First Full Day in Porto
The first full day in Porto began with a breakfast at the hotel’s breakfast buffet.
Restaurant: Forno Velho in Hotel CarrÍs Porto Ribeira
Price: €27.07/person
There were several types of cheese, none of which had a very strong odor (fortunate for someone like me who is a cheese newbie), several types of ham, and fruits. The ham and cheese were perfect for breakfast, not too heavy and very tasty. The variety meant that I can enjoy many combinations of cheese + ham. The fruits were excellent too; I bet they simply have very good produce in Europe, at least compared to in the U.S.
They also had a small selection of juices along with some pastries. I should have taken a picture of those stations too, but it was a bit too crowded.
Each pastry was also great; Portugal is famous for its egg tarts, and the one here definitely did not disappoint me. I bit into the egg tart expecting a taste similar to the Chinese dim sum egg tarts, but this Portuguese one had a gentler flavor and much softer outer shell of puff pastry. This was one amazing breakfast to begin our first full day!
After breakfast, I dropped my partner off at her conference venue and I enjoyed a nice stroll along the Douro River.
The homes and businesses looking out to the river are all small and cute!
Eventually, she had a lunch break and we were able to grab a quick lunch near the hotel.
Restaurant: Jimão Tapas e Vinhos (but their sign reads “Jimão Restaurante”)
Price: €31.30 for 2 people
We found a small restaurant not quite along the river but very close to it. It seemed very popular and we took the last available table. The first thing we ordered was ham and cheese (a recurring dish throughout the trip).
But before getting into the ham and cheese, the server provided this book along with the ham and cheese plate. I thought it was a book with all the famous cheeses in the world so we can learn about what we are eating.
But it was actually just a utensil holder. My partner made fun of me for thinking it’s a real book…
Anyway, the plate contained one type of ham, three types of cheese, two kinds of dried fruits, and some jam. The ham was a bit too stringy for me, with tough connective tissue that was hard to chew through. Additionally, one of the cheese was definitely not cheese newbie-friendly, with a relatively strong aroma. However, combining either of the dried fruits or jam with the cheese really helped ease the strong smell of the cheese, and I was able to enjoy all three types. Unfortunately, my partner had to go back to the conference after this dish, and could not enjoy the masterpiece that came next…
The peach caprese that came out next was my favorite dish from this restaurant. The fresh slices of mozzarella were extremely soft, and the tomatoes were juicy and not at all sour (again, European produce must be far superior to American ones). But the part that makes this dish so good is the slices of peach. I didn’t know caprese can be enhanced so much just by adding peach! Anyone who visits Porto MUST try this; it was a life-changing experience.
The final dish was the octopus rice, which was the dish I was looking forward to the most. I can smell the seafood-y ocean-y smell just by having this dish on the table. Unfortunately, this dish was quite a bit salty, and did not live up to my expectations. The octopus was soft and delicious, but the soup was just too salty. The rice was nothing special either. It was quite rough to the tongue and again, salty.
I asked for the bill, and left the restaurant (the server noticed that my partner has been gone for a while, and asked me if everything was ok between us lol). The staff was friendly, and it seemed like everyone spoke English very well (our server was probably a native English speaker too). Two out of three dishes were below expectations, but the peach caprese was excellent; I think if we had ordered the caprese + two different items, we would have enjoyed this place more.
I decided to walk around town while waiting for my partner to be done for the day. Many stores hang this fish (sardine?), but this store had the largest one I saw so far.
The streets here are mostly made of these stone bricks. I would never be able to drive in Porto, with the bumpy roads, many steep slopes and European manual cars! The fancy building visible in the back is Sé do Porto (Porto Cathedral). I went back to the hotel, met up with my partner and we then went to eat dinner.
Restaurant: Solar Moinho de Vento
Price: €38.00 + wine (1 glass) + tax + tip (for 2 people)
(I paid by cash and lost the receipt so I don’t know the exact price)
(price for each dish was obtained from their website)
We first ordered the ham and cheese to see if it’s any better than the ones we had for lunch. These hams were not at all stringy, and were full of flavor. Eating these with the bread (€1.50; bread is not free) was amazing. This was probably the best plate of ham we had in the trip. And surprisingly, the bread was super soft and delicious. I think of bread at restaurants as just something to keep customers busy while they wait for food, but the bread here was actually really good. Totally worth the €1.50.
The cheeses here had rather strong aromas as well. I’m sure these cheeses are really good cheeses, but we just aren’t used to it yet, making this plate difficult to finish. However, we discovered that eating the cheese with the pumpkin jam made it much easier to deal with the cheesy aroma, so it was not too bad. I’d recommend this dish for cheese connoisseurs, but not for cheese newbies like us.
I really wanted to try all kinds of seafood while in Porto, so we tried their fried sardines. It was delicious, and squeezing the lemon on top gave it a nice fresh flavor, despite being fried. It wasn’t life-changingly good, but it was an above average dish that’s really good for your body (fish oil).
We originally wanted to order the Filetes de Polvo (tender octopus filets), but they were sold out for the day. They instead offered us the Arroz de Polvo Malandrinho (octopus rice) (€15.00), which is usually a large portion that serves 2 people (€30.00), but they were really kind and offered a special smaller portion for us. This octopus rice was much better than the one I had for lunch, as it was not too salty. The rice was also done better, not being as rough on the tongue. The only problem I had was that I wished I ordered the larger portion instead!
We left the restaurant very satisfied. The food was amazing, and the staff were very friendly and attentive. Again, using English here was not at all an issue, as every staff knew English very well. If we ever visit Porto again, we’ll be sure to return to this restaurant!
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