Rasa Bistro, Palolem – A Co-Working Cafe Serving India-Inspired Fare

Edit – Rasa Bistro has permanently closed down.

Tired of seeing the same faces at work every day? Need a change of scenery? Escaping dreary weather and chasing the sunshine in Goa, laptop in tow?

Rasa Bistro in Palolem caters to you, you and you.

As someone who’s been working on the go for a few years now, I can safely say that cool co-working spaces are hard to come by, more so good co-working spaces with food in Goa. On my recent trip to South Goa, I dropped into Rasa Bistro, just off Palolem Beach, since I was in the area, staycationing at Agonda Cottages. Because let’s face it. Driving 2.5 hours to get there wouldn’t have otherwise happened. But, if you’re a digital nomad in South Goa, intermittent electricity and patchy network are to be expected, and a comfortable space to just get things is tough to find.

GETTING TO RASA BISTRO

Rasa Bistro is on the main stretch of single-road that leads to Palolem Beach. Naturally, parking is a problem. You can head to the end of the road to the paid parking area (where the beachgoers park), or pull up in the space right opposite the restaurant. It looked like someone’s garden, which is why I didn’t park there, but I later learnt that I could have.

Vibrant, yet peaceful, Rasa Bistro grabs your attention at the entrance itself, with its name spelt out in bottle caps and strings of sink drains hanging on one side as decor. This sunny café in South Goa also features a variety of seating options – including wooden benches, metal chairs and low sofas set around tables made of water tanks! Inside, there are board games, a foosball table, free wifi, plenty of electric sockets and even lockers for those who’d like to lock up their valuables and hop down to the beach for a break from work.

The space also features a ‘meeting room,’ a quieter area towards the corner of the restaurant, separated from the rest of the tables by winnows – a shaped basket that is shaken to throw rice/wheat down from a height so the chaff is blown away while the rice/wheat fall down. These are a common sight in Goa after the harvest season.

Delicious aromas emanate from the kitchen, a space separated from the restaurant by glass bottles laid on top of each other. You’ll also notice how the cash counter is set atop a structure of cement bricks. To add softness to all these wood and stone elements, wispy white curtains do the trick. While Rasa Bistro Palolem can get a little warm during the daytime, if you pick a seat under one of the few fans they have, you should be alright.

Menu at Rasa Bistro

The menu at Rasa Bistro is innovative, healthy and Insta-worthy, to say the least. The limited selection features dishes from around the country and the world, with local twists thrown in. Vegetable Kulcha Tacos, Palolem Bunny Chao (a hollowed bun with Pork Sorpotel), Club Sandwiches and Burgers, Bowls (like Malvani Prawn Curry Rice Bowl and Rajma and Quinoa Bowl) as well as regional curries feature on the menu. While I didn’t have the opportunity to try out any of the drinks, for the appetizers, we opted for the Twisted Chicken, which is one of their specialities.

The Twisted Chicken from Rasa Bistro had little pieces of tightly packed chicken mince with a mild cheddar cheese sauce on the side. Although this may have been a house favourite, I much rather preferred the Rasa Paneer 56, a play on Paneer 65, that is far different from its Ch-Indian counterpart, Paneer 65. Small cubes of paneer cooked in coconut milk, fennel and mild spices, tossed with colourful peppers made this a vibrant dish in both taste and appearance. If you like clean flavours and food that’s light on your system, this will be right up your alley.

Try the bowls at Rasa Bistro

For mains, I opted for the Penne and Mushrooms Cafreal Bowl. While that may sound like an abomination (I definitely had a raised eyebrow when I saw it on the menu), Rasa Bistro only mildly flavours the pasta sauce with our favourite Goan spice mix, so it isn’t curry-like, as you may imagine. I loved the queer mix – and the plump, juicy mushrooms really hit the spot. I also ordered a portion of Thukpa, a North-East Indian staple. I relished the authentic, soul-warming version in Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim several times, and the version at Rasa Bistro is served differently, with noodles, greens and meat in one bowl and the broth in another. Not bad at all!

Given our long, leisurely lunch and conversation with the owner, Shrikant throughout, we needed to head back quickly and skip dessert. But if you do happen to go, I saw that they have Carrot Cake and Lemon Cheesecake on the menu (love, love, love!!), so do try it out and let me know if I should make the drive back to sample them. Will travel for Carrot Cake in a heartbeat!

Hope you enjoyed reading one of my very few food reviews in South Goa. If you’ve missed the earlier ones, check out my takes on Martins Restaurant in Margao and the White in Agonda.

I will tell you all about the place I stayed in Agonda in the next blog post! Bye!