Originally posted in 2011, Eating the Algarve had a major rewrite in 2022 and has since been updated annually.
Introduction 2026
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| Portugal |
Eating in the Algarve
For me food ranks high among the pleasures of travel and 'eating local' is important. In a very few countries eating local is a chore, endless mutton in Mongolia (there was no choice) or two kebabs a day in Iran (I hear menus have diversified since 2000) leap to mind, but I have a much longer list of lands, from China in the east to Cuba in the west where dinner is a delight. Portugal ranks highly amongst them.
We first visited the Algarve, Portugal’s southernmost region, in 1982, returned several times in the 1990s and have not missed a year this century (except 2020, the Baleful Year of Covid). From 2005-25 we based ourselves at Carvoeiro, east of the city of Portimão. This year we relocated to Alvor 12km further west, just the other side of Portimão. The reason? We are getting older and were finding Carvoeiro's steep, hilly terrain increasing hard work; Alvor is flatter. Both are smaller resorts and I admire the way the locals accept that, for a large part of the year, they are a minority in their own towns, yet deal calmly and honestly with the invading hordes. I love the October warmth, the sunshine sparkling on the sea, the bougainvillea trailing across freshly painted white villas, and. of course, I love the food.
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| Algarve featuring Carvoeiro and Alvor |
Portugal is often thought of as a Mediterranean country. Portuguese is a Latin language, the climate, particularly in the Algarve, is Mediterranean, as is the food. Tomatoes, garlic and peppers are important while olive oil is the essential cooking medium, condiment and salad dressing. All it lacks is a Mediterranean coast.
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| Warm(ish) and blue, but definitely the Atlantic Ocean, not the Mediterranean Sea |
The Algarve is a tourist region and thus prey to foreign influences - tapas and sangria from Spain, salmon from northern Europe and all-day English breakfast from somewhere. Between them Alvor and Carvoeiro also offer Chinese, Indian, Thai, Nepalese and Georgian cuisine of varying authenticity, not to mention an increasing number of vaguely named ‘Mediterranean’ restaurants, and so-called Italian restaurants many of which hardly reach beyond spag bol and American style pizza.
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| Carvoeiro |
I have nothing against any of these restaurants (except. perhaps, the fake Italians and the all-day English breakfast) but my interest is in Portuguese food with an Algarve accent. In the nineties and early noughties most restaurants could be described as 'tipico' and that is what they gave you, now it may be less than half. The problem for those wanting to eat Portuguese is not the 'ethnic' restaurants, they announce themselves clearly, it is the many apparently Portuguese restaurants who have, in part or entirely, given up on local food in favour of 'tourist food'. It feels like a betrayal, but I cannot blame them, restaurant owners have to make a living and if tourists ask for steak and chips, fried chicken breast, spaghetti Bolognese, or fish and chips, then that is what they will provide, and most, to be fair, do it very well.
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| Alvor harbour in the evening - a few fishing vessels among many pleasure craft. |
For those who really want local food, the clues are in the menus. The Algarve produces good pork, lamb, turkey and chicken, but not beef. A menu featuring a list of steaks signals a tourist restaurant, as does a sign saying 'roast lamb with mint sauce.' The Algarve is roughly rectangular with the Atlantic Ocean on two sides. Unsurprisingly, it is blessed with the freshest of fish. A 'tipico' restaurant's menu will offer more fish mains than meat mains, but none of them will be 'fish and chips', and they will not call squid 'calamari' and serve it breaded and fried in strips or rings.
Foods from the sea are so important to the Algarve diet that the rest of this post is dedicated to them. There is a second post for everything else.
Peixe - Fish
Sardinha. Sardines are the right place to start, they are available in (almost) every restaurant in the Algarve and are often the cheapest main course.
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| Sardines, Dona Barca 2024 |
Since 1982 we have been making what has become a pilgrimage to the Algarve’s second city of Portimão to eat sardines. The scruffy trestle tables
on the dock have long been tidied up, but ducking under an arch from where they
used to be brings you to a small square where Dona Barca, an old-style
restaurant, which retained its communal tables (until Covid) grills fish in the open air. Since we discovered
it with Brian and Hilary in 2002(ish) we have never felt the need to go
elsewhere for our sardines.
