Algarve Cuisine

Facing the Atlantic, the Portuguese have always been a nation of seafarers and so it is not surprising that the Algarve is best known for its fresh seafoods - whole lobster and crawfish, dressed crabs, all sorts of prawns, tuna and swordfish steaks, big sea bream, sea bass and succulent sole.

Freshness is all important here and fish must have come out of the sea that same day. You will be able to tell because the best restaurants will either bring the uncooked fish to your table on a platter for examination before ordering, or it will be on display behind glass in a cooler. Look for clear eyes and shiny flesh.

National & Local Specialities

Cataplana is an Algarve seafood speciality. It can be made with various ingredients, but the most usual are clams or mussels with strips of bacon or pieces of pork cooked with spiced sausage (chouriço), garlic, onions and olive oil. Cataplana takes its name from the tightly closing, clam-shaped, copper pan in which the ingredients are pressure-cooked.

Bacalhau is practically the national food of Portugal. It's dried, salted cod, which may sound unappetising, but the Portuguese say they have a different bacalhau recipe for every day of the year. Bacalhau à Brás with potatoes, eggs, onion and garlic is a firm favourite among the Portuguese and much appreciated by visitors. Arroz de Marisco is a helping of mixed seafood served with rice. It is usually well liked by visitors. Stuffed squid (lulas recheadas) has a more limited appeal.

Fish & Seafood

If you like fish but are worried about the bones, there are several choices to salivate over. Tuna (atum) is a dark-fleshed fish usually served with fried onions, but usually only available fresh in spring and early summer. Frozen tuna is always available but freezing dries it and destroys the taste. Swordfish (peixe espadarte) is a real treat served as a cutlet. Sea Bass (robalo), has a firm white flesh and, depending on size, comes as a steak or cooked whole. It is prized by the best hotel restaurants and is also available, caught by local anglers, at some simple beach bars.

Sardines (sardinhas) have always been an Algarve staple. They are only really good in summer when they are plump and oily. Charcoal-grilled is the only way to have them cooked. They usually come with potatoes and salad. To eat them, don't fiddle about with your knife and fork - do it the Algarve way: use your fingers. Here's how: Place a sardine on a piece of bread; Pick up the bread and nibble at the flesh from the tail to the gills; Take care not to eat the innards which taste bitter; Turn over and repeat.

Poultry & Meat

Charcoal-grilled chicken (frango no churrasco) is another Algarve favourite and many like it cooked with hot piri-piri sauce. In other countries, chicken is often boring and bland. In the Algarve it is always really tasty. It's other great virtue is that it is always cheap. Inevitably it will come with chips. Sunday lunchtime, the local connoisseurs of charcoal-grilled chicken head with their families to one of two places: the road up to Monchique and Fóia, or around Guia.

Pork is the meat most relished by the Algarveans and it is the most consistently good. It comes as chops (costeletas de porco), as a fillet (lombo), sliced (febras) or spare ribs (entrecosto). Unless you fancy pigs ears and other unspeakable parts of the anatomy, avoid the locally popular concoction called Cozido á Portuguesa.

Lamb is served as chops or in a Portuguese stew called Caldeirada de Cabrito which includes potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, onions and garlic and which is often spiced up with piri-piri sauce. You can always ask for more piri-piri if it is not spiced up enough.

Beef in Portuguese restaurants may not be quite what you expect. Prior to cooking, the beef is not hung or prepared as elsewhere and thus it often arrives at the table tough and disappointing to the taste buds. Steaks are best ordered only in restaurants with a reputation for good fillets.

Desserts & Cheeses

For afters, the choice does not usually run beyond chocolate mousse, créme caramel (pudim flan), rice pudding (arroz doce), almond tart (tarte de amêndoa), cream cake (tarte de natas) or Olá ice cream.

Of the Portuguese cheeses other than fresh goat's cheese, you might like to try soft Queijo da Serra, which comes from the Serra da Estrela, Portugal's highest mountains, and cheddar-like Queijo da Ilha from the Azores.

For information about the Algarve and surrounding area, see our Algarve information page.