Neighborhood Restaurant

Last night we decided to try the local restaurant. It's a place we found just walking down the street. It's small and upstairs from someone's house. Thankfully the menu comes in Portugese and English. We had been meaning to try this place for some time, but it's summer here and that means festivals non-stop.

Almost every restaurant will start you off with bread and butter. What they don't tell you is that you will be charged. Usually this is a small fee, maybe 0.80 euro. It's listed on the menu, but they bring it whether you ask or not. If you are lucky, they have olives (my favorite). This place didn't, but no big deal. The bread was great.

The food takes a while to prepare here as everything is done fresh and prepared to order. As I don't eat meat, my only options are fish or other seafood. I have yet to see a "vegetarian" item on a menu (oh, wait, I have seen lots of cheese and veggie pizza). So I ordered the grilled cod. They also had a boiled cod, but I thought that with boiled potatoes was a lot more boiling than I was ready for.

The cod was delicious. Lots of garlic on top. One thing to get used to is that the fish still have the skin on. In the case of my fish, only on the bottom, and it was easy to peel off. They also leave the bones in. Again, no big deal, I have two hands and I can get them out myself. Nothing like a little work to get to your dinner. It can with a salad and boiled potatoes. Very tasty.

Ryan ordered steak. Since I don't prepare this at home, going out to eat gives him a chance to get some actual meat. From what he said his was delicious as well. His came with rice (and it really looked like a perfect 1/3 cup portion), french fries, and a fried egg. It must have been good since he ate it all.

After the meal, the chef, who speaks English talked with us for a bit. He was very friendly and easger to please his guests. He can special prepare us foods if we let him know in advance. This was a great dining experience and I know we will go back. You can't beat a place you can walk to. Next time, I'm drinking wine!