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| Sardines at Dona Barca, Portimão, 2004 Brian, Hilary, their daughter Lauren and me, with Lynne behind the camera |
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| Sardina Pilchardus Photo: Gervais et Boulart Pub. Dom. |
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| Sardines in Dona Barca, Portimão, 2026 Lynne included this time (a helpful waiter behind the camera) - no Lauren, she lives in Hong Kong |
It is a treat we have often shared with friends, usually Brian and Hilary but with several others at various times. Dona Barca is inexpensive, the food is excellent (they have a full menu, it’s not just sardines) and it is one of the very few restaurants we visit with Portuguese customers as well as tourists.
I should also mention sardine paté. These little tins of loveliness are widely available and often part of a restaurant's 'cover' (see part 2). We often eat it for lunch with a salad, while Brian likes it for breakfast.
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| Sardine Paté |
The paté is produced and canned in Olhão just east of Faro and it come with or without piri piri (we prefer it with). Taking a supply home means we can have reminders of Portugal whenever they are needed.
Robalo e Dourado. Sea Bass and Sea Bream are also ubiquitous if slightly more expensive. The tourist-driven fashion of late is to fillet them, but they used to be plated whole....
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| European Sea Bass Photo:Miguel Mendez used under CC BY 2.0 |
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| Robalo, Casa Palmeira, Carvoeiro 2023 |
....and thankfully still are at Casa Palmeira in Carvoeiro.
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| Dourado, Casa Palmeira, Carvoeiro 2023 |
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| Dourado Photo:Amada44 used under CC BY-SA 3.0 |
In 2025 I noticed menus in Carvoeiro offering Dourada and/or Robalo, while also offering 'fillet of Dourada/Robala' as a separate item, This seems a reasonable compromise, protecting those who suffer conniptions on seeing a fish head on their plate, its dulled eye staring reproachfully up at them, while allowing more robust dinners to carry on as before.
Linguado. Sole used to be on most menus, then disappeared and is now making a come back. Occasionally it appears as sole veronique, but more often in simple Portuguese style. This year (2026) I chose mine from the fish reclining on ice outside Zé Morgadinho's in Alvor...
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| Fish selection Zé Morgadinho, Alvor 2026 My sole has already been removed from its place between the sea bass, top right and the turbot below. Lynne ate two of the cuttlefish, metal tray bottom right |
...and it was taken away gutted and grilled.
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| Dover sole Hans Hillewaert used under CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Sole, ready for eating, Zé Morgadinho, Alvor 2026 |
Perfectly cooked and served with a boiled potatoes and salad, it was as fine a fish as has every faced a knife and fork. I had noticed that sole cost half as much again per kilo as sea bass and sea bream, but I had not realised how big a fish I had selected. It cost rather more than I expected, but it was worth it. Zé Morgadinho's and Dona Barca where we eat our sardines, appear to be under the same management. Both are old-fashioned hardcore Portuguese fish restaurants refreshingly unafraid to offer tourists fine fish simply cooked.
Tamboril. The Monkfish may be the ugliest fish in the sea. On a fisher-monger's slab it is mainly face - and a face only a mother monkfish could love - with a tail as an afterthought.
With the head removed and the tail skinned a substantial slab of meat remains. There is a membrane that should be removed (though that does not always happen) and the tail is then cooked whole, or filleted and cut into several sizable medallions. This year (2026) at the Casa da Maré in Alvor I chose Espetada de Tamboril c/ Camarão Monkfish Kebab with prawns.
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| Monkfish and prawn kebab, Casa da Maré, Alvor 2026 The restaurant is by the harbour, but I am sitting in front of a picture |
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| European Monkfish Photo: Libby Keatly used under CC BY 4.0 |
The big cubes of fish were soft, luscious and perfectly cooked, as was everything else on the skewer, prawns, onions and more. It is a clever trick when everything has to be skewered at the same time. The Casa da Maré is nicely situated with a view of the harbour, but it is the standard of cooking that ensures it is full to bursting every evening, even in in mid-October.
Espadarte. We both like an occasional swordfish steak, though sometimes they can be a touch dry. It is a meaty fish and Lynne enjoyed her swordfish in A Galeria in Carvoeiro, though presentation does not appear to be the restaurant's greatest strength.
