20 reasons why to come to Portugal and eat

To eat well is part of Portugal's DNA. However, our cuisine is not easy to internationalize, thus why there aren't many portuguese restaurants throughout the world. The main reason why this happens, according to CNN Travel, is the difficulty to have the freshest local ingredients. And this is the secret to portuguese cuisine.

So if you're a foodie, always looking for the next big thing in restaurants, you should come to Portugal

Dine in our "tascas" (a very small restaurant with an informal way of serving, where you taste real food) is just one example. Here's 20 more!

Fish

Portugal has fish and seafood like nowhere else in Europe. There are inumerous ways to do it, but definitely you need to visit a market and see the fish for yourself. You will be amazed with the diversity and freshness. In many restaurants, you get to pick your fish and the chef will cook the one you chose.

Olive oil

Olive oil is used in most of portuguese cuisine, both in the kitchen and at the table. Also, it has a strong economic value in Alentejo, Beira and Trás-os-Montes regions, as many families own olive groves and take income from its produce. It is called liquid gold for a reason.

Photo by Roberta Sorge on Unsplash

National dish

Portuguese food varies from North to South. Upnorth the food is robust, with lots of meat. In the South, there is more fish, seafood and cooked bread. However, there is one national dish, which is offered in almost all traditional restaurants, on sundays - the cozido à portuguesa. It consists of beef and pork, boiled with blood sausage and chorizo, and different vegetables and beans cooked in the same water. So there's different ingredients but everything tastes the same! You need to have this at lunch and you will skip every meal until the next day.

Gourmet offer

Recently portuguese chefs have awakened themselves to experiment modern techniques and approaches to portuguese cooking. Chefs like José Avillez, who has a 2 michelin stars restaurant (Belcanto) and Henrique Sá Pessoa, with several projects in Lisbon.

Our beloved codfish

It is said Portugal has a recipe to cook codfish for every day of the year. Probably there are even more! And you will find always an offer with codfish in every restaurant.

Smelly cheese

French and dutch cheeses are known all over the world, Portuguese cheeses are great; we just don't have the right communication skills! You can have cheese before a meal, with some bread, or after, with marmalade or a glass of Port wine.

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

Porto's finest

Portugal's second city has two very famous dishes. However, please be warned that you need a very strong stomach for both. That said, have no fear and taste away! Tripas à moda do Porto is a stew of several types of meat, with the star ingredient being the tripe - the white lining of the cow stomach. The other one is francesinha - or little french girl - and is basically a big sandwich made of beef, egg, cheese, a special sauce and some other things you probably don't need to know about.

Everything with rice

There are a lot of dishes made with rice - seafood, octopus, duck and also desserts, similar to rice pudding (but better!). They are not known all over the world, as risotto and paella are, but they are so so much better.

Black is the pig

These pigs grow in the wild in the plains of Alentejo. They have a different taste and texture and provide for the best cured ham Portugal has to offer.

Have lunch at school

There are a lot of old primary schools, all over the territory, which now serve as restaurants. You find many different concepts in unusual locations.

Pour the wine

There is wine for everyone here. And award-winning too! Green wine you can only find in the North of Portugal. The same with Port, one of our best sellers abroad.

The explorers' food

Portugal was a colonizing country, with territories from Africa, to Brasil and India. These flavours are now part of our cuisine. And also, part of our offer on its own, since you can taste food from old colonies in many dedicated restaurants.

We love little pigs

Suckling pig is a delicacy at the middle of the territory, in a town called Mealhada. You can taste it elsewhere, but the real thing is there.

Local fruit

Our mild climate, together with singularities with mountain or island climate, turn Portugal in a fantastic home to many tasty seasoned fruits. We eat it plain and make jams or desserts with it.

Little as the sardine

Sardines are only available in the Summer, on which you can have it at Lisbon's street festival. Grilled of course.

Photo by Elle Hughes on Unsplash

Weird but tasty

A blood-sucking snake-shaped fish. Goose-necked barnacles. Or a sugared blood sausage. Don't ask. Just taste.

Visit the local market

To see all you can taste in its original form, visit a local market. There is one in each town, even in the smallest.

Photo by Stefan Pflaum on Unsplash

We are so sweet

Come and bring a larger pair of trousers. You will need it. Portuguese pastry is very diverse and unique on its own. Our pastel de nata is famous everywhere but you need to dig further and try other options. You won't regret it.

Meat sandwiches

We already referred to our tascas. There you can either eat a bifana (a sandwich made with fried pork) or a prego (same concept, but with beef). Or both.

Many many meat

Portugal is more known for its fish and seafood. But we have meat too - and good one.

Hope you have (even) more will to come to Portugal - and eat!

Portugal: Europe’s Most Compelling New Food Destination

Not too long ago, all the chatter about the Douro Valley, the flourishing wine region in northeastern Portugal, revolved around its velvety reds and austere beauty. The conversation is slowly changing, however, now that word is getting out about the unexpected excellence of the region’s cooking, which is humble, hearty and newly creative. ​

As I first discovered many years ago during a weekend of wedding banquets I attended, there’s always been some superb food to be had in the Douro River Valley. Back then, just about the only way to taste it was to be invited home for a meal by a local. To be sure, Porto, the seaside city at the mouth of the 557-mile-long Douro (most of which crosses Spain, and the historic center of the region’s Port trade, has long had a few good restaurants. But in the wine towns upriver, the genteel old Port-producing families mostly entertained among themselves, and gastronomic extravagance for their vineyard workers was pretty much limited to communion, marriage and harvest-day feasts.

