Café cheio: As above, but slightly less strong, a full espresso cup.
Café pingado: A bica with a drop of milk.
Garoto: Espresso cup of half-coffee, half-milk.
Café duplo: A double espresso.
Abatanado: Large black coffee.
Galão: Weak milky coffee like a caffe latte, served in a tall glass.
Meia de leite: Big cup of half-milk, half-espresso, like a café au lait or flat white.
Café com cheirinho: Shot of black coffee topped up with aguadente (firewater).
Piri-piri is also used to spice up spit-roasted chicken, one of Portugal’s most successful culinary exports, served in specialty restaurants known as churrasqueiras.
Portuguese pork is among some of the world’s best. Black pigs roam semi-wild in the plains of the Alentejo region, feasting on the acorns that fall from the region’s cork forests. The porco preto meat they produce is fabulous. The region’s signature dish, carne de porco à Alentejana, combines red-pepper-marinated pork with clams. The black pigs also produce superlative hams (presunto) and an array of sausages, including paprika-spiced chouriço, cumin-flavored blood puddings (morcela), and soft, smoky farinheiras. All of these porky pleasures are combined in cozido à portuguesa, an artery-stopping one-pot that’s become the national dish. It can include hunks of beef, pigs’ ears, chicken, cabbage, turnips, chick peas, carrots, potatoes, squash, and beans, as well as an array of spiced sausages.
Lamb (borrego) is another Alentejo specialty, served grilled, fried, or in hearty stews. Goat is more common in the center and north; a succulent meat, it usually comes in the form of roasted young kid (cabrito assado), although around Coimbra older goats or sheep are slow-stewed in red wine to make chanfana. Beef is good in the north; the posta Mirandesa is a succulent steak served in Trás-os-Montes, but the Atlantic island of Madeira also boasts a beefy signature dish in the shape of espetada, cubes of garlic-rubbed meat skewered on a laurel branch and roasted over hot coals.
The Portuguese have a weakness for offal. Tripe stewed with beans (tripas à moda do Porto) is Porto’s favorite dish. Lisbon prefers liver sautéed in white wine (iscas). Pig’s feet, stomachs, ears, and snouts will all find their way into hearty stews.
Soups are a common way of starting a meal. The most popular, especially in the north, is caldo verde, a green broth made from cabbage, sausage, potatoes, and olive oil. Typically southern, açorda alentejana is made from simmered bread, poached eggs, cilantro, and a ton of garlic. Sopa da pedra is a meal in itself from the Ribatejo region, combining meat, beans, sausage, and just about every conceivable ingredient except the stone (pedra) from which it gets its name.
Portuguese cheeses deserve to be better known internationally. The best is queijo da serra: Made from sheep’s milk in the high central mountains, it is rich and creamy, fabulous on freshly baked rye bread. Similar but more delicate is queijo de Azeitão from the hills south of Lisbon. Queijo de São Jorge is a hard cow’s milk cheese made in big wheels in the Azores. Soft, unaged white cheeses called queijo fresco are often served as an appetizer.
Fruit ripened in Portugal’s sunny climate is fabulous. Bananas and passion fruit from Madeira, pineapple from the Azores, cherries from the central mountains, juicy Rocha pears from the far west, and honey-sweet figs from the Algarve are just some of the treats. If your tooth is still sweeter, traditional Portuguese desserts promise calorific overload. Many are based on old convent recipes using eggs, almonds, and the cinnamon that explorers of the 15th century went to such great lengths to bring from the East.
Portugal’s ties with its former colonies have spiced up the local cuisine: Brazilian shrimp moquecas, curries from Goa, or Angolan chicken muamba are all imported additions to Lisbon menus.
Recently, a new generation of younger chefs has been building on the country’s traditional cuisine to forge modern adaptations of cherished additions and win international accolades. Leading the pack is José Avillez, whose Belcanto restaurant (p. 87) became Lisbon’s first with two Michelin stars.
Wine For years, international interest in Portuguese wine (vinho) was largely limited to cheap-and-cheerful rosé and the complex Porto and Madeira fortified wines. In recent decades, however, the world has woken up to the full range of terrific tipples made under Portugal’s unique blend of Atlantic and Mediterranean conditions.
Strong yet sophisticated reds produced from the beautiful terraced hillsides along the Douro or the rolling, sun-soaked Alentejo plains have drawn admiration from critics and drinkers around the world. Great wines are also produced in the valleys of the Dão, the coastal Bairrada region, and the flatlands flanking the Tejo River east of Lisbon. Tangy whites made from arinto grapes or sweet Moscatel dessert wines are made on the edge of Lisbon’s suburbs. Fresh white wines known as vinho verdes from the verdant hills of the northwest make an excellent partner for seafood. Even the Algarve, whose wines were once mocked as good only for unsuspecting tourists, is now producing quality reds and whites.
Port remains the most alluring of Portugal’s wines. It was invented in the age of sailing ships, when exporters added brandy to Douro wines to prevent them from spoiling during the long sea journey to England. Quality controls exist since at least the 17th century. Drier white ports are traditionally sipped as an aperitif before meals, the sweet red tawny and ruby ports are served with dessert or cheese, and rare vintage wines from selected years are saved for special occasions. Wines produced on the volcanic island of Madeira are similarly fortified and aged and also range from drier aperitifs to sweet dessert wines.
Beer & other drinks The beer (cerveja) market in Portugal has long been a duel between Lisbon’s Sagres and Porto’s Super Bock, both refreshing lagers, best served chilled. Lately, there’s been a craft beer revolution with breweries such as Sovina, Letra, and Dois Corvos edging onto the scene with some tasty thirst-quenchers.
The wine industry has a long distillery tradition resulting in fiery liquors like bagaço and bagaceira, which are clear, powerful, and similar to Italian grappa, or barrel-aged aguardente velha, at its best a wonderfully warming after-dinner tipple that can rival French cognac.
Many regions have their own special drinks: Poncha is a potent mix of local rum and lemon from Madeira; ginja is a sweet cherry liqueur knocked back in hole-in-the-wall Lisbon bars; the Algarve has a firewater made from a forest fruit called medronho; Licor Beirão is an herby liqueur from the Beiras.
Mineral water is commonly drunk, bottled from springs around the country. Waiters will inevitably ask if you want it com gas (sparkling) or sem gas (still), fresca (cold) or natural (room temperature). The Compal range of fruit drinks can make a healthier alternative to international soda brands.
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Suggested Portugal Itineraries
Portugal is a relatively compact country, and major road investments over the past few decades mean fast highways have cut driving times even to the most remote regions. Despite its size, there’s a great variety of landscapes, from the rolling plains of the Alentejo to sun-kissed resorts along the coast and the rugged highlands of the north and center, where rough-hewn granite towns rise out of the hillsides.
Whether you race along the autostradas or prefer pottering along country roads or discovering the country by rail, traveling around Portugal can be a delight. Driving from Lisbon, in less than 3 hours you can be bronzing on a beach