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| Swordfish, A Galeria, Carvoeiro 2025 |
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| Swordfish Photo: Naturalis Biodiversity Center Pub Dom |
At lunch at the Atlântida, on the beach at Alvor, they offered an Espadarte Algarvia. There is no agreed definition of ‘Algarvia’ or ‘Algarve style’ but I expected something with tomatoes, peppers and garlic. I was wrong about that.
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| Swordfish with orange and almonds, Restaurante Atlântida, Alvor 2022 |
Oranges and almonds are important local products, but I was not prepared for a slab of fish to be doused in orange (juice and pulp) and sprinkled with toasted almonds. ‘Oranges and fish!' I thought, 'I have made a terrible mistake!’ But I was wrong about that, too, it was the best plate of food I ate in our 2022 visit.
In 2023 we visited Madeira, a Portuguese island 700km out in the Atlantic. There they catch tonnes of black scabbard fish which are dramatic to look at but make dullish eating. The locals pop a fillet of scabbard fish onto a slab of mashed potato, top it with one of their small Madeirense bananas and then cover all in locally grown passion fruit, thus turning a forgetable fish into a memorable dinner. That gave me two reasons to reassess my feelings about fish and fruit.
We lunched at the Atlântida at the suggestion of my (distant) cousin Ricky, long- time Algarve resident, fluent Portuguese speaker and now a Portuguese citizen. See Finding a Long Lost Cousin.
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| Ricky and me, Restaurante Atlântida, Alvor 2022 |
Ensopado de Enguia. Spotting clues in the menu is one way of avoiding tourist restaurants (should you wish to), another way is to drive a few kilometres inland where there are (almost) no tourists (except, of course, yourself and companion(s)). Inevitably, we tend to eat at restaurants along the coastal strip where the clientele is mostly foreign tourists. They might be largely 'tipico' but survival demands they keep an eye on what appeals to the north European palate, and generally that does not include eels.
In 2023 Ricky took us to her village restaurant. At A Oficina, she told us, they feed local workers on weekday lunchtime and on Sundays (when we visited) people drive up from Portimão (the nearest city) for 'country food'. Wherever the clientele came from, they were overwhelmingly Portuguese
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| A Oficina, 2023, Mexilhoeira Grande |
A Oficina gave us access to several dishes unlikely to appear on coastal strip menus, and I could not resist trying ensopado de enguia, eel stew. Disks of perfectly cooked eel floated in a somewhat rustic sauce consisting largely of blitzed tomatoes strongly flavoured with coriander. It was accompanied by a plate of chips and fried bread, which would have been perfect if I spent my day labouring in the fields, but for an idle so-and-so like me, was more carbohydrate than I needed. The eel, though was delicious, the white, delicately flavoured flesh falling willingly from the bone.
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| Eel stew, A Oficina, Mexilhoeira Grande, 2023 |
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| European eel GerardM used under CC BY SA 3.0 |
Bacalhau. The Portuguese love affair with salt cod started over 400 years ago and continues to this day, even in the Algarve. However, for me the Algarve is about fresh fish, and Bacalhau feels more at home in the Alentejo, which has much less coastline and a different culinary tradition. So, for Bacalhau dishes visit The Alentejo: Eating and Drinking 2024.
Lula, Choco, Polvo - Squid, Cuttlefish, Octopus. Not Really Fish, Not Really Shellfish
Lula. Squid has long been a favourite of both of us. They were disappearing from menus a couple of years ago, but I am glad to see they are now making a recovery. In 2022, 23 and (for Lynne) 24 and 25 the Bela Rosa in Carvoeiro was the chosen venue for squid.
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| Squid at the Bela Rosa, Carvoeiro, 2022 |
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| European squid Photo:Hans Hillewaert used under CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Perfecting squid is tricky and Bela Rosa are doing well enough to encourage our repeated return, but the very finest squid we have eaten was served at Maria's, a breath of fresh air, proper Portugal and sensible pricing on the beach beyond the tourist wonderland of Vale de Lobo/Quinta da Largo. After several decades of sterling service Maria sold up. The restaurant is still there, the name is unchanged, but the prices soared under management fully invested in the creeping Californication of the Algarve.
