HEADY SWIRL OF PORTUGUESE FLAVOURS,
Hearty selections for those craving more than piri piri chicken and custard tarts
What looks like a tracery chimney soars against a vast sky with puffy clouds. Cypress trees and whitewashed buildings sit below. Years of sunlight have bleached the image’s colours to whites, mottled pinks and green-greys: it’s like a postcard from long ago and far away.
Beside the faded picture in Algarve Restaurant’s vestibule are notices for the Portuguese Club and information about World Cup soccer brackets. They get a quick glance before we open the door marked “restaurant” (the other is marked “bar”). The tables are set: no one’s here. We return after asking the barkeep about supper; she soon appears with menus.
Pineapple Sumol, a Portuguese pop ($1.55), and ginger ale ($1.33) in hand, we review the one-page menu. The list may be short, but it’s studded with classics. All but two feature fish or seafood (clams, mussels, salmon, squid); bacalhau (salt cod, pronounced “ba-ca-leeow”) comes several ways — unsurprising: they say the Portuguese have a different bacalhau recipe for each day of the year. Pork and steak satisfy those who want turf, not surf. I asked about personal favourites: grilled sardines can be available with notice; bifana (pork) and Prego (beef) sandwiches are easily whipped up. The menu is bilingual, but there’s little detail for the uninitiated. No matter — our server filled in the gaps.
Portuguese cookery features abundant, inexpensive ingredients (beans, eggs, pork, potatoes, seafood) prepared in unfussy ways (boiled, grilled, sautéed etc.). Flavours are familiarly Mediterranean with lashings of olive oil, pours of wine, dustings of paprika and smashings of garlic. Occasional fleeting zings of heat aren’t taxing. Coriander leaf often appears, but not at Algarve.
Telltale scents of wine, olive oil and garlic float in the air as we sit in the oystercoloured room. There’s seating for about 40 at dappled stone tables; salt and pepper shakers sit with olive oil and vinegar bottles. The back wall features a mural of a fishing boat on turquoise water while mini surfboards sit on a cabinet and small pictures line the walls. My friend feels the welcoming, informal charm she experienced at restaurants in rural Portugal.
Our meal started by pinching and picking plump meat from our Mexilhões à Espanhola/Spanish-style Mussels ($18) and Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato/Clams in Wine and Garlic ($20). Delicately seasoned tomato-wine broth with onions and bell peppers surrounded the mussels. Named after Bulhão Pato, a 19th-century poet and gourmet, the clams were a little gritty, but there was more than a small joy in sopping up their golden liquor with beautiful bread.
The Bacalhau à Independência/Independence Cod ($16) balanced salty and savoury-sweet flavours. A couple of pin bones aside, the boiled fillet’s pearlescent flesh was moist and flaky. It was smothered in tomatoes, bell peppers and onions, and seated on olive oil-drizzled fried potato rounds.
A tumble of sautéed tender pork loin pieces lay on fried chunked potatoes for the Carne de Porco à Alentejana/Alentejo Pork with Clams ($16). The meat’s wine, garlic and paprika marinade contrasted the salty-sharp minced giardiniera (pickled vegetables) strewn over top. The clams were just as plump and tender as in our starter.
To finish, our spoons slid through a slice of rich Flan Pudding/Caramel Custard
($5). The Ananas à Madeira/Pineapple with Madeira wine ($5; without alcohol, at my friend’s request) featured a sunshine yellow slice of fresh pineapple with crisscross char marks.
While our server tended the bar and restaurant, we never felt forgotten or suffered long waits. She was personable, shared her favourites and made a point of showing us a platter another table ordered. The good-hearted owner joked about our inability to finish our generous servings — it was like being teased by a favourite uncle.
For about 25 years, Algarve’s menu has
offered tastes of Portugal for those craving more than piri piri chicken and custard tarts. Our evening of hearty dishes and relaxed hospitality behind us, and leftovers (and a Prego) in hand, we talked about returning. Perhaps we’ll call ahead for those sardines.
Assessing food, atmosphere, service and prices, Dining Out restaurant reviews are based on anonymous visits to the establishments. Restaurants do not pay for any portion of the reviewer’s meal. Jasmine Mangalaseril can be reached at twitter.com/cardamomaddict.