PC: Parnavi Bangar

The owl house cafe close to our Toybox Villa, available for sale now, has become a favourite spot for our office meet-ups and onsite lunches. Of all the cafes in Goa, this is special. It is the perfect spot for a calming afternoon after a busy day on site. The peaceful atmosphere of simple living, roof detailing and vibrant wall art & paintings feel refreshing.

What truly makes The Owl House Café special is that it's managed by adults with neurological conditions. Offering them a supportive environment. They also host courses, therapies, and training sessions for similar individuals.

They have a lovely souvenir shop at the back with handmade goods from bookmarks to jewellery. All made by differently able, giving them a platform with a supportive environment.

Owl House Cafe is the combination of great food, peaceful surroundings, and a heartwarming purpose. Here’s a glimpse of our recent office meetup there! If you're in Goa or you're living in Goa, this is our recommendation to enjoy the slow living life in Goa.

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Grounded in Goa is a series that documents the everyday beauties and joys of living in Goa. For anyone looking to move to Goa, it offers a glimpse into Goa's undeniable connection with nature, a life lived in harmony with the fertile land, changing skies, and the giving waters.

Also read - What To Look For While Buying A House in Goa and Designing a House in Goa

Grounded in Goa is a series that documents the everyday beauties and joys of living in Goa. For anyone looking to move to Goa, it offers a glimpse into Goa's undeniable connection with nature, a life lived in harmony with the fertile land, changing skies, and the giving waters.

Also read - What To Look For While Buying A House in Goa and Designing a House in Goa

Celebrating Navovado, our design-build vacation house in the Goan countryside through a gallery of photographs of the courtyard house. Earlier this year, Navovado won the prestigious Platinum Certification from the Indian Green Building Council. Navovado harvests all of its roof rainwater and recharges the water well on site. The use of low-flow water fixtures further improves water efficiency. Focus on use of insulation on the roof, double-glazed glass, low­energy use appliances, LED lighting and 100% hot water from Solar power makes this home extremely energy efficient. The structure is constructed using locally manufactured materials and materials with a high recycled content such as Laterite stone, Matti wood, Fly-ash brick and Slag cement. The garden is planted using native local species to reduce water use for ir­rigation. Finally, large openings allow for maximum daylighting and cross-ventilation, reducing the energy use for lighting and cooling.

The heart of the home lies in the large central courtyard that is an extension of the kitchen, living and dining space. The courtyard houses the swimming pool and provides a green private space to be enjoyed by all the residents of the house. The courtyard morphs in its use depending on the time of day and occasion. The guest bedrooms on the ground floor are designed as pavilions on either side of the courtyard, while the first-floor bedrooms have a large terrace overlooking the courtyard that connects the two levels.

Find Navovado featured in detail on our Instagram page here.

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It has been more than a year since I last visited Goa and I find myself often turning to memories of fresh Goan food, a definite shortcut to paradise. Here is a collection of some incredible recipes, food documentation, a list of restaurants and some stunning art brought together by their celebration of Local Goan food.

Food reporting is at once an incredible guide to the local cuisine and a reliable way of mapping the life and times of a particular place and culture. Joanna Lobo is a freelance writer from Goa, and finds a way to magically weave her experiences of living in Goa into her stories about Goan food. Here is a collection of essays and stories from her. I particularly recommend - How I Tried (and failed) To Master The Goan Bebinca Cake.

The Goan Sorpotel. Illustration by Anna Vu.

For someone in Goa, looking for the best seafood joints, we have a list curated by LBB. The list looks at offbeat restaurants that are typically not on the tourist map, but wildly popular for their authenticity among the locals. Find the restaurants here.

On the other hand, if you wish to visit Goa from the comfort of your homes, here is something you could look at. Goya Journal does a wonderful job of mapping Goan food history and diversity. Find their articles on Goan Food here.

Great food nourishes the body and great art nourishes the soul. What could be better than them coming together? We love this visual recipe of the famous Goan Xacuti Curry, created by illustrator Shruti Prabhu. In her words: “Goan cuisine is strongly influenced by the Portuguese, since they ruled Goa till 1961. Xacuti (Chacuti in Portuguese) is spicy curry made either with chicken or crabs. The roasted spices give such a lovely aroma to this recipe. You can tone down the heat by reducing the number of chillies.”

Finally, we’d be remiss if we did not mention a spectacular food tour that is happening right now across Goa, hosted by renowned chef Thomas Zacharias. Chef T Zac as he is commonly known, is popular for his #ChefontheRoad series where he drives through different parts of the country, and does everything from culinary lessons in home kitchens, to interactions with locals in villages, to foraging for indigenous seasonal ingredients, to visits to local markets, and eating out in quaint restaurants. #COTRgoa is an extensive sensory map of quintessentially Goan culinary heritage and can be found on the chef’s Instagram as well as Twitter pages.

We wish you happy adventures on your culinary expeditions. Write to us with your favourite recommendations in the comments below.