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| The good old days at Maria's, Quinta do Largo, 2011 Fish is always best eaten within sight of the sea |
There is another style of squid dish that involves many small squid, often carefully stuffed and sometimes served in their own ink, as at Cozinha da Avó (Grandma's Kitchen) in Carvoeiro in 2024.
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| Squids, Cozinha da Avó, Carvoeiro 2024 |
Lynne is not keen on squids like this and it is not always clear which your are ordering, though these are usually sold as 'Algarve style' or 'house style'.
Choco. Cuttlefish are closely related to squid, and, much as she enjoys squid Lynne is always keen to choose cuttlefish when it appears on a menus. This year (2026) it not only appeared on the menu at Zé Morgadinho in Alvor, it also appeared on the ice tray at the entrance. (see under sole).
'With or without ink?" asked the waiter when Lynne made her order. After a slight pause she said "With," "Are you sure?" "Yes." "Very sure?" "Well, I have eaten them without but never with so I should try it." Relieved, I think, to find he was not talking to a cuttlefish novice, the waiter nodded and wrote it down.
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| Lynne's inky brace of cuttlefish, Zé Morgadinho, Alvor 2026 |
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| Common cuttlefish Photo: Diego Delso used under CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Cuttlefish have a distinct and somewhat stronger flavour than squid, further intensified by the ink. Lynne was enjoying them very much even when I pointed out that her teeth had gone black and she appeared to be wearing black lipstick. She had an ineffectual wipe, and then managed to smear enough ink over her face to look like she had gone three rounds with a Gestetner printer (for those of us old enough to remember the Gestetner). The waiter stepped in with additional napkins and order was soon restored.
Polvo. We regularly ate octopus, more precisely, polvo à lagareiro in Martins Grill by the beach in Carvoeiro. Sadly Jan (Martins) Zegers died in 2019, Martins Grill closed soon after and octopus all but vanished in tourist orientated restaurants. 2025 saw a superabundance of octopuses in the waters around Devon and Cornwall, and as my fellow countryman and women have never warmed to their mild flavour and sumptuous texture, octopuses were exported to southern Europe in vast quantities. This may account for their sudden appearance on many menus in Carvoeiro.
In 2025, while Lynne ate her squid in Bela Rosa, I went for the octopus from the specials board. It was the best polvo à lagareiro I have eaten. A lagareiro is a style of cooking that involves generous application of olive oil during the roasting phase and is perfect for octopus.
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| Polvo à lagareiro, Bela Rosa, Carvoeiro 2025 |
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| The common octopus Photo: Albert Kok used under CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Marisco - Shellfish
Amêijoas. Clams have always been important in Portugal but the last twenty years have seen serious over-fishing. Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato, clams in a garlicky broth, was once a cheap starter, it still appears on menus but now costs more than most main courses.
It is possible to find a bag of fresh clams at a reasonable price in a supermarket and cook them at home. I have never essayed Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato but I do a fair Amêijoas marinière to mess with a classic and mix languages.
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| Clams marinière frites |
Búzios. Whelks were once a popular street food in Victorian London but are no longer. The internet tells me there are still plenty of places where you can buy a bag of whelks, but I have never seen them in the UK. Buccinum undatum is the most common food whelk in the north east Atlantic, but Londoners ate the smaller 'dog whelks' Nucella lapillus.
The name 'whelk' is applied to several carnivorous sea snail species with swirling, tapered shell. My first encounter with them was in France as part of a fruit de mere. They were quite large with little flavour but a texture awkwardly poised between soft and rubbery that did not invite chewing. I may have eaten eels when visiting A Oficinia in 2023, but our first visit was with Ricky and her (now sadly, late) husband Zeka in 2014. He ordered feijão cozido com búzios (bean stew with whelks) and as I love Portuguese bean stews, I thought I would give it a go, too. I enjoyed the bean stew, and the whelks, cut small, did not interfere with my enjoyment - nor add anything to it. This was two years after the first version of this post, but I had not then started updates. This year (2026) when browsing menus prior to our visit to Alvor I saw the same dish was available in Restaurant Capacho. I had to go and try it.
