www.discoverportugal2day.com
Dining in Portugal
P
ortugal provides you with irresistible temptations in dining pleasures. Just as there is great diversity in the geography of the country, there are also many gastronomical experiences that are available. From the small local Portuguese restaurants with their menus only in Portuguese, to the restaurants with their menus in many languages to the Five star hotels, you will experience many memorable eating pleasures.
There are endless varieties of meats and seafood's from the Algarve to the Minho. Portuguese variety comes from its ability to assimilate. Over the centuries this seagoing nation's cuisine has come under the influence of many far-flung countries in Asia, Africa, the Americas as well as Europe.
We will be expanding this section. We will be building a directory of restaurants and other treats that we think you will enjoy sampling plus over the coming holidays we also plan to include Portuguese recipes. So if you know of any items that you have enjoyed or restaurants that you think worth of mention, please e-mail us and we will be most happy to include them.
Escreva-me dê-me as suas sugestões.
This is a site with many Portuguese dishes on it and is a fine
example of Portuguese Gastronomy. It is currently only in Portuguese but I am
told that an English version is coming. The site's name is Comezainas.
If you have any comments on these pages or links please send me an
E-Mail. Thank you
Dining Directory
P
ortuguese restaurants usually serve lunch from 12:00 until 15:00 and dinner from 19:00 until 22:00. Many owners speak English and some accept credit cards, but check before ordering.
Some of the dishes mentioned below are regional and may not be available in some sections of the country.
Soups - (Sopa)
- Sopa de pedra - a soup of vegetables and meats
- Caldo verde - a potato soup containing spiced sausage and a vegetable like kale
- Sopa de castanhas peladas - winter soup made with dried chestnuts, beans and rice
- Sopa dourada - sponge cake under blanket of almonds and egg yolk
- Sopa de mariscos - a seafood bisque
- Sopa de feijões - a hearty bean soup
- Sopa de Legumas - vegetable soup
Meats - (Carne)
- Leitão à Bairrada - roasted suckling pig served with crackling
- Bife à café - tender steak with cream sauce served with fries and fried egg (ovos)
- Paio - sausage made with pork loin
- Morcela - blood sausage
- Chouriço - tasty smoked sausage
- Porco - (Pork) in many forms such as sausages and also hams
- Porco à alentejana - a marriage of pork, wine and clams or some other shell fish
- Borrego ensopado - stew of young lamb served on bread
- Cordeiro - lamb cooked over wood
- Cabrito - kid cooked over wood
- Coelho em vinho - receipt for rabbit meat cooked in wine
- Sarrabulho - Pork and rice cooked in wine and pigs blood
- Rejões - Pork, sausage and black pudding
Chicken - (Frango)
- Frango à piri - piri - barbecued chicken with chili
- Empadas - chicken pies
Cod Fish - (Bacalhau)
- Pataniscas - tasty salt - cod fritters filled with seafood sauce
- Pastéis de bacalhau - little salt - cod cakes can be eaten cold or hot
- Bacalhau à Brás - shreds of cod in potatoes and onions
- Bacalhau - 1000 other versions and all very good
Breads (Pão)
If you are a bread lover, you will think you have died and reached heaven when you taste the wonderful Portuguese breads. I love them all with, yes, butter (manteiga)
Cheeses - (Queijo)
- Monte - from Trás-os-Montes smooth creamy made from cow's and ewe's milk
- Serra - one of Portugal's best from ewe's milk sold in rounds. It is pale and slightly runny
- Rabaçal - mild cheese from Coimbra
- Azeitão - quite pungent from Setúbal
- Saloio - dried fresh milky taste
Salads - (Salada)
- Salada mista - simple salad of lettuce, tomatoes and onions dressed with olive oil and vinegar
Fish - (Peixe)
- Truta de Barroso - local trout stuffed with ham and fried in bacon fat
- Atumde cebolada - fresh tuna steak cooked in a bed of onions and tomato sauce
- Sardinhas assadas - charcoal grilled young pilchards. They come in three sizes small, medium and large.
- Lulas cheias - squid stuffed with cured meats and rice
- Horse Mackerel - (carapau)
- Squid - (Lulas)
- Red Mullet - (salmonette grelhado)
- Sword fish - (peixe espada)
- Crab - (caranguejo)
- Oysters - (ostra)
- Shrimp - (camarão)
- Lobster - (lagosta)
- Lampreia - Lamprey
Deserts - (Sobremesas)
- Ovos moles - rich confection of sweetened egg yolk in candied casings
- Mousse de chocolate - made with dark rich chocolate
- Arroz doce - creamy rice pudding rich with egg
- Pastél de nata - custard creams - one of my favorites
- Queijadas de Sintra - cheese tarts spread with cinnamon
- Pastel de feijão - almonds, eggs and beans
- Broas - sweet potato with almond
- Tarta de Viana - sponge cake with sweetened egg filling
- Toucinho de céu - rich almond and cinnamon cake
Coffee - (Cafe)
- Uma bica - small cup of very strong black coffee
- Cafe - bica in the North
- Bica cheio or Cafe Cheio - weaker small black coffee
- Pingo or Cafe pingado - small cup or coffee with milk
- Um Galão - tall glass of half milk and half coffee
- Um meia de leite or Cafe com Leite - half coffee and half milk
- Grande - large cup of coffee
- Directo - add to all for a stronger coffee
But don't get confident in ordering coffee. Its name changes in various sections of the country. For you tea drinkers, Tea is called Chá.
Let's go Traveling to Portugal .
Creation Date: 30 Aug 1999
Last update: 12 Jan 2007
Copyright © 1995-2007 Thomas J. Sullivan, MA
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