The Story
Origin · Nov 2019
De Baga's owner, Mandeep Singh, came to restaurants the long way round — through the head office of Hungryhouse, then Delivery Hero. He spent years watching restaurants ship through aggregators and hand over a third of every cover.
In November 2019 he opened on Otley Road in Headingley, with head chef Clive Silveira at the pass — and one rule: a Goan menu that means it, not a curry-house menu in disguise. By 2022 they'd opened a second room — De Baga Mehfil — three miles north in Chapel Allerton.
East Meets West
Goa is the meeting-point of three culinary traditions — and so is De Baga's menu. Each pillar has its own technique, its own pantry, its own moment on the plate.
India's western seaboard
Coconut, kokum, curry-leaf and Sichuan pepper — slow-built, sea-facing flavours. The Konkani Seafood Curry, Mankios Fry (Konkani squid) and the NH66 Mutton Curry inspired by the dhabas along National Highway 66 all live here.
A 16th-century kitchen language
When the Portuguese landed in Goa in 1510, they brought vinegar, palm jaggery, dried red chilli and pork. Six hundred years later, the techniques are still on De Baga's menu — Balchão, Vindaloo, Xacuti, Caldin. Cooking that travelled six thousand miles to find Headingley.
Wood-charcoal, smoke, spice
The room runs a hot tandoor. Twelve-hour Kashmiri marinades, lamb chops under a smoke-cloche, seekh kebabs charred at the edge. The classics that fill the centre of any Northern table — done by a kitchen that knows the difference between heat and fire.
Headingley · Original
The original dining room. Twenty-eight covers, charcoal grill at full chat from 5 pm. Walk-ins welcome but bookings recommended on Friday and Saturday.
Chapel Allerton · 2022
The sister room — same kitchen DNA, larger floor, lunch service Friday to Sunday. Eight minutes from Headingley by car, easy reach from town.
