Royal Enfield recently launched its first experiential café, the Royal Enfield Garage Café, in Goa’s Arpora neighbourhood. Overlooking the picturesque Baga creek, the cafe is a cool hangout for the young holidayers in the city and a great place for bikers to bond over coffee. Text and photographs by Avinash Verma
This is the first time that Royal Enfield has launched a cafe that reflects the heritage, pedigree, and biker way of life. The Royal Enfield Garage Café includes a diner, a bar, and a specially placed family room. Adjacent to this, at the Royal Enfield motorcycle museum, is an exclusive apparel and gear store, where services such as motorcycle customisation are offered.
Royal Enfield not only tries to celebrate the motorcycling way of life for the purists and enthusiasts, but also tries to be an all-inclusive and engaging spot for non-riders and travellers. Royal Enfield Garage Café celebrates the city it is set in through food, drinks, entertainment, and employing traditional Portuguese structure in the interior. Look around to find some unique elements in the façade, which include locally executed artworks based on Azulejos inspired installation and hand painted on tiles by Goan artisans. Inside, the double height bar wall has a hand-painted backdrop by Monde Art.
The lounge on the first floor has an exciting book art installation by Hanif Qureshi. Also, the industrial chic gear store building with its zinc roof, laterite infill walls and the now distinctive ‘Royal Enfield’ charcoal grey metal and glass facade effortlessly bridge its Goan setting with industrial craftsmanship. On the inside, there is a mini-museum and gallery that houses the history and heritage of the brand, from the 1939 Flying Flea motorcycle (still in the drop cage), the original 1963 Continental GT café racer, and the 1965 MK-2 750cc Interceptor to a working model of a Royal Enfield Engine and a specially designed scale model of a RE Classic 500.
Behind the gallery, there is a service bay cum motorcycle customisation area, which is specially designed to provide a space with resources for bikers to create unimaginable customisations on motorcycles. Right in front of it, the Royal Enfield Garage Café also has one of the most enviable display of famous custom built Royal Enfield motorcycles like the Rooster Trike and The Good Trip Bike.
The menu in the cafe speaks for its fully-booked tables—from authentic Goan and Portuguese cuisine to continental, it has a bit of everything for the local and international tourist crowd. The menu is created keeping the idea of unpretentious, laid-back comfort food in mind and everything is made from the freshly sourced, locally and sustainably grown ingredients. The bar menu too is curated keeping the Goan sussegado mantra in mind. So, either one is here for a quick bite while getting the bike serviced or a family dinner.
