Please note, The Algarve is now closed. Time Out Food & Drink editors, May 2016.
The Algarve region is hardly renowned for setting culinary pulses racing. However, stray from the tourist track and you’ll discover beautifully prepared fish and seafood laced with spices that hark back to the Moorish occupation. A blue and white tiled mural on the wall of the restaurant illustrates this lesser-known side of the Algarve. The menu is short, but the dozen or so choices showcase southern Portuguese classics, including Alentejo-style pork with clams, and cataplanas (stews served in clam-shaped enclosed copper dishes). For a starter we extended our complimentary bread and olives with a round azeitão – a fabulously stinky sheep’s milk cheese that’s made just outside Lisbon. Next up was a fairly priced seafood platter of lobster tail, king prawns, green-lipped mussels and clams, with a side of piri-piri sauce. Although both courses were memorable, the high point of the evening was an own-made chocolate mousse containing almond essence: so delicious we thanked the chef in person.