Latin Quarter Food Trail

We had a wonderful time on the Fontainhas Food Walking Tour. Our host, Vimala D’Souza was amazing. She was knowledgeable, engaging, and made the experience truly enjoyable with her stories about the history, culture, and food of the Latin Quarter. Visiting a heritage home and exploring local eateries made the tour even more memorable. The only area for improvement would be the portion sizes. While the food was delicious, the servings and variety, especially during lunch, felt limited. Having experienced food tours in India and abroad, we felt that, for the price, this tour could have offered a few more local dishes and more generous portions. Overall, it’s a great way to experience the heritage and flavours of Fontainhas.

The Fontainhas Latin Quarter Food and Heritage Trail is an immersive, highly photogenic three-hour journey that beautifully pairs historical storytelling with Indo-Portuguese flavors. Wandering through the vibrant, narrow lanes of Panaji’s historic core, the guided walk moves from legendary neighborhood bakeries for classic savory puffs and croquettes to a hearty, authentic Goan meal. What sets this trail apart is how effortlessly it connects the region's unique architecture, history, and community culture, frequently offering exclusive access into private heritage homes and encounters with local musicians. It is a sensory, slow-paced experience that offers a profound look into the true, soulful character of Goa.

Rachana was our guide for the food trail. She is amazing and the knowledge she has about the Konkani, Goan and Indo-Goan cuisine with history was amazing. Being vegetarians, she had planned the trail so that we could experience veg version of these cuisines. Her recommendations apart from the trail were also appreciated by us. This was our second experience with make it happen and we are definitely taking more! The only drawback was the heat. Wish we had planned it at a better time rather than lunch (in June heat).

Vimala was the best guide! So many great stories and interesting facts. The food a great introduction to local Goan food. I tasted so many things I would never have tried on my own.

The food tour was a great way of learning about the history of the area, visiting different places and enjoying some delicious food. We wouldn’t have found these places on our own, or known where to ‘wander’. There was also plenty of food!! Tip- we opted for ‘vegetarian’ as opposed to fish/seafood and chicken to be on the safe side (we’d experienced poorly tummy elsewhere earlier in our hol!) However, we think we probably missed out on some of the great and signature dishes of the restaurants so go for these if you can.