On behalf of my “Super Sizing” USA brethren, I would like to apologize for my families poor showing on our recent food tour.
We fought the food and the food won!
Yesterday we spent the full day on the Culinary Backstreet Food Tour with our food guide Bruno. Our tour started poorly, actually right before the tour, when we decided to have a quick snack before meeting him. Bad idea, as from the time he met us until he dropped us off 6 hours later, all we did was eat.
The tour was a fantastic time and quite a lesson in Portuguese history, influence from Brazil, different foods by region, and amazingly how little food it takes to fill us up.
We drank more Port, ate more pastries, tried new foods and set personal records on most sardines eaten in a day (we all tied at 3). Towards the end of the tour Bruno had to tell the restaurant owners to cut the food portions way back because we couldn’t keep up…how embarrassing. I thought maybe Joanie would lead us to victory because she is the champion eater of our family…but not.
Our day…
Imperio Bakery – we started with a “Jesuit,” a pastry so good and sweet that it makes my teeth hurt to think about it.
Merceario Liquor Store – a 90 year old liquor store where we had several types of cheese, pumpkin jam, and Port. If you were so inclined, you could buy a port back to your birth year or even to around 1845 ($3000 euro+)…we did not.
Marcos Ferriera – great food stand in the Mercado where we tried olive oil, olives, and lupine beans…more personal records for all of us, we’re not an olive family.
Tradicoa – another good stand in the Mercado with great nuts, figs, dried pears, and other dried fruit, which is run by a 5th generation family of the market.
Casa Louro Bar – more Port, ham, and our first run at fried sardines…really, not bad at all. Great vibe for a local bar too, I could party here.
Gazela – famous for being visited by Anthony Bourdain. Their specialty is fancy dancy sausage on buns…think hot dogs with a Portuguese twist, really good.
Restaurante Salmao – a fried dinner version of the sardines where we were given a quick lesson on filleting them and eating the oily little critters. They were really good and if you didn’t like them when you ate them no problem…they stayed with you into the next day.
Dona Mira Bar – our final stop at a Brazilian run bar for banana cake, carrot cake, and ding dong cake. It’s owned by a Grammy winning producer and a quaint back street bar that was a wonderful ending to the night. Side note, if you don’t like nude photography and art then this might not be your place.
Best surprise of the day. Turns out our guide Bruno’s day job is translating English books into Portuguese versions. Two of the works he has done are by my favorite writer (when I want to think) Ken Follett and another (when I don’t want to think) John Grisham. I wouldn’t consider this a brush with a celebrity but as far as Bruno is concerned it was close enough.
More coming…
McGaffs On The Fly 