Your best culinary memory in Portugal

Lampreia is interesting and tasty - lamprey.  I'd go to a restaurant for that, though, January through April when they're coming up the river.

Yesterday I enjoyed a lunch of chicharos, a sort of pulse that's kind of peasant food, Lathyrus sativus, only distantly related to common beans like lima, garbanzo etc.   Soaked overnight, boiled for a couple hours, added some salt and dried garlic and half a green pepper.  Toasted thin slices of some stale bread in butter in a pan, tore that up and poured the chicharos on top.  I could eat that every day.  I have no reason to believe that this exact dish occurs in any local culinary tradition, and chicharos in general might be kind of hard to find, but they're a regional delight, particularly not too far from here in Alvaiázere.

Hello donn25,

The dishes that you've mentioned sound absolutely delightful

Thank you for sharing them with us

Cheers,

Yoginee

Expat.com team

Almost any simply grilled fish is great as Portugal is blessed with that, I leave sophisticated dishes to other countries.

Honestly, after almost one year in Portugal I find Portuguese food either relatively healthy but kinda monotonous (rice, potatoes, pasta, some other ingredients, repeat) or not very healthy (lots of deep frying, lots of fries and sausages and other fat cuts, cream, butter, etc - whatever best clogs the blood vessels). What I saw on restaurants' menus or on customers' plates in restaurants almost completely lacked vegetables, but everybody seemed to have fries with some other side-dish. And, excuse me, but if I wanted French fries I can make them at home, no need to go to a restaurant for that!

As for taste, I really cannot say I was impressed with anything, including the much-praised francesinha here in Porto (which was actually a disappointment after having it at one of the most praised-for-it restaurants). Yeah, it was OK, but nothing memorable and definitely nothing I would like to try again.

Ironically, the only place so far in Porto where I would like to go again is a Chinese restaurant...

I have lived in several countries and I am really curious about food and trying all kinds of new things, and I was expecting a lot more in Portugal after reading all kinds of reviews online, but now I am disappointed.

It's true, I think (I mean, about Bruper's grilled fish)  the food is great, but kind of casual. Doesn't seem to need fancy recipes or multiple courses, it's just good ingredients with some preparation that works. And a decent espresso any time or place, morning noon or night.

I can sympathize about the francesinha - I didn't actually eat any, but I saw enough.  I don't get the attraction.  As for vegetables, don't skip the soup.

Maybe Portugal's attraction is for a couple different things - there's the abundant and good quality seafood, and then for people who really like meat, there's all the sausage and stuff.  That's what meat is really about, isn't it?  I mean, I don't eat the stuff myself, but I don't think people rave about some place where they got a really lean chicken breast or something.

I recognize the feeling - some restaurant's signature rice seafood arroz com mariscos etc. will be kind of bland to my taste buds, and I wonder what the fuss is about.  But there's also the hotel in Lisbon where they didn't even seem to know what kind of rice to use, and from here it's hard to say for sure you've been getting the good stuff.

Unfortunately in most middle/low range Portuguese restaurants, most dishes have rice, chips.... but that is not Portuguese cuisine. It is much richer, both in main dishes and sweets. Visit the gastronomic fair of Santarém and other gastronomic festivals.

By the way, I don't like francesinha either, perhaps because I'm not from Porto?... I think a large part of the Portuguese don't like it either. It's a regional dish from Porto.

Hi JohnnyPT, gastronomic fairs are always impressive, in any country, but they are not necessarily a reflection of the food people regularly eat. If you go to an art exhibition, will that reflect the art people usually have in their homes?...

For me, having lived in several countries, I just compared what I have sampled so far in Portugal with dishes I tried in similar outfits in other countries, or with recipes of other countries that I personally have cooked and tried. I am not saying I have not had anything tasty in Portugal, just nothing memorable.

While there are recipes of other countries I go back to with pleasure, I have yet to say that about any particular Portuguese dish. Like I said, they either are tasty but make me worry about my health, or they are not that special... No offense meant, just my personal opinion here... I hope time will prove me wrong, but for now I tend to gravitate toward other cuisines...

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one that finds the food in Portugal underwhelming. Mind you I am not a big fiend of fish (hate the spines). But love my seafood and the fruit options in Portugal are very good. All Portuguese restaurants in the Algarve offered the same options, little vegetables (potato is not a vegetable ), lots of deep-fried fish not deboned and the use of spices was very limited.

Although, I was born in Portugal (Azores) and moved to North America when I was 11. I'm afraid I've been spoiled with the variety and quality of food in most large cities in Canada and the US. The best food I had in Portugal when I was there in June was Sushi (Algarve), Italian (Lisbon) and some interesting and tasty   Portuguese dishes in a restaurant at the Boavista golf course

Having said that. The Portuguese food we make at home blows away any of the food I ate in restaurants in mainland Portugal. It maybe because I'm from the Azores and the food there is different. Our spicy octopus stew, Spicy shrimp, Fejoada con chourico, Cozido cooked in the volcanic heat, Soupa de feijao, lapas with seaweed, favas cozidas com chourico, morcela (blood sausage) with pineapple and for desert some homemade massa sevada or malasadas. By the way the second best place to eat malasadas  is in Hawaii, which were brought to Hawaii back in the 19th century from the Acores and Madeira and now they even have a malasada day in Hawaii.

I'm spending my winters in the Algarve starting in 2023 so I'm hoping I'll be able to find some of these foods in some hidden away local restaurant. Otherwise, I'll be cooking at home 

No offense meant, just my personal opinion here... I hope time will prove me wrong, but for now I tend to gravitate toward other cuisines...
-@ctomac

I must say that our experience is similar. It is really complicated to get a nice salad either as a main or as a side salad. Also the vegetables are often (not always) over cooked. We know by now the few Portuguese restaurants we like, but generally - when going out - we prefer the international choices. Cooking at home is - in our opinion - a very good option because good quality vegetables (rarely quality 1) are widely available.

On the other hand, we are no experts and maybe we just didn't look long and hard enough.

Well, sure. As a rule, we can cook food I like better at home, too, vs. dining out, in America or Portugal. We never deep fry anything at home, though, for example, and once in a while that's interesting to have at a restaurant. Dining out every day would be a very different situation.

And indeed the produce is good. I've been discovering persimmons lately.

Something else I should mention, for those who are doing their own cooking and haven't tried this: vinha d'alho. Various brands, depending on the grocery, but always the same small jar. Red peppers, garlic, wine, salt. It's salty enough that you can't really use a lot.