For The Record

Walk into For The Record – FTR to the regulars who've made it a Panjim institution – and the bar is almost secondary to the room itself. Founder Buland Shukla, an architect, a musician and audio engineer as much as a bartender, spent years building the space around an idea borrowed from Japan's listening-bar culture: that music, played properly, deserves the same attention as the drink in your hand. 

The result, set inside an old Portuguese house in Panjim's Fontainhas quarter, is unlike anywhere else in Goa. It’s a room built around a handcrafted vacuum-tube hi-fi system, walls lined with vinyl and musical memorabilia, and a curated record collection you're actively encouraged to browse and request from.

The first room you enter houses the bar itself, where feni-based cocktails are built around Indian craft spirits and local, seasonal ingredients. Expect the recipes to shift if you visit a few months apart, since the kitchen leans hard into whatever's fresh. If the bar room feels too cosy for your group, there's a balcão and courtyard seating, adjoining an open kitchen.

The drinks are the other half of the draw. FTR's cocktail programme has picked up serious attention on India's best-bar lists for its exploration of indigenous condiments and techniques – house-made bitters, tinctures, fermented liqueurs – built around craft spirits rather than the usual imported staples. Mango Sticky Rice is the go-to drink for anyone who doesn’t know what to order. On the food side, expect small, shareable plates that lean into fermentation and char like crisp tempura made with local leaves, bacon pizza and a black garlic chocolate tart designed to be worked through slowly after a round of drinks.

Come here for a long night. That’s where FTR shines best.

Getting there: Fontainhas is a warren of narrow, one-way heritage lanes with very limited parking. Thank god they have a valet service. 

Time Out tip: Ask about the in-house distillation process if the bar isn't too busy. Shukla and his team are happy to talk through it, and it's one of the more overlooked reasons FTR has climbed India's best-bar rankings.