Goa’s new culinary crush: the North-East

Ghost pepper, ‘axone’, ‘anishi’ and fermented fish—there's an increased interest in flavours from the North-East in Goa

- Joanna Lobo.

It’sa happy table—we are busy using toothpicks to tease out the flesh of steamed snails paired with a spicy potato mash.

Besides snails, our dinner spread at The Hungry Hornbill by Fat Panda at Candolim in Goa includes smoked pork ribs, beef cooked with michinga (Sichuan pepper) leaves, and smoked beef with yam.

My home state has awakened to the flavours of the North-East, offered in restaurants like Pots-N-Grillz, The Hungry Hornbill, Meiphung, Oya’s Umami and (soon to relaunch) Soul Chef. Friends tell me about grocery stores and suppliers: Seven Sisters in Calangute and the Morung Market in St Inez. A peek at the menus of other restaurants and there are similar touches: a chicken bamboo shoot curry and Naga pork belly dish here, or an Assamese fish curry there. On Instagram, an ad pops up about The North East Tiffin Box, a cloud kitchen in Candolim serving special thalis, smoked meats and dry chutneys.

Goans liking this cuisine feels like a no-brainer: we love our chillies too, enjoy eating pork, and drying and salting fish is a common practice as is eating seasonal greens, and there’s a shared love for rice and fish.

This fascination with food from the North-East isn’t just a fling. It’s a slow romance, aided by a growing community of work professionals making Goa their home since the pandemic, a larger awareness of India’s diverse cuisines, customers willing to experiment, and a few spirited chefs from the region eager to showcase their skills.

At café alag in Siolim, co-owner and Assamese musician Uddipan Sarmah, and his partner Bompi Angu, source their coffee from Assam and Nagaland, make a latte with Lakadong turmeric from Meghalaya, and bring the smoked pork in their sando from Dibrugarh. “I guess the North-East is the new hype,” laughs Sarmah.