Opposite Casa Pallotti, the lanes of Assagao open onto The ASSA House, a Portuguese home with good bones and a taste for a new life. Arched doorways, high ceilings and time-softened walls remain, while the founders have resisted the temptation to make a spectacle of its past. Instead, the house slips effortlessly into the present. So does the food: Goan at heart, but with a wandering eye, picking up flavours and ideas from elsewhere. It is an easy romance—an old house, a worldly kitchen, and Assagao doing what it does best: making the unlikely feel natural.
The ASSA House: red walls, red wine, red meat, and romance.
The entrance room is drenched in red, warmed by lamps and wooden furniture, with old Mangalorean tiles underfoot and a John Broadwood piano holding court in the corner. We, however, took our table outside, dining on the alfresco patio.
Further inside, the palette cools to a soft blue-green. A polished black bar anchors the room, and somewhere nearby, almost discreetly, is a concealed doorway. Behind it lies Loulou, a 25-seat speakeasy that belongs to the house after dark. Here, cocktails take a more serious turn, bringing together local botanicals, seasonal fruit, house ferments and barrel-aged spirits, with kitchen offcuts finding their way into the mix. The transition is subtle but deliciously conspiratorial: one house, two moods, and a secret passage between them.
Our meal opened with the pappardelle alla vongole: fresh clams bathed in a velvety white wine, parsley, and cream reduction. Next came the chimichurri pork chops, brilliantly offset by a crisp, citrusy Asian slaw. The finale was the 8-Hour Kharda Butter Confit Chicken Leg, a masterclass in slow-cooked tenderness. While all three dishes ground themselves in the comforting, soul-warming tradition of classic bistro fare, each was executed with a distinct culinary finesse that transformed every bite into a modern revelation.
The ASSA House, by day.