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| Bean stew with whelks, Capacho , Alvor 2026 |
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| Buccinum Undatum Photo: Bernard Picton used under CC BY 4.0 |
It was well done, but the beans were haricots, larger than those in A Oficinia, and the rice was served separately, whereas I think it was cooked in the stew last time. I preferred smaller beans and integral rice, but that is my taste, not a criticism of Capacho. The whelks, again cut small, offered the only resistance to the teeth in the whole dish, but otherwise made no more contribution than last time. I am glad I went and checked it out, I would happily go back to Capacho but not to eat whelks, I think I have given them a decent enough go for one lifetime. And perhaps that was how Londoners felt when alternative street foods started to appear.
Camarão. Prawns used to appear more in the starters section than in main courses, except of course in Arroz de Marisco (see below).
More than 20 yeasr ago, when we still ate three courses, I used to enjoy the prawns piri piri starter at Retiro dos Indios outside Val de Lobo. The restaurant survives to this day, but I have no idea what is on the current menu. In 2025 three prawn dishes appeared as main courses in the Bela Rosa in Carvoeiro, prawns piri piri, prawns 'house style' and shrimp curry - though they were all Camarão on the Portuguese menu.
I chose the curry...
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| Prawn curry, Bela Rosa, Carvoeiro, 2025 |
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| Common prawn Photo: Eltrusko25 Pub Dom |
...it was all right but the chilli could have been hotter and the rest of the spicing was far too muted. And as for it being a shrimp curry, no these were (I am happy to say) prawns. British English makes a distinction between prawns and their much smaller cousins, shrimps. Americans seem to use 'shrimp' for all such crustaceans regardless of size, even for tiger prawns. Perhaps Bella Rosa found their curry recipe on an American website.
Arroz de Marisco. Seafood rice, a particular favourite of mine, is usually a dish for two. First comes the ritual tying on of the bib - this is going to be a messy business - and then a large earthenware bowl is placed on the table and the waiter gives it a judicious stir.
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| Arroz con Marisco, Casa Palmeira, Carvoeiro, 2023 |
He then hands over the spoon and you serve yourself a portion of rice, with clams, prawns, mussels, cracked crabs legs, langoustine and whatever else had been in the market that day. Fingers are required to liberate tasty morsels from shells - the crab legs sometimes require force - and it all gets wonderfully messy. It can also demand some concentration!
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| I've found anothrter clam! Casa Palmeira, Carvoeiro 2025 |
Tasty though the morsels may be, I derive as much pleasure from the sauce and the rice that has been soaked in it as I do shellfish, indeed the whole process and the whole dish is a delight.
When all has been consumed it is time to sit back and relax. Although I like hands-on eating, I also enjoy washing my hands thoroughly when it is all over.
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| And relax, Casa Palmeira, Carvoeiro 2025 |
Cataplana Dishes. A cataplana is not a little known shellfish, but a cooking vessel unique to the Algarve. It consists of a pair of hinged copper shells which enclose the ingredients sealing in all the moisture and all the flavour. It can also be put on the heat either
way up. A fish cataplana, usually serving two, will contain several
pieces of fish - whatever is available that day - and, typically, prawns and mussels. The
smell when your cataplana is opened at the table is memorable.
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| Cataplana, Vimar, Carvoeiro 2011 |
The cataplana in the picture was expertly cooked, but I doubt the slab of salmon among the fish is local, and nor are the New Zealand green-lipped mussels at the front. Local produce is excellent and promoting it is even more important now
than it was in 2011.
Another dish traditionally cooked in a cataplana is pork and clams, and in 2022 I enjoyed this in an individual cataplana at the Casa Algarvia in Carvoeiro. This apparently strange combination was made in the Algarve, but undoubtedly designed in heaven.
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| Pork and clams in a cataplana, Casa Algarvia, Carvoeiro. 2022 |
And having mentioned pork, the section of Food from the Sea comes to an end. Part 2: Everything Else will follow shortly.
The Algarve: Delights and Depredations (2010)
Mexilhoeira Grande and a Long Lost Cousin (2013)
The West Coast (2013)
Lagos (2014)
Castro Marim and Vila Real do Santo António (2015)
The Boxes of Carvoeiro (2016)
Mertola and Alcoutim: Strongholds by the Guadiana River (2017) - Also under Alentejo
Silves, Former Capital of the Algarve (2018)
Drinking the Algarve (2022)
Carvoeiro (2025)
Eating the Algarve Part 1: Food from the Sea (2026)
