For The Record

Most bars are planned, but For The Record managed to stumble into existence. In 2019, architect Buland Shukla's living room in Panjim was where his band came to jam, and the jams slowly turned into listening sessions for friends and family. Drinks showed up next, then food, until the room had quietly become a vinyl bar and restaurant that snuck its way into more bar listings than it had initially ever thought it would.

In October 2026, FTR (as it's lovingly abbreviated) relaunched with a renovated space and a new partner: Varakaar Hospitality, the company of Chef Prateek Sadhu and Akshay Tripathi, who also run NAAR, a destination restaurant in the Himalayas.

What's worth noticing is what the renovation didn't do. Shukla built much of FTR by hand, piece by piece, as it was needed: a wall, a stand for the records, a bar once the drinks began. The relaunch repaired rather than razed. The courtyard wall stays as it was, the tables are still made of reused old wood, the Cocktail Room's mud walls are left untouched, and the original handbuilt bar top, the vinyl stands and the Vinyl Room's poster wall all remain.

The result is a place of several rooms, each with its own mood: the Vinyl Room, the mud-walled Cocktail Room, a courtyard and verandah for warm evenings, and a corner called Off the Record. The new thread running through it all is pottery, at the bar, in the bathroom, in the bar equipment, the cutlery and the plates, much of it from Thomas Potter, the studio next door.

Music is still the point. A record plays at the centre of the room and keeps going through the night, and the collection now runs past 200 records across genres. You're welcome to browse and choose, which means everyone in the room has a hand in the soundtrack. Tuesdays belong to The Banjara Trio and their gypsy jazz, a session that grew out of Shukla's late-night jams and has become FTR's signature weekly ritual. A calendar of listening sessions is due to be announced.

The food is where Chef Sadhu's team comes in, pushing the kitchen further: simple, uncomplicated plates with a Goan backbone and a global format, built on ingredients Goans grew up with and combined in ways you wouldn't expect.

The drinks programme, built up over several years, is still the headline act. Expect cocktails, 30 bins of wine, a generous by-the-glass list at accessible prices, coffee and in-house distillates, with newer techniques layered in.

What ties it together is the hosting. The staff treat the place as a little bit theirs, so you feel like a guest at a friend's home.

Getting there: In the Fontainhas quarter, near the Hotel Mandovi. Parking is scarce in this old-town lane network. Valet is available.

Time Out tip: Tuesday night is the one to circle: gypsy jazz from The Banjara Trio, played in a room where a record is never far from spinning.