Beach Shacks of Goa

What is a beach shack in Goa?

A beach shack is either a temporary or permanent naturally built restaurant bang on the beach of Goa. A beach shack is a restaurant built right on the sands of the beaches of Goa. Shacks are beach restaurants bang on the Goa beaches.

Natural Beach Restaurants of Goa

The beach shack restaurant is built using maximum natural materials such as ply wood, dry palm leaves, Mangalore clay tiles, Coir ropes, wood, etc. The Goa beach shack restaurants always have a wooden platform and are many times built on stilts so that during high tides the waves can just flow below the beach shack restaurant.

Temporary Beach Shacks of Goa

Goa beach shacks are built from natural materials so that minimum damage is done to the natural beach eco system of Goa. Once the South West Monsoons arrive in Goa around June then the full herbal huts or shacks of Goa’s beach restaurants are completely and totally dismantled.

Permanent Beach Shacks of Goa

There are few beach shacks in Goa which are built permanently. These beach shack restaurants are safely away from the CRZ area. That is Coastal Regulation Zone of 200 meters away from the High Tide Area of every beach. These beach shacks are built on land and not on the sandy beach of Goa. Permanent beach shack restaurants in Goa are built on higher land a little away from the sandy shores of the beach. Permanent beach shacks in Goa are always away from the 200 meters CRZ area. These beach restaurants are built more out of concrete and less of wood, though their ambience is quite similar and close to the temporary beach shacks of Goa.

From the Arabian Sea to your Seafood Plate

Since all the beach shacks of Goa are located bang on the beach, hence because of their close proximity with fisher folk, fishermen and the fishing communities of Goan beaches, fish is always fresh from the Arabian Sea directly to your seafood plate in beach shacks of Goa. Most of the beach shack restaurants do not buy their sea food from the markets of Goa; rather they get it fresh from the boats that come in with their daily catch of fish.

Racism or call it Segregation is practised in Beach Shacks of Goa. Here is why.
Many tourists and first time visitors to Goa find it difficult to understand why the beach shacks of Goa are mostly frequented or favoured by the foreign tourists only. The reasons are many and valid from Goa Restaurant owner’s point of view. Everyone knows that Indian tourists are loud and noisy. Also adult Indian men hardly know how to behave in a public place and also they do not have any etiquette that need to be followed in public places and restaurants especially.

If any Indian tourists have good etiquettes then it is all drowned and forgotten after a couple of beers. Also Indian tourist families feel that when they patronize a restaurant, they end up owning the whole restaurant, its staff and care a damn to other restaurant guests present.

There are hundreds of instances when large group of Indian families allow their children to play all around in the restaurant making it a children’s playground or garden. The cute innocent children cannot be controlled or disciplined by their own parents and family members, so one ends up finding the toddlers & infants walking on the dinner table of the restaurants with the family gathered and sitting all around. There are cases of Indian Tourists children tearing restaurant menus, breaking restaurant items and the Indian parents just turn a blind eye towards this nuisance. When addressed by the beach shack restaurant owners, they reply back in Hindi, saying “Bache hi to Hai” meaning “Oh they are just Children”.

This sort of compulsive and arrogant behaviour by majority of Indian tourists namely being loud & noisy, not caring for the privacy of other restaurant guests in Goa, demanding 5 Star service in No Star beach shack restaurants of Goa has led to the Goan beach shack owners preferring the Foreign tourists patronising them. Also if a beach shack restaurant is patronized by lots of Indian tourists, then because of the romantic peace and serenity disturbed by noisy Indian tourists, the foreign tourists prefer the more decent, expensive and exclusive beach shacks that filter the ill-mannered Indian tourists coming to Goa beach shacks.

Only in Goa

Seafood Restaurants officially permitted to run a restaurant directly on the beaches of Goa is permitted by Government of Goa and is the only state of India that allows this facility for the people of Goa.