7 Short 1 Long is a quaint dinner place in the sleepy Goan village of Moira. If you’re someone who doesn’t care much for being on a beach, this garden cafe has a lot of authentic Goan food that relies on old family recipes. On weekends, they also have live music and their garden seating is almost always full.
Kingfish & More: This Family-Run Restaurant Makes Yum Home-Style Goan Food
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What Makes It Awesome
On Christmas last year, we were on a mission to find a non-touristy feast and we discovered that this gem is doing so many things right. First off, they had a lovely outdoor and indoor seating and we obviously chose the mellow winter sunshine and red wine sangria in the balcao. This was a rare occasion when they were doing lunch and what a lavish lunch spread it was! All cooked by Belinda, her cousins and her mum, it consisted of starters, mains and lots of homemade desserts.
The next time, we went for an everyday dinner and chose their garden (again). As usual, Belinda (who's by the way, worked for years at a cruise liner) kept us regaled with her stories and offered valuable suggestions on what we should order. Be it their lemon garlic butter prawns, kingfish fried in recheado masala or their Goan-style sukho tisrya (clams)... nothing that we tried disappointed. We can also tell you that the butter garlic poi and garlic fries are a warm hug for the soul.
Our other favourites include squid sukhem, kingfish curry with rice and barbecue pork chops. To wrap up, we snuck in a serradura and caramel custard — both were done to perfection.
As if welcoming you to their house wasn’t enough, the good family also hosts musicians from the neighbourhood to perform from Thurs-Sat. On Sundays, they have vinyl nights.
What Could Be Better
Like most Goan food places, this isn’t big on vegetarian food and we wish we had more dishes to keep going back to.
Pro-Tip
They have a parking lot that can take a couple of vehicles and they shut on Mondays. Also, remember they don’t do lunch and open only after 7pm.