Boy, is this fish fresh!

Yippe!  We finally got to eat here after our anniversary plans were halted when they were closed last Monday night.

This is O Cachalote.  That is the word for whale in Portuguese, hence the giant whale sculpted coming out of the building.  Here is the view from the front of the restaurant.  It is hard to tell, but there is an ocean view.

They have redone the inside since the last time we were there in February.  I think they were in the process of doing these changes at that time.

You can see they have tons of wines.

Therefore, a very long wine list.  Mostly there are explanations of wines and things, but it is hard to really tell since it is in all Portuguese.

We settled on a local wine, from this island.

When were first walked in, we noticed this guy.

This fish was recently caught.  This is cherne, but in English that translates to grouper.

They bring their appetizers to the table.  I know I have mentioned this before, but I will state again that these are brought to the table and if you don't want it, send it back, because you will charged regardless.  Usually it is a small fee for bread and cheese, but some places serve more than others.  Here they have these amazing fried shrimp.

There is regular bread

Garlic bread

Olives, butter and a pepper sauce

And fresh goat cheese.

Now, that beautiful fish that was sitting there when we walked in was enough to make me want the fresh fish.  The server noticed me taking pictures, so they invited me up to watch the chef (and I think the owner) cut my fish.  I was impressed that he was wearing gloves.  Even though they should, I have found places in the US that do not wear gloves when they should be wearing them.

Look how big of a fish this is!

Here is what will ultimately be my dinner for the evening.

Since I was taking these pictures, the server also wanted to know if I would like to see where my dinner would be prepared.  Heck yes!  So I went into a side kitchen and was presented with a nice fire.  My fish would be placed in here to cook.

Then we were given the rest of the tour.  This is the back room which is the bar.

Ryan ordered the steak with a red wine sauce and bacon on top.

Here is my fish in it's final preparation.

What a beautiful piece of fish!

For dessert, we ordered 2 things and then shared.  This is the pineapple flambe.  It is covered with caramel.

Someone had just told me that the fried ice cream here is great, so we gave that a try too.

It was more like a cake layer on the outside, filled with ice cream.

Of course, coffee to end the meal.

QUESTIONS:  Have you ever ordered fish and been able to watch the cook cut it for you from the actual fish?  Just curious, I would think in some seaside cities this would be common.  Have you ever been invited into the kitchen because the staff noticed you taking pictures of everything?