Eating out in Portugal

Being such a small country we still have an immense variety of dishes. Thanks to our many micro climates, varieties of soil, and the different cultures that passed by through history, we have something for everyone to get excited about. Whether you eat meat, seafood or a vegan diet you will be able to find delicious stuff, just remember that it is much easier to find vegan food restaurants in the bigger cities but much harder in a smaller town in the countryside. And of course, the logic is that the closer you are to the coast, the fish dishes will be much better than inland due to the freshness of the seafood. Local produce is always preferable. That is why a passion fruit dessert tastes ten times better on the island of Madeira where they grow them rather than on the mainland. And boy, do we produce a lot of food!

Eating out in Portugal doesn't have to cost a lot. You will be able to feel more than satisfied for less than 10 euros if you know where to look. Normal price range for a main course is usually between 5 - 15 euros. More than that and you are either at a tourist trap or a fancier restaurant. Many places have lunch menus/offers as well. Then you could be paying something like 8 - 12 euros for some bread, main course, a drink (could be beer or house wine), a dessert and some coffee. Do not expect the plates to be big and empty. They will usually be full to the brim with food. Many places have the size of main courses that serves perfectly well for two people. In the drink section we usually stick with beer, soda, juice, mineral water, sangria or normal wine. Many times the house wine is just fine and works with a variety of the dishes on the menu. Whatever you opt for in the drink section it will probably be cheaper than in many other Western countries. 

Being stingy with food is basically a mortal sin in Portugal. Any good Portuguese host will feed you until you roll out the door. There is no point in saying that you aren't hungry, nobody will understand the meaning of those words. So the restaurants definitely mirror this take of food culture. If you can't eat it all in one go, ask for a doggy bag and take away with you for another time. We never throw away food, there are many food recipes where the whole point is to reuse the ingredients from the dinner the night before. 

A typical tradition that we have here in our restaurants is that we automatically will put bread, olives, cheeses, shrimp or the likes of that on the table. You might think this is going to be on the house but no, it won't. The prices for each of those things have to be printed on the menu so look it up beforehand so you don't get a shock when the bill arrives. We do not do this to fool the tourists, we do this because we are too lazy to ask for the bread or the olives which of course has to be included in a proper Portuguese meal. If you do not want to see those tempting things on the table, ask the waiter to kindly take it away because you are not going to eat them.

We call those small dishes for petiscos instead of tapas, and in most menus you can look them up and order some of them if you prefer smaller sized dishes. Just bear in mind that what we usually do if we are out we eat some petiscos, then a proper main course, then some dessert, and last but not the least, coffee! If you wanna go deluxe style feel free to have a sweet glass of Port, ginginha (sweet cherry liquor) or Moscatel after the food. We also have many kinds of aguardentes to choose from, if you like something strong but not sweet, to help digest your food. 

Reservations are maybe necessary if it is a fancier place, you are a bigger group of people or during the weekends. Lunch time can be anything between 12 - 16 pm and dinner time may vary between 19 - 23. Bom apetite as we say!