They must have quite different health and safety laws then? Bc it sounds like they would just refill and send the same basket to the next table. That would never be permitted in the U.S. Cooties, liability if someone gets sick…
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Or, they are already included in the cost of the meal with the prices baked into the entrees. You can look at a lot of things that way right? Don’t we joke that before a holiday, department stores jack up their prices so that they can have a holiday “sale?” They’ve reduced the price, sure. Just that they raised it first.
But your comment reminds me of a Korean BBQ place we visited in HI. It was the first “all you can eat” we’d been to where that phrase applied to the meat. On their menu, it said choose up to 3 of our meats, and the selection was about 15. We thought that was to cut costs, but it turned out that they only meant at a time. Once you were done and wanted more, you weren’t restricted to what you’d ordered before - you could order the other types. I will say that they brought out the meat a generous 2oz, ish, at a time. And the banchan were very limited. Maybe 4 types altogether.
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You’ll find it is a common occurance to find European laws that are quite different from American ones, across a whole range of issues.
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I’m sure that’s true 
But do they really pass a bread basket that sat at one table to the next table? Even if there wasn’t a law, that would squee me out. Maybe I’m just too accustomed to things in the US. We used to frequent a farmers market in Los Angeles when we lived there. Way before covid, the sellers almost always had samples out. One booth had so many people crowding their stand, that they put there samples out on a little table in the street between the two rows of tents. I remember watching, appalled, once as from about 30 feet away, I saw a 3 or 4 yr old grab a good dozen pieces of peach or orange or whatever, lick them, and put them back on the tray. Parents were who knows were. And unsuspecting future samplers? Well, good luck to’em.
I’ve not been to Portugal so have no idea what happens there.
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I’ve been to Portugal, and I didn’t pay attention. Granted, I was 19.
The closest I’ve seen to this is soft pretzels on the table at casual restaurants in Germany. I didn’t really see a problem with it - you take a pretzel, someone comes around to replenish the pretzel supply. It’s not so different from dishes of nuts or popcorn or (yes!) pretzels on bars in the U.S.
For the 2 weeks I spent touring Portugal both in “ tourist traps “ , dive bars or high end restaurants I never saw anything that looked like the baskets being shared.
I found most places adhered to great sanitary protocols more so than in my beloved NJ shore.
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The best Ouzo mostly comes from the island of Lesvos (one of my ancestral homes) and it is found everywhere in Greece, including the Cycladic Islands and Crete. Some Ouzos are smoother and/or more refined than others. My family tends to prefer Mini or Barbaynni brands, and there are different levels within those 2 brands. There also are more artisanal small batch ouzos available now.
Same with some Rakis.
On Lesvos, Ouzo is what you drink with seafood. Some people drink it with water, and some do not.
Raki from Crete and elsewhere is also found throughout Greece and the Balkans.
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I’ve usually paid for each soft pretzel in Germany, could depend on the establishment.
In my experience, at low key, inexpensive restaurants in Lisbon, people take what they want out of the basket, cheese plate, olive plate. Same basket might be replenished between guests, and kept on the table , but not passed around from table to table .
I’m North America, I’d be worried that someone’s 5 year old touched had all the rolls in the basket.
I didn’t get that feeling about 5 yos in Portugal. Seemed much more well behaved than your typical American or Canadian children.
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Absolutely Correct,.
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My info could be way out of date. My last trip to Germany was right after the wall came down.
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Those complimentary bowls in bars have become a victim of Covid and knowing better.
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In Portugal you pay for the bread basket. They do not pass it along.
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I can’t say yay or nay on this, since I haven’t sat at enough bars recently. It may be true, it may not.
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So many types and levels of restaurants in Germany. It’s hard to generalize. I’ve visited around a dozen times. I remember paying for a pretzel at a rustic restaurant in Munich around 2005. I don’t think I had any pretzels on my last 2 visits in 2014 and 2019. I seem to remember some included schmaltz and bread at the Munich Ratskeller around 15 years ago.
Liability is dealt with quite differently in Europe. They don’t have nearly as many warnings that coffee is hot, etc.
As someone who skis- there’s a huge difference in terms of less signage when danger lurks, compared to the US and Canada, where there are warning signs everywhere, in order to Cover Their Ass if someone sues.
I would think public health laws are also different- but I honestly don’t think Europeans need Sneeze guards on their buffets because their restaurant goers behave better than many North Americans do. I’m not talking about people who post on HO and other food sites- I’m talking about the North Americans who touch bread then put it back, smell salad dressings at a buffet by bringing the ladle up to their nose, let their unmasked little kids run wild inside restaurants and museums . Lol.
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We were in Portugal about three years ago, thoroughly schooled here on HO about the potential perils of the bread couvert. What was irritating was we had a party of 6, one of us ate a piece of bread out of a basket of maybe five pieces, and we ended up with 7 bread charges. Hadn’t really anticipated that.
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Oh, we Europeans can do that as well. We were in a cafe last year, here in the UK, when we spotted someone picking through the scones. When we got to the head of the queue, we told a member of staff. She spoke to a colleague who promptly removed the whole plate back ot the kitchen. Of course, we’ve no way of knowing if the same scones came out again a few minutes later.
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