Any recent Azores [Sao Miguel] experience?

We are heading to Sao Miguel island in early July. No chatter here but I thought I’d ask anyway in case Onions just haven’t reported back.

Thanks for any help!

PS We visited mainland Portugal about 6 years ago and come from a part of the world with lots of Azorean ex-pats so we’re somewhat familiar with the food. But neither is a substitute for first-hand experience, of course.

Back from a truly awesome trip to the Azores. We had time to visit only Sao Miguel island, which is the largest/most populous of the 9 Azorean islands. After our first hour of checking out the island, I already told B let’s start planning our next trip back. Food took somewhat of a back seat because we were traveling with friends who had their 10 month old baby onion in tow but we made the best of it. Goes without saying, we killed A LOT of vinho verde bottles. Here in MA, we get a lot of Portuguese wines so they were nothing new for us but for our Chicagoan friends, they were novel.

Breakfasts were always at home and then we usually met up for sightseeing and lunch/dinner. We had some forgettable lunches of burgers, sandwiches, and fish and chips here-and-there (Gehinha in Furnas; Beach bar in Lagoa, which had some tasty sangria by the pitcher).

Very good meal at Tuka Tula, a beach restaurant perched at the top of awesome Santa Barbara beach. B and I split the clams and squid ink pasta with shrimp. Cold Sagres beer goes down like water. Forgot to take photos. :expressionless:

Simple homey lunch at O Chico in Mosteiros. I had cornmeal breaded fish and B had some crazy fish mash-up with potatoes, cheese, and I think egg (he said it was delicious). We all shared the grilled limpets which were a bit sandy but fun to eat.

An enjoyable dinner at O Capitão in Lagoa. The 4 adults shared the tomato-based fish stew which was brimming with white fish, shrimp, clams and mussels, and rice. Wine by the bottle was way over-priced.

One day we had a glorious picnic on our way to Sete Cidades. Cheese, bread, chorizo, wine. Good company and a marvelous view. What else does one need?

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You’ve settled it. The Azores are now on our must-go list. If I may ask, what did you decide for accommodations?

@tomatotomato I’ll direct message you with those details.

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Just poking around and read this- we went to many of those places on our Azores trips in 2021 and this past month! You and I are like ships crossing in the night. Well-fed ships.

I thought I’d mention this restaurant was completely wiped out by a winter hurricane last winter. They are rebuilding.

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