Inside Brooklyn Bardez, A Goa Deli Inspired By New York’s Immigrant Food Culture

Ever since celebrity lookalike contests, that lady who goes around interviewing bodega cats and OUR mayor Mamdani started taking over our feeds, a lot of us have found ourselves strangely attached to New York. The fascination with the city has always existed among artists, writers, musicians, and anyone chasing some version of a bigger life, but lately it feels closer, more familiar, more meme-able. And now, somewhere between Assagao’s leafy lanes and Goa’s increasingly design-conscious food scene, Brooklyn Bardez gives that obsession a shrine inside a 100-year-old Portuguese bungalow, bringing old-school Brooklyn deli culture into Bardez.

At the centre of Brooklyn Bardez is this idea of ‘appetizing’ as a verb. The place is rooted in deli culture — sampling, layering, slicing, curing, smoking, pickling and assembling, where sandwiches stop being quick lunch food and start feeling like careful works of craft. The joint comes from Meghana Shrivastava and Matt Daniels, the duo behind Verandah in Mandrem and Detroit’s cult sandwich truck Nu Deli. Their history runs through Goa, Bombay, Detroit, pop-ups, dinner parties, and ten years of sandwich experimentation involving Konkan flavours stuffed into classic American deli formats, which now show up all over the menu. 

Sandwiches are named after Brooklyn neighbourhoods tied to Matt’s upbringing, and each one leans into a different mood. The Cobble Hill stacks prosciutto di Parma, burrata, and artichoke crema into a rich and sharp combo. The Bensonhurst goes full old-school deli with pancetta, mortadella, salami Milano, and pistachio pesto. The Brighton Beach folds smoked turkey, melted Alpine cheeses, chilli mayo, and koshimbiri slaw into a tandoori-grilled sourdough. Then there’s The Red Hook with its fiery ’nduja grilled cheese and The Canarsie bringing fried chicken on brioche into the picture. The whole thing reads like a borough map translated through Goa, immigrant kitchens, corner bodegas, Jewish deli culture, backyard grills, and a decade of kitchen R&D.

The menu outside the sandwiches is equally committed to the bit. The coffee section runs from espresso con panna and cappuccinos to Vietnamese iced coffee, affogatos, iced caramel macchiatos, and iced mochas. Fresh breads come out in small batches through the day — sourdough, focaccia, baguettes, challah, rustic country loaves, brioche. Then there are butter croissants, pain au chocolat, everything croissants, profiteroles glazed in chocolate, New York-style cheesecake with seasonal sauce, bread and butter pudding soaked in custard, and hot beignets dusted with powdered sugar and loaded with chocolate and raspberry drizzle.

Their loaded croissants push things further with fillings like smoked salmon, cream cheese, dill, capers and onions, or scrambled eggs with green thecha, arugula and pickled onions.Even the spreads lean fully into deli excess with flavoured butters like jalapeño honey, caramelised brown butter and sun-dried tomato, cream cheeses loaded with onion-chive or garlic-herb combinations, and house jams and marmalades layered with citrus and berry flavours. The founders also plan to push the retail side beyond Goa through curated hampers and delivery drops carrying cured meats, cheeses, breads, condiments, oils, pickles and pantry staples sourced from across India. 

Within the bungalow, original laterite walls, tiled floors, timber rafters, verandah corridors, and weathered surfaces have all been preserved as they were. The central courtyard, once enclosed, now opens up into a jungle-like green space filled with communal tables and shelves carrying pantry products sourced from India and overseas. One room is devoted to cured meats, cheeses, oils, pickles, vinegars, and condiments, with jars lined up like collector’s items. Another wing houses Rangeela, a home décor store filled with globally sourced artisanal objects. Large murals of Marilyn Monroe and Goan singer Lorna Cordeiro cut through the old bungalow architecture with bright graphic lines, while steel shelving, reclaimed wood, cane seating, industrial lights, and lime-washed walls keep the place between a neighbourhood deli and creative hangout. The visual language leans heavily into Pop Art. Warhol’s commercial playfulness, Lichtenstein’s comic-book graphics and Robert Indiana’s bold iconography all show up in the branding and signage. 

But Brooklyn Bardez is built for more than breakfast runs and sandwich photos. Through the day, it shifts between café, pantry market, takeaway counter, cellar, workspace, and community spot. By evening, the same rooms turn into supper clubs, wine tastings, workshops and grazing-table-heavy gatherings. Goa has enough cafés already. Brooklyn Bardez understands that people now want spaces where food, design, music, conversation, retail and community bleed into each other naturally. Somewhere you can walk in for a flat white and leave with smoked meats, hot honey, a bottle of wine, and a little slice of The Big Apple. 

Follow Brooklyn Bardez here.

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