Lisbon
Alma – The best restaurant of the entire 2017 trip. This a Michelin one star restaurant and the service, food and experience were all first rate. They did an interesting thing, for a small cover charge they bring you 4 small bites which were unusual and very artistic, it was well worth the small charge. As an appetizer I had squid, chickpeas, tomato confit, baby chard, in squid broth to start. Joanne had sardine, eggplant, roast peppers, bread crisps, smoked paprika mayonnaise as her starter. The main courses were grilled Iberian pork presa, banana chutney, passionfruit and onion pickle, spiced molasses jus and confit suckling piglet, sweet potato purée, pak choi, orange jus.
Montemar – Large seafood restaurant near the covered market. The meal was good but the restaurant was invaded by a bus load of 50 English tourists.
Cafe Lisboa – is one of seven other restaurant owned by the Chef at Alma. We were there on an off night, only a few diners and the food seemed like it could have been very good, but there was nothing memorable about this meal.
Porto
Abadia – Very traditional Portuguese restaurant. We went there on our first night with Jorge. Pork and veal dishes seemed to dominate the menu.
Valentim Matosinhos – This was Jorge’s favorite seafood restaurant. It is located steps away for the fish market in Porto. We had a whole sea bass and it was delicious.
Douro Valley
Quinta da Pacheca – This is a wine estate that has rooms as well as a restaurant. The drive into the gate of this quinta at night gives you a wow effect. The property is elegant and so is the restaurant. We ate dinner with Jorge at the restaurant. Dinner was a very affordable 3 course meal and each course was paired with a wine form the estate.
Quinto do Portal– This is also a wine estate and a restaurant. We toured the winery with Jorge (the winery had a very interesting cork siding on the exterior). Lunch was probably our best meal in the Douro valley.