Restaurants

The hordes of beer-swigging, football-crazed men filling the tables at Grelha D’Ouro on our visit were clearly not put off by the rustic whitewashed decor and worn-out floor tiles of this café-restaurant. No one else seemed to mind the kerfuffle (or the sharp smell of aftershave); groups of men tucked into colossal portions of grilled sea bass and chilli squid, stopping only to glance up occasionally at the footie on the TV. Daily specials are written solely in Portuguese, so the waitress had to look up the English word for ‘cordeiro’ (lamb). Said lamb was roasted to falling-apart perfection. It came well seasoned, and served with the traditional carb-combo of rice and potatoes. A seafood feijoada was large enough for two, packed with mussels, clams, squid and prawns of all sizes, but it had few similarities to its famous Brazilian counterpart, using creamy soft cannellini beans instead of the more traditional black beans. The dining room and basement games room are both off-limits during the day, but the waitress assured us that some rowdy table football takes place downstairs in the evening.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2008