Hospedaria Venite

Panaji, India

Hospedaria Venite opened in 1954 on 31st January Road in the old Latin quarter of Panaji, where Portuguese-era houses painted yellow, white, and terracotta crowd narrow lanes. The dining room has tile-inlaid tables, mismatched furniture, and narrow balconies on the first floor that look out over the street. Two people fit on each balcony; a table there is the best seat in Goa for a quiet lunch. The kitchen runs Goan and Portuguese food side by side: fish recheado, chouriços, pork chops, stuffed crab. The chouriços come fried in their own fat, served with fresh poi bread from the bakery around the corner.

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Sausages served here

Goan Chorizo

Goa, India

Goan chorizo is a small, intensely spiced pork sausage cured in palm vinegar and dried in the Goan sun. Fiery red from Kashmiri chillies, dark with the funk of vinegar and toddy, pungent with garlic and cumin, it bears no resemblance to its Iberian namesake beyond the word itself. Portuguese colonists brought the tradition to Goa in the 16th century, but local cooks replaced wine vinegar with toddy vinegar, swapped paprika for Kashmiri chilli, and added turmeric, cumin, coriander, and a hit of cinnamon. What emerged is one of India's most distinctive cured meats: sour, hot, fatty, with a fermented edge that no Spanish chorizo has ever come close to.

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