Porto welcomes its visitors with the best of its rich cuisine. It is placed in an exceptional location, on the banks of the Duero and bathed by the Atlantic Ocean. That favours that in Porto you can eat good seafood, taste the best wines and delight your assorted pastries.

You can find restaurants to suit all tastes and all pockets. You can eat very well for only 5 € in its houses of meals, or in Michelin-starred restaurants, like The Yeatman.

One thing to consider when you sit in a restaurant is that the appetizer being served first, and without asking, is not a present. It has to be paid. This leads sometimes to misunderstandings.

Also, it's common to start a meal at any restaurant with a soup, preparing rich and in many different ways.

One of the areas with more choice of restaurants is Ribeira. It is a very lively place, from which you have the best views over the city. Here you can come to eat the grilled octopus or cod Chez Lapin and "Guts Oporto" da Filha da Mãe Preta.

In the Rua de Aviz there were many of the bookstores in the city. Today it is a hive of trends. Among the new art galleries we found the Book restaurant, where once was sited Livraria Aviz. You will see that all around this place reminds its past as a library.

Wine tourism is one of the best options for the city and its delicacies. To do this it is advisable to cross to the other side of the river, where we can find wineries like Vila Nova de Gai. On this side of the river you can also taste many recipes for cod, which are so famous throughout Portugal, El Bacalhoeiro (Avenida Diogo Leite, 74).

The Café Santiago has a good reputation in serving the best francesinhas, one classic of Oporto´s cuisine. You know that it is true when you see the big queues at their gates in order to get one in Rua Passos Manuel 226. Francesinha is a slice of bread filled with different types of sausage and meat, and covered with melted cheese and bathed in hot sauce. You can imagine that with these kind of ingredients it is a very heavy dish that will fill you with lots of energy; even more if you accompany it, as usual, with a few chips and a cold beer.

In order to know what products are popular in Porto, approach the Bolhao market. It was built in 1914, and it is one of the emblematic buildings to live day by day of tripeiros (gutties). Curious adjective, right? Citizens of Oporto are know tripeiros because, during preparations for the conquest of Ceuta in 1415, they had to turn to the issue all the meat and keep only the gut. Now, as tripas à moda do Porto is in the dish in town!

Francesinha by jfcfar| Tripas a moda do Porto by MariaCartas

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Any visit to Vigo comes with a premium – their cuisine. You can eat oysters in the Calle de la Pescadería, or go for wine and tapas in the Plaza de la Constitución (in the old quarter). But, there are also restaurants that produce good-quality dishes based on fine ingredients (particularly fish and seafood), capable of serving up some tasty, original dishes at affordable prices. We visited five establishments in the city and, after a highly edifying tour of La Brújula cannery in Ribadumia (just over an hour and a half from Vigo and Santiago de Compostela), we stumbled on a scrumptious eatery in nearby Oubiña.

The Othilio Bar 
The casual interior design in this restaurant (the bicycle presiding over the premises from above, the vintage racquets hanging on the wall) becomes passion and reliability in the kitchen and dining-room, ever efficient and impeccable. Hence, it is always full to bursting. And, not because customers enjoy seeing the twins, Carlos and Pablo, in action, but because their offerings are superb – their superlative marinated salmon nuggets, delicate sea bass carpaccio, Cambados scallop with griddled cardinal prawns, suckling lamb simmered for 10 hours… Top-notch products processed with modern techniques which Carlos learned while seconded to El Celler de Can Roca. And, serving up all this at affordable prices is a merit in itself. If they canvassed for a Michelin star, they would get one for sure. They have talent, know-how and motivation and, they are brothers – like the Rocas and Torres! But, then again, perhaps things should stay as is, so our budget will allow us to savour their fare more often.

María Manuela
Whoever likes feeling at home, while being able to relish things they would never be able to taste in their house, should definitely head for María Manuela. This tiny, elegant, warm wine bar serves up tapas that have earned the accolade, “Best Tapa in Vigo”, two years running and offers tastings of fine, interesting wines while pampering customers without smothering them. Must-trys include the cream of prawn and roast piquillo peppers with citrus reduction, Malagan anchovies, tuna tartare with avocado and apple, and chicken sachet with cheese custard (a round pie). Imagination, passion and good produce, often Galician but also sourced from other areas, in generous helpings. Plaza de Compostela, 31.

