Restaurants

Mãe d’ Água

~ saltofportugal ~ 1 Comment

There is so much about this restaurant that is out of a fairy tale: two brothers, an ancient spring, a magical landscape, food and wine fit for a king.

In 2004 the brothers Artur and Carlos Lopes found a late 19th century barn in Sobral do Parelhão, a small village near Bombarral, 70 km north of Lisbon. There, they built a restaurant perfectly in tune with its surroundings. They called it Mãe d’Água (water source) because water from a nearby spring runs through the building.

They cut the ancient brick walls to open large windows that frame the handsome landscape of Estremadura. They filled elegant wood cabinets with wines from the region. They chose a menu full of delicacies, briny shrimp in garlic sauce, fragrant lingueirão rice, tender lamb chops, and much more. Mãe d’Água is a fairy tale come true.

Sobral do Parelhão, Bombarral, Rua 13 de Maio 26, 2540-467 Carvalhal, tel.262 605 408, email geral@restaurantemaedagua.com, click here for their website.

Areias do Seixo

~ saltofportugal ~ Leave a comment

You ring the bell as if you were visiting a friend’s house. The large weathered wood door opens to reveal a magical place overlooking the sea. Everything feels right: the driftwood benches, the pebble walls, the bare swimming pool, the wood fire burning outside.

You can walk to the beach through sandy dunes and fragrant pine trees to see blue waves crashing on white sand. Or you can drink a glass of wine while the sun and the moon exchange duties.

The restaurant staff make you feel at home while you choose from a small menu that changes daily. The food is wonderfully simple, prepared with great local ingredients: fresh fish, tender vegetables, succulent meat, briny seafood.

We hear that people in heaven like to return to this world to stay for a few days in this boutique hotel near Praia de Santa Cruz.  We have not been able to confirm this rumor. But one thing we know: Areias do Seixo is a little piece of heaven on earth.

Praceta do Atlântico, Póvoa de Penafirme, 2560-046 A-dos-Cunhados, tel. 261 936 340, email info@areiasdoseixo.com, click here for website.

Reinventing Portuguese cuisine

~ saltofportugal ~ Leave a comment

You need to study before eating at Pedro Lemos’ wonderful restaurant in Oporto. You have to learn the taste of roasted suckling pig, the smell of codfish and chickpeas, the texture of veal from Miranda, the saltiness of sardines, the sweetness of rocha pears. Only then will you understand that Lemos is reinventing these traditional Portuguese flavors with imagination and soul.

Pedro Lemos, Rua Padre Luis Cabral, 974, Foz do Douro, Porto, Tel. 220115986, email reservas@pedrolemos.net

Tasca da Esquina

~ saltofportugal ~ 8 Comments

“Tasca” means a modest establishment that serves cheap wine and “petiscos” (the Portuguese word for “tapa”). When well-known chef Vitor Sobral opened this restaurant he probably called it tasca to signal its affordable price. But the quality is excellent.

There is a daily menu featuring small dishes, all original, all prepared with great care. There is also a degustation.

Three star food almost at tasca prices, that is what you get at Tasca da Esquina. Reservations are a must.

Rua Domingos Sequeira 41C , Campo de Ourique,  1350-119 Lisboa, Tel. 919 837 255, email info@tascadaesquina.com. Click here for web site.


			

	


				
					


	

			
Boia Bar
		

				

						 ~ saltofportugal			 ~ Leave a comment					

				

		
Boia Bar Composit


At Boia Bar, a restaurant in Salema, near Lagos, Algarve, we always feel we are in a movie set. Everything is too perfect to be real. The restaurant is right on the beach. At dinner time you see the sky drowned in yellow and the sea getting ready for sunset, covering its dark blue color with washes of lighter hues. The warm air and the fresh sea breeze create the perfect temperature. Then, the wine and food arrive.


The best item on the menu is the “robalo” (sea bass) grilled Algarve style. Before grilling, the chef makes diagonal incisions on the fish and fills them with thin slices of garlic and some olive oil. It’s that simple. But simple things are often the hardest. You have to have the freshest fish. You have to know the right temperature for the coal, the right amount of salt to use, the right moment to take the fish from the grill to the table. It’s this perfection of simple things that you can enjoy at Boia Bar.


Rua dos Pescadores 101, 8650-199 Salema, tel. 282 695 382, email: boiabar@mail.telepac.pt, click here for website.