KOKNI KANTEEN l Restaurants & Bar l Goa

Kokni Kanteen is a restaurant located in Goa’s capital, serving authentic Konkani food and fish thalis and keeping alive the tradition of home-style Konkani cooking.

Hidden away in the heart of Panaji lies Kokni Kanteen, an old and well-loved restaurant that is frequented by locals and tourists alike. The word kokni is a corruption of the word ‘Konkani’, which refers to both a region and an ethno-linguistic community in India situated along the south-western coastline of the subcontinent. The restaurant, which opened its doors to the public as far back as 1972, remains a popular place in Goa to serve traditional, authentic Konkani cuisine, and a variety of fresh fish dishes and thaalis (a full meal with rice and curries) at economical prices.

Centrally located on Dada Vaidya Road opposite the Mahalaxmi temple, the easily accessible Kokni Kanteen more than makes up for its small size with the quality and variety of dishes and desserts it offers. Built in a way that is reminiscent of the old-world Goan charm, the restaurant features terracotta coloured red laterite walls gently illuminated by dim yellow lighting, providing a cosy, warm ambience to its customers. [1] [2] Photographs of old Goa line its walls, along with inbuilt niches filled with hanging chillies, garlic and onions, and even a child-sized kitchen set! [3] The arched windows embellished with black grilles and the soft radio crooning old Konkani songs add to the decor, which has remained largely unchanged through the restaurant’s history.

Kokni Kanteen offers a wide and mouth-watering variety of food, cooked in the Saraswat (Brahmin Konkan) style. [7] This includes an array of fish-based dishes, which are all cooked with freshly caught fish such as lepo, verliyo, modso, tisriyo, iswan and others. The restaurant serves both lunch and dinner, with dishes including sol kadi and kokum saar (drinkable side dishes), Konkani curries, masala prawns, prawn bhajia (fritters), surmai rava (fried fish) and fried Bombay duck. Other specialities include chicken cafreal (a type of chicken marinated in a green paste), and their famous Bappa thali, which consists of crab curry, prawn curry, mussels and fried fish. [8] Their dessert selection includes bebinca (a seven layered Indo-Portuguese dessert) and the wildly popular serradura, which is Portuguese for sawdust pudding and consists of a creamy pudding topped with breadcrumbs. [9] [10] Kokni Kanteen has a functional bar, which serves not only traditional choices such as whiskey or wine but also the local Goan cashew-derived alcohol known as feni, as we

The restaurant is owned by Girish Desai, who also operates The Brasserie at Clube Tennis De Gasper Dias, Miramar. [12] The kitchen is operated by Manisha Kamat Talaulikar, for whom the authenticity of the dishes was of primary importance. All her recipes are closely guarded secrets and the food is meant to emulate home cooking. [13] The dishes are priced affordably, with the bill for two people coming to about Rs. 800. Moreover, the restaurant does not take prior bookings or reservations, so customers must wait outside for short periods of time for a table since the place fills up quickly.ll as creatively named mocktails and cocktails. Locals and tourists swear by Traffik Jaam, made of lime, orange and vodka, and their non-alcoholic drinks, like their kokum sherbet and melon cooler.