whiteboard ‘today’s catch’ menu card & some from the printed one. All of the items were ordered as recommended by our host.

Loved every bit of food that we had here. No wonder that his mom runs the kitchen – this was pure home cooked food in a commercial set up.

Detailed description – in case u hv the time to njoy reading:

Bread fruit fry – during our trip to Divar island, our tour leader Pawan had mentioned a fruit called bread fruit. It looked like a jackfruit from outside. Once dissected, the inner part looked like yam. We were intrigued to know that the bread fruit got its name due to the bread like smell it had.

So we asked about bread fruit fry & we’re happy to know that it was on offer.

The breadfruit was rawa coated to give it a crisp outer layer. The breadfruit was juicy, buttery & immensely enjoyable. It did not have a very distinct taste itself. Overall taste of the bread fruit fry was very good. New experience. Rate it 4.25/5

Lepo fish fry – this was a thin fish fried with the middle bone. Flaky, juicy & real fun to eat. Loved it to the core. Rate it 4.75/5

Shetkey fish fry was again excellent. It was juicy, more meaty, less flaky than the lepo. Enjoyed every bit of it. Rate it 4.5/5

Beef chilly fry was really nice. The meat pieces were super soft & juicy. The seasoning was perfect. The spices made their presence felt but did not overshadow the flavours of the meat. Rate it 4.5/5

Kite fish (stingray) ambotik curry was a very hot & robust flavored curry. The hotness (scoville factor) was not mindless & was enjoyable.

The fish was buttery & had robust flavours. Simply fabulous. Rate it 4.75/5

Loved the Sana made with feni as the fermenting agent. Every bite was full of feni flavour. It was soft & warm when served. Pure love. Rate it 4.75/5

We had Serradura for dessert. The name serradura is a Portuguese word for “sawdust”, which refers to the way the biscuits look in the pudding, as they are crushed into crumbs & put on top.

The crispness of the crumbs beautifully contrasted the soft & rich pudding. The hint of salt in the crumb contrasted well with the mild sweetness of the pudding. A really enjoyable dessert that we polished off til the last drop.

Rate it 4.75/5

Overall rating averages out to 4.6/5

Bowled over. Wanted to revisit the next day but ended up going to black Sheep Bistro.