16 Dec Douro Gastronomy: a genuine sensorial experience!
Get to know the best restaurants in Douro Valley and meet the flavours of the rich and varied Douro gastronomy, where Mediterranean cuisine stands out. In fact, our cuisine reflects the people’s history and delights its visitors with several regional specialities. Try, for example, the succulent lamb with rice and roasted potatoes cooked on wood ovens and the marrã. Also, the various codfish dishes, broad beans with chouriço and the bôla of Lamego, among many, many other typical gastronomic delicacies. As for the desserts, the wide monastery sweets such as milhos doces, the toucinho-do-céu pudding, the burnt leite-creme, as well as sopa doce are required.
Some restaurant suggestions where you can experience Douro Gastronomy!
WITH A SMALL/MEDIUM PRICE LEVEL…
CEPA TORTA
Placed in Alijó, this restaurant is still a reference when it comes to gastronomy by using the very best local goods. Don´t miss their maronesa veal and roasted lamb.
PAPAS ZAÍDE
This typical restaurant is situated in Provesende Wine Village. Graça is the soul of this homy space, where you can taste homemade regional snacks and delicacies. Once here, one should try the roasted pork knee, the honey, the jam, the local olives and a bunch of other things made with Port wine.
CALÇA CURTA
This traditional restaurant in front of Tua railway station with views to the river Douro serves both river fish and game meat dishes like veal and wild boar.
TASCA DA QUINTA
Manuela and her son welcome us to their small restaurant close to the Douro Museum in Peso da Régua. With a regional decoration, you can count on a handful of snacks and treats. Not to be missed are the mushroom açorda, various cheeses and presunto, as well as scrambled eggs, just to name a few. Naturally, all accompanied by the wines from regional small producers of outstanding quality. For dessert, order the apple pie.
VELADOURO
On Pinhão’s wharf, this restaurant with slate walls has a terrace over the Douro River. Awarded several times in regional gastronomic contests, its menu presents both grilled meat and fish, as well as a good selection of salads. For dessert, order the drunk cake.
WITH A MEDIUM/HIGHER PRICE LEVEL…
BISTRO TERRACE AND GEADAS FAMILY – QUINTA DO TEDO
This wonderful restaurant at Quinta do Tedo offers its clients “quality products and producers from Trás-os-Montes, based on tradition and accentuated with creativity and seasonal products”.
Meanwhile, enjoy Quinta do Tedo wines and relax on the terrace overlooking the Tedo River!
INEVITÁVEL – QUINTA DO VAL MOREIRA
The restaurant is located on top of a hill, with magnificent panoramic views of the mouth of the River Tedo and the River Douro.
“The Inevitável menu is a celebration of the flavours of the Douro. Dishes such as pork shoulder, octopus à lagareiro and cod fritters with bean rice are just some of the options. The desserts are no slouch either. From the cheesecake with salted caramel sauce and lemon ice cream to the crispy cinnamon rice pudding, each dessert is a feast for the senses”.
QUINTA DA PACHECA
Integrated in the magnificent Pacheca Winery, the restaurant offers traditional dishes reinvented and made by Chef Carlos Pires. The harmonisation is a match made in heaven with Pacheca wines, in a perfect combination between the green theme decoration and Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro’s pottery. We suggest the codfish dishes, the vegetable risotto, as well as the roasted octopus. Also, for dessert, ask for the chocolate duo, the fruit cup or the crème brulée.
CASTAS & PRATOS
It is placed in the old railway warehouses of Peso da Régua train station. This restaurant with appealing and sui generis decoration serves traditional dishes as well as regional tapas. It’s worth mentioning the excellent wine variety and exterior space where you can order your degustation menu.
TOCA DA RAPOSA
The warm welcome by Maria do Rosário and her mother, D. Maria da Graça (the house cook) is, by itself, a good reason for a visit to this restaurant. The dishes are rich and plentiful, with attention to the cod with corn, one of Douro’s oldest recipes. Other dishes are the broad beans’ stew, the boar chanfana, the fox’s stew, the grape harvest bread and the açordas… For dessert, we recommend the one made with dried fruits (pinons and lagar wine) or the Port pudding. Don’t forget to try their awarded wine list, too!
WITH A HIGHER PRICE LEVEL…
SIX SENSES
The restaurant of the famous Six Senses Hotel in Lamego bets on the quality of its ingredients. In fact, they all come from the region and their own biological vegetable garden. You can choose from various interior and exterior spaces to have your meal. Namely, with game meat included on the menu, the restaurant is a reference for its authenticity and fresh produce. In detail, it is also possible to book a cooking class for groups.
DOC
With a suspended terrace looking over the river Douro and a magnificent view to your delight, Chef Rui Paula’s cuisine absorbs inspiration from the Douro region. There, contemporary and traditional gastronomy combine in a perfect symbiosis, not to mention a relaxed and exquisite environment for the degustation of your meal. That is to say, you must have the milk-fed goat kid, maronesa veal, the fresh fish, the octopus and shellfish, each with their wine pairing, since this is a wine restaurant.
If you want to experience Douro Gastronomy, join us for a TOUR TO DOURO VALLEY!
P.S.: The choice of the restaurants and the opinions are the responsibility of the author.