Restaurants in Diu

O’Coquiera Music Garden Restaurant

A Lonely Planet pick, we had our first meal in Diu here. It was within walking distance of our hotel and seemed popular amongst the foreign tourists. It’s a family-run restaurant, set in the front yard of the family home. The yard is covered with a thatch-roofed mandap and lighted with colorful traditional, cloth lamps. The place has a great ambiance. The food’s excellent too – over 2 meals, we ate fried fish, prawns masala, fried calamari and pasta – they were all fantastic! But service is really slow. There’s just one smiling gentleman who takes all the orders, brings out the dishes, clears them and settles the bill. So it takes forever. There are just about 6 tables, but if they are all occupied, be prepared for a long, winding meal.
Address : Firangiwada Rd, Diu
Phone : +91 9824681565
Rating : 8 out of 10

Heranca Goesa

Another of LP’s recommended restaurants, this is also a family-run place. The meals are served in the family’s living room and outside in the front yard. Unfortunately, lunch or dinner meals have to be booked in advance but breakfast is open 7 days a week from 8am to noon. We chatted with the owner and found that he is a Goan who married a local Diu girl and moved here only about 7 years ago. They started the restaurant in 2004 and he cooks all the meals himself. They also offer basic accommodation to backpackers at very reasonable rates. We loved the home, the owner and more importantly, the food. Since we didn’t book in advance, we could only manage breakfast here. We ate pancakes (more like Swedish crepes), omelettes and porridge, all of which were quite yummy! We totally regret not having had a chance to try their lunch or dinner meals.

Apana Foodland

Since LP’s recommendations had worked out well for us so far, we tried Apana Foodland as well, even though its name was not quite appealing. And well, the food wasn’t all that appealing in the end. The location of the restaurant is nice. It’s an open-aired terrace, on the 1st floor of a structure that overlooks the sea. So it has a nice feel to it. Seeing that they offer Punjabi food as well, Madhu and I enthusiastically ordered a full Tandoori chicken, which turned out to be just about average – we’ve had far better Tandooris in lesser known places. On top of that, to spoil the entire experience, a couple of drunken men were seated at a table right next to ours and one of them started talking quite loudly over the phone. We were quite put off and the hotel staff moved us to a quieter corner immediately.  Also, this place is not for those who are squeamish about cats; there were at least 20 cats running around the restaurant looking for bits to eat. They were friendly and didn’t bother us too much except for meowing for our chicken. They must have definitely feasted on the leftovers later.

La Dolce Vita Music Garden and Restaurant

This is a small restaurant at the south end of the city and a little away from the crowded streets. But like everything else in Diu, it’s not far to get to, if you have a handy Scooty to ride.We came here for lunch and found the place to be empty. It’s an open-air setting in the courtyard of a small house, where the family cooks and lives. The ambiance was great. We ordered Tomato Coriander Rice, Lemon Rice (got tired of the rotis) and a Garlic Prawns Fry, with sweet Lassis. They were absolutely perfect! The Lassis were refreshing and the rest of the food was freshly prepared and very flavorful. Service was great too. We enjoyed our meal a lot!