Across many of India’s metropolitan cities, people live in multistorey buildings. To find a detached home can be quite unusual. Goa, however, is a coastal state that houses its residents in colourful and socially engaging freestanding homes. The recently completed Terttulia Restaurant by Otherworlds is a venue that leans into various traditional elements of a Goan home and amplifies them across the city’s hospitality scene.

Unfolding from the cobblestone streets in Goa’s Panaji neighbourhood, the eatery is one that reinforces the prominent kinship between the neighbourhood and a typical Goan house. For a city that’s quite intimate in scale, Goa is full of what Founder and Principal of Otherworlds, Arko, calls “serendipitous encounters”. It’s something that Otherworlds wanted to celebrate by creating a sense of belonging for the diners. It’s no surprise that the restaurant’s name is derived from the Neo-Latin word, Tertulia, which references ‘an enjoyable and pleasant conversation between friends’. And this eatery does just that!

“We wanted to celebrate chance encounters by incorporating an open welcoming island bar in the design, while also adding built-in benches close to each other to encourage incidental conversations”, explains Arko. “We believe these are the small moments that create a sense of belonging in the space and make it memorable.”

All of this is housed under what is most likely the key architectural element in this project—the Balcao. The outdoor porch is a beloved feature across many typical Goan homes; unlike many western porches that we’re used to in Australia, the Balcao isn’t characterised by a verandah structure with balustrades and a timber deck. Balcaos are instead typically formed through moulding brightly coloured hand-cast concrete into thick curved walls, with in-built seats around its perimeter.

“It’s a crucial part of the Goan home”, explains Arko, “as it’s where one spends most of their time”. It holds space for quiet moments alone, as well as encouraging interaction with neighbours and passers-by. Balcaos are where “the boundaries of the interior and exterior are blurred”, he shares, revealing why Otherworlds found it to be the perfect architectural element to stitch the restaurant into the surrounding neighbourhood landscape.

Reaching out from the existing double-storey building, the expansive bamboo canopy claims its ground and screams ‘Balcao’! Oversized elliptical cutouts invite the sun in, and, as Arko notes, “create a calming and surreal atmospheric presence as they float above”. The idea was to “use the interplay of light and shadow to create a serene and enchanting setting for the guests to indulge in their culinary joinery”, he shares.

The bamboo is all locally sourced and is repurposed from a series of temporary structures that are often built across Goa’s shorelines. Dismantled over the monsoons and rebuilt every year, Otherworlds embraced the idea of impermanence and organic dynamism that would come with using bamboo at Terttulia Restaurant.

Below the canopy, meandering concrete forms result in a maze-like topography where various forms of seating take shape. From high bar tables for two to booths for large parties, the concrete-cast furniture contributes towards forming a highly social ecosystem. “We added built-in benches close to each other and only separated by a planter to encourage incidental conversations and perhaps making a friend or two,” says Arko.

The brief called for a space that would embody the city’s relaxed outdoor lifestyle by day, while also “celebrating the soirées of quintessential Goan evenings” by night, shares Arko. Through their adaptive reuse project, Otherworlds have managed to convert an isolated Portuguese villa into a dynamic social eatery that can become the heart of Goa’s culinary scene—all while looking to the architecture of a traditional Goan home.

[Images courtesy of Otherworlds. Photography by Suryan and Dang.]