Restaurants see rise in non-veg orders post Chaturthi

With the end of Shravan and the lifting of dietary restrictions, eateries in Goa are seeing a sharp rise in orders of non-veg food, which is fuelled both by local demand and the Ganesh Chaturthi holidayers, who have kicked off the festive season.

Non-veg orders rise by 70%
Dhirendra Vasudev Kerkar, from Mahesh Bar and Restaurant in Ponda, says, “After Chaturthi, we see a large number of people come in for non-veg, and such orders increase by about 70%. Our Sadu’s chicken chilli and seafood items sell the fastest.”
Eligio Fernandes from Cajy Bar in Arpora adds, “Right after Ganesh visarjan, we got many calls from the local Goan crowd for reservations. During Shravan we would see a 40-60% Goan crowd, but after the one-and-a-half-day visarjan, this has gone up to 80%. We introduced new dishes in chicken and seafood, since non-vegetarian is in high demand, and we also saw significantly higher alcohol sales.”

Fish thalis, biryanis and non-veg starters in demand
Amey Naik, from Peep Kitchen in Caranzalem tells us, “We have seen a demand for fresh seafood, fish thali and biryanis. People are opting for fish delicacies and the home delivery segment has shown an increased demand for non-vegetarian starters. There is a lot of fresh seafood, including mussels and oysters, available that we source locally. During Shravan, our main focus was on our special Shravan veg thali.”

Sarvesh Mashelkar

from Adarsh Restaurant in Bicholim says, “Most people in our area follow Shravan and stick to vegetarian food. So, after the long gap, they want to eat non-vegetarian, especially fish. We have increased the quantity of chonak, squid,

prawn

and

mackerel

that we source to cater to the demand. People love our seafood thalis and prawn curry. There is greater demand for chicken

xacuti

and chicken biryani as well.”

Restaurants in tourist belt see high footfall
The Ganesh Chaturthi rush has also brought in a lot of tourists, which has led to increased footfall in the tourist belt. Tables are getting booked in advance and several restaurants have a long waiting period. “We have been seeing a lot of customers over the last few days, since people are travelling during holidays. Restaurants around Anjuna have been doing well too, and after the second wave, this is great for business for us. Since we are a modern coastal restaurant, our seafood is greatly in demand,” says chef

Sandeep Sreedharan

, from Mahe in Anjuna.