Detapaencepa
If you visit Vigo as a tourist, you’re not likely to go past this restaurant, as it is located in an area of office buildings a quarter of an hour from the old town. Yet it is well worth sitting down to a meal at Detapaencepa, either on the ground floor on high stools, or on the quieter first floor with low tables. It’s not hard to find something you like here, as they have acres of menu on which tapas are king. Dishes that come highly recommended include octopus with cachelo (potato) foam – lighter than the traditional a feira variety, as the potato has been creamed – smoked sardine and ratatouille pastry, a foie gras and apple mini-sandwich and steamed clams with olive oil. Take note, they have 300 types of wine, of which about ten can be ordered by the glass.

Las Barricas
One of the most popular restaurants in one of the most crowded leisure areas in Vigo – the Bao beaches. It’s common to encounter people queueing up to get their hands on their patties which, apart from being huge, are among the best in town. The patty fillings include octopus, cured pork sausage, beef, ham and field mushrooms, tuna fish, calamari and pork fillet. But, Las Barricas and their loyal customers are not in it just for the patties. They also offer a variety of other dishes, like an open sandwich of codfish and tomato preserve, octopus and tetilla cheese, and mini-burgers with Brie and caramelised onion, accompanied with ketchup and honey mustard sauce. Take note of the wine list, with numerous Galician varieties, notably a couple of Albariños made by the restaurant owner, Pablo Rey. The name, Las Barricas (The Casks), is well-earned. Should anyone be unimpressed by it, let them look down at the flooring, made of wooden wine crates.

O Rei Pescador
Eager to have some good fish or seafood, or Galician recipes based on Galician produce? Then head for O Rei Pescador, in the picturesque Plaza de Compostela, near the harbour and old quarter. There you can delight in their superlative Galician monkfish, which will melt in your mouth, as well as baked fish (turbot, sea bass, red pomfret…). You are bound to order a second helping of cuttlefish croquettes, as plump and crisp without as they are dense within, and praise the extremely tender and tasty Galician-style octopus known as pulpo a feira,in addition to the souba (tiny sardines), codfish and zamburiña (Galician scallops in a tomato fish sauce). You are also likely to enquire whether you can take home some of their scrumptious patties – bear in mind, though, that they contain a little cured pork sausage.

Fábrica La Brújula (Ribadumia)
If you head out of Vigo or Santiago de Compostela in search of a gourmet experience, why not do a spot of “canning tourism”? Drive to Ribadumia, a good half-an-hour from either city, and drop in on the flashy, Modernist La Brújula Canning Factory, which opened in early 2016. On your free tour of the cannery you will appreciate the work and pampering that goes into each can, learn jargon words like líquido de gobierno (a liquid which boosts storage life) and esmocado (the act of cutting and cleaning each piece) and you will be told that the longer the clams are canned, the tastier they become, even though this defies logic. The best way of testing this is by tasting them, so you should call to book a date and time and order a tasting session, which in this case is a pay service. With that flavour on your palate, you can then wander through the old quarter of neighbouring Cambados and/or visit one of the wineries in the area, which come under the Rías Baixas DO.

Casal do Umia (Oubiña)
Schedule an escape to the Solnés district – half-an-hour’s drive from either Vigo or Santiago de Compostela – to treat yourself to an octopus dish which is considered almost legendary. The venue is even frequented by the president of Galicia’s regional government or Xunta, so don’t underestimate this simple restaurant, set in a rural homestead in Ribadumia, the enclave where Mariano Rajoy spends his summers and goes for brisk walks. The homemade cuisine is cooked by Lourdes, who once worked as a pescantina (selling fish in the market), and served up by good old Emilio, a former fisherman. We had to wheedle the octopus recipe out of him – it includes potato, which turns dark from sharing the pot with the octopod, so it’s best to focus on its flavour and tenderness and serve it with a muxicu, a sort of special pulpo a feira, with hollow, jacket-fried potatoes stuffed with a refined sauce of allioli, octopus and La Vera red pepper. If you’ve got room for another dish, go for their patties filled with longfin tuna from La Brújula. To accompany the feast, order the wine they make themselves with grapes from their vineyards. For dessert, a cream caramel, without question. What consistency and flavour!

Text by Ferran Imedio of Gastronomistas.com

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