During the last decade, however, the Douro has emerged as one of the most compelling new food destinations in Europe, with a growing roster of standout restaurants. These range from cutting-edge tables to cozy country taverns. Some of the credit for the growing interest in Portuguese cooking goes to a few high-profile chefs outside the country, including Nuno Mendes in London (Taberna do Mercado, Chiltern Firehouse) and George Mendes—no relation to Nuno—in New York City (Aldea, Lupulo). But most of the ardent new proponents of Portugal’s palate still live there. Take Porto native chef Rui Paula, 49, the granddaddy of the Douro’s restaurant revolution. He learned to cook from his grandmother in the Douro Valley town of Alijó, where his family is from. Mr. Paula now owns three well-regarded restaurants in the region, including Restaurante DOC on the riverbank in the village of Folgosa, and his newest, the Casa de Chá da Boa Nova in a seaside suburb of Porto.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

SEAFOOD FESTIVAL 2014 - OLHÃO, ALGARVE

Being a landmark of Algarve's tourism route, Olhão has an exotic architecture and a characteristic cuisine for everyone to enjoy. In the Summer, it also hosts Olhão Seafood Festival at Pescador Olhanense Garden, by Ria Formosa, which is the biggest event of its kind in Europe, attracting over 60 000 visitors.

Every day, chefs create innovative seafood recipes for visitors to try, using locally-sourced ingredients. This Festival has a huge range of shellfish cooked in the traditional manner, regional sweets, handicrafts and even concerts every evening.

ALENTEJO

 

 

South from Tagus river, at the vast golden planes filled with centennial cork-oaks or olive trees, life is calm, the people are gentle, the food is delicious and the wine... well, let's just say that some of the best wines in the world are here.
 

Covering almost a third of the country, its name derives from the words "além Tejo", beyond the Tagus river. Besides the agricultural aspect with huge cork plantations, wheat fields and vineyards, Alentejo as much more to offer, from ancient dolmens and superbly sited castles to Roman ruins and sweeping Atlantic beaches. 

Also worth a visit are the spectacular fortified town of Elvas and the Roman temple, medieval walls and cathedral of Évora, both with UNESCO World Heritage status. Plus, the amazing hilltop villages of Monsaraz and Marvão, and the marble towns of Estremoz and Vila Viçosa.

LISBON'S SARDINE FESTIVAL

 

 

St. Anthony of Padua is one of the Catholic Church's most popular saints, but in Portugal he's known simply as St. Anthony of Lisbon, the matchmaker saint.

Born in Lisbon, as Fernando de Bulhões, the son of a very rich noble family decided against his parents's wishes to enter the Augustinian Abbey of St. Vincent. Ordained a priest, he later when on to preach the Gospel with a group of Franciscan friars in Italy, here he stayed until the time of his death. St. Anthony died in Padua, Italy on June 13th, 1231. 

 

On the eve, June 12th, at Avenida da Liberdade begins the parade of each district of Lisbon, filling this major avenue with colourful lights and people in costumes. The party goes on all night long throughout the city, especially in the old quarters such as Alfama, Mouraria or Graça, where people celebrate while eating grilled sardines.

LISBON: EUROPE'S COOLEST CITY

Nightlife in Lisbon... well the main action starts in the Bairro Alto, where more than 250 appealing bars lined up in a web of streets between graffiti-plastered walls, taverns and local restaurants. Near the river, there's also the hip neighborhood around Cais do Sodré railway station.

Although Portugal is largely known for dried cod and taverns, the capital begins to claim for a range of restaurants. Seafood remains "a must", but the trend is for modern, sophisticated and affordable food.
 

But if you are passionate about art, in Lisbon you can find stylish leather goods, bold wine labels, interiors combining vintage with the latest designer pieces and spectacular buildings. Plus, a several of Museum are at your disposal, museums such the Gulbenkian Foundation, the Berardo Museum or the National Museum of Ancient Art.

So, as you can see, there's nothing boring about Lisbon!

 

CASA DO ALENTEJO, LISBON

 

If you're fond of the Alentejo, you're lucky because you can enjoy a bit of Alentejo in the heart of Lisbon.
At number 58, on the street of Portas de Santo Antao, sits the Casa do Alentejo,  an mourish inspired mansion from the XVII century.

In 1919, this space was rehabilitated and transformed into the Majestic Casino Club, the first in Lisbon. Later, in 1932, the Alentejo Guild acquired it and made ​​it his headquarters. Nowadays, functions as a cultural center and a restaurant with traditional Alentejo food.

The Best Restaurants of Portugal - South

This TravelTailors' gastronomic program promotes the best traditionally inspired Portuguese southern gastronomy , with emphasis on a signature cuisine. It also highlights the heritage and the landscape of the visited regions: Lisbon and Alentejo.

More information here

The Best Restaurants of Portugal - North

This TravelTailors' program promotes the best traditionally inspired gastronomy of northern Portugal, with emphasis on a signature cuisine. In addition, it promotes the heritage and the landscape of the visited regions, such as Oporto, Douro and Minho.

More information here

The Best Restaurants of Portugal - South

This TravelTailors' gastronomic program promotes the best traditionally inspired Portuguese southern gastronomy , with emphasis on a signature cuisine. It also highlights the heritage and the landscape of the visited regions: Lisbon and Alentejo.

More information here

The Best Restaurants of Portugal

This TravelTailors' program promotes the best traditionally inspired gastronomy of northern Portugal, with emphasis on a signature cuisine. In addition, it promotes the heritage and the landscape of the visited regions, such as Oporto, Douro and Minho.

More information here

Gastronomy in Portugal: from the Michelin Stars to the Tascas

This TravelTailors' unique program promotes the best Portuguese cuisine, including the formal and informal recognition ( Michelin Starsand "tascas") of the restaurants that stand out for quality service, therefore deserving the preference of the public and of the specialized critique.

More information here