Please ignore the word salad that this article is and focus on the message: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2024/jan/16/the-tyranny-of-the-algorithm-why-every-coffee-shop-looks-the-same
This is precisely what is wrong with a number of these Instagrammable restaurants that keep coming up (and thankfully, going down with equal alacrity) in Goa. There is nothing truly unique or quintessentially Goan about them. The Miss Margarita in GK-II and the one in Vagator - to the casual observer they make look worlds apart, but look closely and it is the same decor and aesthetic. And it isn't so much about the aesthetic being similar between two branches of the same chain, as it is that essential elements of the Goan aesthetic are missing.
Just making a restaurant or cafe open air doesn't make it Goan ("oh look, in Goa you can breathe and feel the open air whereas in Delhi it will suffocate, freeze or singe you"). I am no architect or artist, but there are places that make me feel "at home" and places that don't. So as an untrained person, let me put out my list of nuances that make a Goan restaurant, truly Goan:
- An unpaved floor - just slabs/tiles placed on the ground.
- Mangalore tiles on the roof.
- Being welcoming to dogs and other animals and birds. If there isn't a streety or two on your premises, then you aren't Goan.
- Trees. Architecture around trees. And creepers.
- The bartender being able to make a Feni concoction without having to be f^&*ing told what a Feni drink needs to look like.
- Warmth. If the staff isn't friendly and laid back, or worse has a plastic smile on their face, then that's a piece of big city culture we don't need.
- Knowing your food. Everybody in the establishment should know the food they serve.
So yeah, all this Instagram homogeneity, and people traveling to dine in specific fancy places so they can mark their presence there on Instagram, is nothing but an extension of what we used to derisively call "Patel shots" when young. Don't do it. Be in the moment when traveling. Experience local culture. Immerse yourself in nature. Travel is not about posing in front of every "I ❤️ Whatever" sign you come across.
/rant.
This is precisely what is wrong with a number of these Instagrammable restaurants that keep coming up (and thankfully, going down with equal alacrity) in Goa. There is nothing truly unique or quintessentially Goan about them. The Miss Margarita in GK-II and the one in Vagator - to the casual observer they make look worlds apart, but look closely and it is the same decor and aesthetic. And it isn't so much about the aesthetic being similar between two branches of the same chain, as it is that essential elements of the Goan aesthetic are missing.
Just making a restaurant or cafe open air doesn't make it Goan ("oh look, in Goa you can breathe and feel the open air whereas in Delhi it will suffocate, freeze or singe you"). I am no architect or artist, but there are places that make me feel "at home" and places that don't. So as an untrained person, let me put out my list of nuances that make a Goan restaurant, truly Goan:
- An unpaved floor - just slabs/tiles placed on the ground.
- Mangalore tiles on the roof.
- Being welcoming to dogs and other animals and birds. If there isn't a streety or two on your premises, then you aren't Goan.
- Trees. Architecture around trees. And creepers.
- The bartender being able to make a Feni concoction without having to be f^&*ing told what a Feni drink needs to look like.
- Warmth. If the staff isn't friendly and laid back, or worse has a plastic smile on their face, then that's a piece of big city culture we don't need.
- Knowing your food. Everybody in the establishment should know the food they serve.
So yeah, all this Instagram homogeneity, and people traveling to dine in specific fancy places so they can mark their presence there on Instagram, is nothing but an extension of what we used to derisively call "Patel shots" when young. Don't do it. Be in the moment when traveling. Experience local culture. Immerse yourself in nature. Travel is not about posing in front of every "I ❤️ Whatever" sign you come across.
/rant.