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Portuguese
food
Eating out
in the Algarve is a delight. You'll find a wide selection of traditional
Portuguese food and International cuisine here. They are plenty of restaurants
to choose from, the Algarve being a popular tourist destination and also
because of the local Algarve peoples’ love of food.
Traditional
Portuguese restaurants tend to be relatively cheap by European standards, but
if you want the best value for money, then you need to head inland a few miles
away from the tourist areas. If you find a restaurant popular with the locals,
then you’re definitely on to a winner. If you go there at lunchtime, do what
the locals do and go for the dish of the day (Prato do Dia). You won’t go
far wrong and you’ll also get a glass of Portuguese wine or beer
thrown in for good measure..
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| Fuseta Holiday Home for Rent - Sardines, boiled potatoes, bread, olives and salad |
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| Fuseta Holiday Home for Rent - Sardines |
For more
international style cuisine, then the popular towns and resorts along the
coast, are where you’ll find most of these. You’ll be able to get everything
from Chinese, French, Mexican and Italian to the universally popular burger and
chips.
Food is a
very important element in Portuguese life. After kick-starting the day with a
bread roll and a cup of coffee, everything starts gearing up towards lunch
time. Lunch is an important meal. Staring round about noon, it is a relaxed
affair often going on for two hours or more. No grabbing a quick sandwich from
the supermarket in between phone calls here.
It is not
surprising, therefore that the evening meal is served quite late, around 8pm.
If you want to avoid the busy times at traditional Portuguese restaurants, then
eat early.
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| Fuseta Holiday Home for Rent - Suckling pig |
Portuguese
food – a simple style of cooking with great ingredients
The flavours
of Portuguese food are heavily influenced by the foods and spices that were
introduced by explorers and invaders over the centuries. These include onions,
garlic, figs, almonds and curry spices, cinnamon, paprika and the Brazilian
spice peri-peri. The Moors introduced fruits such as oranges and lemons.
Using these
ingredients, the seafood from coastal area and with their love of meat, the
Portuguese have developed their own style of cooking. It is generally simple
wholesome fare, using fresh ingredients and spiced in a subtle way, rather than
being hot and fiery.
Portuguese
food is not what you could call haute-cuisine, just simple and well
prepared. Perhaps this is why you won’t find many Portuguese restaurants
outside Portugal.
Because of
their love of meat and seafood, vegetarians are not best catered for in the
Algarve, despite the vegetables being incredibly tasty. This is changing slowly
because of the influence of the tourist and international restaurants score
better in this respect.
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| Fuseta Holiday Home for Rent - Cuttlefish |
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