A cool breeze blows over Velim, one of the most popular villages in Salcete, Goa. It carries with it a salty whiff, a welcome break from the scorching heat that Goa is forced to brave as summers take over. 

For the scores of tourists who flock to the coastal state every year, the heat is no deterrent. Instead, they look forward to days filled with palm trees, lunches and dinners dotted with an array of tropical juices, and platters of the most gorgeous seafood. 

Velim, after all, has always had a track record of drawing people from around the world with its seafood restaurants, water sports and white-washed churches. It is one of the few places in Goa that has retained its rural exquisiteness, while also allowing for modern cafes and activities, giving tourists a chance to get the best of both worlds.  

As a testament to this, is a quaint spot on a hill, a one-and-a-half hour drive from Panjim, where you can experience this rural magic for yourself. 

The brainchild of Chef Avinash Martins, C’est L’avi lives up to its name of being a table in the hills. A table set for 12 to be precise. And as anyone who has been fortunate to be Avinash’s guest will tell you, the experience is unforgettable. 

Before you settle down in your seat, breathe in the ambience, is what the chef encourages. This is no ordinary feast. It is one in the lap of nature itself. And it is incomplete without a story narrated by Chef Martins himself. 

While guests take in the surroundings, with its clay pots, and original wood fires, the babble of the stream and the chirp of a lone bird, he narrates how it all began.   

‘I called this place home.’

As the story goes, it was a long winding road through the top-notch kitchens of India that led Avinash to the hills of Goa. The journey commenced in 2002, when Avinash........

© The Better India