Food In Porto

Hallo, Guten Morgen!  We're in Germany for the time being.  You Know Who had to You Know What (Ralph/work in case you're confused), so instead of sitting at home I figured I would join him.  Bonding!  I'm in the process of online shopping being productive and going through the last few Porto pictures.  Mostly are on my iPhone, so don't expect any spectacular photography skills, but I do want to talk about some of the delicious food we had there.

As I mentioned in my previous Porto post, the city is quite hilly.  Walking up and down all those hills left us parched.  Fortunately for us, our lunch spot served up a delicious liter of sangria.  

Figuring we should supplement with some food, Ralph enjoyed a nice quiche and salad, and I had a vegan baguette to eat.  

Now, here is where we're going to take a second and talk about bread.  One would think Italy would be able to make a decent loaf of bread.  I'm here to inform you that that is very far from the truth.  Italian bread sucks.  French bread, on the other hand, is out of this world good.  Well, apparently Porto takes their bread making lessons from the French because the bread was also pretty phenomenal.  I think it says a lot about a location when we have to look forward to visiting other countries because the bread might be better.  Or maybe that says a lot about us?…either way.  

I should note that Porto did have this one particular bread that was a little odd and dense and made from something bizarre, but we'll let that slide because all of the other types were delicious.  

Carrying on...

I quickly fell in love with all the rooster stuff around town, and after seeing this table cloth on our dinner table I decided I should probably own one too.  Luckily, it was only two euros at the market the next day.  We also picked up a brightly painted rooster figurine from a little store simply because I thought it was awesome.  

Only now, while writing this, did I have the great idea to research what the chicken actually means.  Turns out it's one of the national symbols of Portugal, signifying honesty, integrity, and trust.  (I really should start researching places before I visit them.)  They say you should have one in your house for good luck.  Well, I guess Ralph needs start thanking me for having a hankering for weird things.  We wouldn't want to have an unlucky house, now would we?  

Selfies are so awkward.  Anyway, on to dinner.  

We went to the restaurant our apartment host recommended and it was delicious!  It's a little hole in the wall and we arrived right as they were preparing the dishes for dinner.  We first enjoyed some amazing goat cheese.  One little pat was plain, and the other had this garlic tomato pepper sauce on it.  Side note:  you can see that weird bread I was talking about in the top left corner of the ^ picture.  

Since they weren't quite ready to take our order yet, we got some wine and olives.  While we were waiting, they called us back to the kitchen to show us what they were cooking.  They had lots of pots simmering on the stove and we got to peek inside all of them.  We had the choice of fish, veal stew, or grilled meat, and the sides were different vegetables, rice, and salad.  

Typically the portions are smaller so we both ordered a meat.  We got SO much food!  Ralph ended up ordering the veal stew and I got the fish.  One plate could have easily fed both of us.  We ate and ate and ate, and I felt like the food just kept multiplying.    

I really liked the side of rice and vegetables we got.  We were served a huge bowl and try as we might, we couldn't possibly eat it all.  

This was my first of many plates of fish and vegetables.  I think I gained about 150 lbs that meal.  As the night went on, more locals filled the space and the two of us had a nice time chatting, trying to stuff more food in our bellies, and people watching.  

Our food was just as good on the second day…but I only took three pictures.  

We were going to order a bottle of the Scion, but it was too cheap for us.  

After doing some port tastings we got a regular lunch of sammies.  I had some version of a club, which was actually quite delicious, and Ralph had the francesinha. 

A francesinha is a sandwich that originated in Porto.  It has ham and steak (and probably a few other items, I don't remember) and it's covered in cheese and a tomato beer sauce.  The Hubs said it was good, but not something he would want to eat every day, simply because it's so heavy.  

For the final night, we went to another really good restaurant right beside the one we went to the first night (I can't remember what it was called).  We got a random assortment of foods, all homemade and yummy, and stuff like tomato and feta salad, cream of zucchini soup, and the always delicious plate of meat.  They also had a good selection of beer, which was a pleasant change from the port.  

I think it's safe to say that as long as we are well fed, the two of us will enjoy our trip.  Will we remember the stuff we saw in the museum?  Probably not, but if the food was good in the food court, we'll be able to tell you all about it! 

So that's all from our food adventures in Porto.  The Hubs finishes up his work here in Germany this afternoon and we'll be making our way back to Italy soon.  After posting all these food pics, I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of wursts and schnitzels we can scrounge up on our ride back home.