I love food. I love trying new food. I just might be the tall, skinny, hairy version of Andrew Zimmern. With that being said, it pains me to admit that I wasn’t a huge fan of Portuguese cuisine. My experience was limited since I was only there for a week and only visited three cities, but I think I was fortunate enough to try a good deal of traditional Portuguese plates.

It wasn’t that the food wasn’t good, it was. It just wasn’t anything I’d get excited about. You won’t hear me craving bacalhau à Brás anytime soon – cod, onion, potato, and egg. It just doesn’t make my ears perk up. I tried to be adventurous and branch out in hopes I’d find something extraordinary, but no luck.

I tried tripe, prepared with beans in some type of orangish-red sauce. It was better than other tripe dishes I’ve had and the texture was a bit more pleasing, but the small sample plate that me and Diego shared was still quite enough. I’m not sure if I will ever love tripe.

Another attempt was at Me and Diego’s favorite restaurant, SaborXpresso, in Porto. This place was a bit more modern than the other places we ate, in ambiance and menu selection. I ordered the rabbit, which turned out to be rabbit vertebrae. The flavor was nice and hearty, but it still lacked that “WOW” factor. Although, out of all the dishes we tried while in Portugal, this was probably my favorite. Maybe because it made me feel slightly like Hannibal Lector seeing vertebrae on my plate.



So the traditional plates really didn’t do it for me, but all that can be overlooked by the simple fact that Portugal had the best pastries that I’ve ever eaten. And I’ve eaten some pastries in my day. Without exaggerating, I feel safe saying that me and Diego stopped at an average of six cafes a day to try different pastries and take an espresso. Absolutely amazing. Flaky, sweet, crunchy, crispy…they have it all. From the rich, chocolaty deliciousness of the brigadeiro to the reigning king of pastries, the pastéis de Belém, you can’t go wrong.

The pastéis de Belém deserves it’s own paragraph. These things are incredible and I dare you to try to eat just one. You can spot the proper cafe because there will be a queue outside regardless of the weather or day. Oh, and the smell of freshly baked pastries. Don’t be alarmed though, the line moves very swiftly and before you know it, you will be crunching through the outside of a warm, flaky, crisp pastry and enjoying a mouth full of delicious, gooey, mildy sweet custard. If it sounds like I just described an orgasm in your mouth then good, because that is exactly what it is. And you’re going to want multiple.

And if that magical mouthgasm wasn’t enough to quell your hunger for baked goods, the pastry runner up is right down the road…and it’s made with beer. Yes, the pastéis de cerveja. Just when you thought it was safe to walk back to catch the 15 to Lisbon proper, this cafe pops up on your right with the allure of pastries made with beer. You have to stop. These pastries are crispier on the outside and have a strange filling that resembles the texture of the inside of a pecan pie. And the beer? Well despite being made with it, there is only the slightest hint of hops towards the end of a bite…sweet, delicious, pastry goodness. Heaven.



I could go on and on about the pastries all day except that I’d be tempted to buy a plane ticket just to indulge in baked gluttony.

Verdict: Portugal is all about the pastry shops. Skip lunch, skip dinner, stick to the sweet stuff.