Best Burgers in Goa: Beaches, Panaji and Pao

The best burgers in Goa are found in two places: the North Goa beach belt, from Candolim and Calangute up to Anjuna and Vagator, and the cafés of Panaji, the state capital. Chicken and vegetarian patties are standard, while beef and pork turn up more often than elsewhere in India, thanks to Goa’s Catholic food tradition.

Goa was a Portuguese territory until 1961, and its kitchen still shows it. The local chouriço, a pork sausage cured with vinegar and spices, is eaten in a soft poi or pão bun as choris pao, the closest thing Goa has to a native burger. Much of the coast’s casual food is served from beach shacks, and those are seasonal: they open after the monsoon and come down before the rains return.

Burgers in Goa: key facts

• Neighbourhoods to explore: Candolim, Calangute and Baga for the busiest beach strip, Anjuna, Vagator and Assagao for cafés, and Panaji with its old Latin Quarter, Fontainhas, for the city.
• Local specialty: choris pao, spiced Goan sausage in a poi bun, sold by bakeries and street stalls.
• When to go: the main season runs from about November to February, and many shacks close for the June to September monsoon.
• Currency: Indian rupee (INR), with UPI phone payments widely accepted.
• Getting around: most visitors rent a scooter or take taxis; North and South Goa are far apart, so plan by area.
• What our guides check: the meat named on the menu, since chicken, lamb, pork, beef and vegetarian patties often share the same board.

Every guide we publish on Goa is dated and lists only venues, addresses, prices and ratings we could verify, and all of them sit in our burger restaurant guides.