Dining Rooms in Goa

In most Goan homes the dining area is not a closed room. It opens off the hall, sits beside the kitchen door, or runs along a verandah wall, so whatever you choose for it is seen from the sitting area and has to sit comfortably next to it. The table is usually under or beside a window, which means the midday sun lands on plates, glasses and faces exactly when lunch is served.

It is also the hardest-working surface in the house for fabric. Turmeric, oil, coconut gravy and red wine all find their way onto curtains near the table, onto the rug under it and onto the wall behind the chairs. Chairs are pulled out and pushed back three times a day, and at Christmas, a wedding lunch or a novena the table is extended and every spare chair comes out.

So we plan a dining room around three questions: where the sun is at lunch, what can be wiped or washed after a meal, and how the space looks at night with a pendant lamp over the table and the windows black behind it.