On the whole, my piri-piri chicken experience left to be desired. That chicken at Frango Piri-Piri Grelhado was nicely grilled but rather dry. However it was a half-chicken with all skin and bones and that’s always lovely to nibble on. The next day I went to lunch at a place in central Lagos that was seemingly proud of their frango piri-piri, but unfortunately it was boneless-skinless chicken breast (one of my most abhorred kind of meat) marinated and grilled. The chicken breast wasn’t overcooked, though, which made the dish edible for me. For good versions of frango piri-piri, I hear about Ramires in Guia and Valdemar in the municipal market in Silves.
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Marisqueira Rui in Silves is truly not to miss. Not just for the food, but also for the buzz, the atmosphere, the service, the popular success of the place. Although we thought we overordered, with finally ate nearly everthing except for the arroz de mariscos, which is truly magnificent, and we had to taste it anyway. But I wanted to come to that place mostly for the fresh crabs. Not the common crab (tourteau) which you grow tired of rather quickly, being delicious at first but proving somewhat heavy at length, but the magnificent spider crab (santola), which is brought to your table alive (hi!) and then boiled, prepared and sent out to you. Spider crab benefits from being served still warm, and it was utterly delicious. I like the way they serve you the innards of the crab inside the shell with a little spoon. That’s really the best part of it.
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Medronho really grows hair on the chest, but meloso is indeed more ladylike and very delicious.
I really adored Charrette. It did remind me of some other cafés-restaurants I’ve known in rural France, especially in the mountains of Auvergne and the lower Alps. The sausages included blood sausages, which explains their dark color, and I really liked the rice-studded one with the rice being just al dente inside. The black pork chouriça with chili pepper was phenomenal, so complex in taste — the helrloom pork, the drying, the smoking, the chilli, the marinating in wine…
Indeed the pork cheeks, which were a service mistake from the house (you had ordered the cabbage stew just below, but I think what you got was very probably better), were excellent, tender and tasty. I love the way pork cheeks are prepared in Southern Iberia, for instance I still remember the carrillerras in Jerez wine of Andalucia.
The stew was also amazing. The combination of chestnuts, sausage, red beans and rice, though very un-summery, was far more than the sum of its elements. I like the way rice is used in Portuguese dishes, added at the right moment so that it still has a slight crunch. So far I’ve never seen a single mistake involving rice in this country.
The wines didn’t cease to amaze.
That’s because it is not a “beach town” properly speaking, it is a town (with a long history) which happens to be near beaches. I’ve recently sent to blazes an American tour organizer who wanted me to help her organize a tour of the Pays Basque, Northern side. When I suggested that we spend time eating great food and seeing the beauty of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, the woman answered that her client “didn’t wish to spend time in beach towns”. Phooey.
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These rural towns in the Algarve (and the same could be said of some parts of mountainous France) seem small to you because the city center is small, but they are in fact very large, spreading to far distances, the local type of habitat being mostly farms, agricultural estates and small properties set in the forest or maquis. That’s the old European distinction between regions of “grouped habitat” (habitat groupé) which will have rather large villages and few houses in the countryside, or “scattered habitat” (habitat dispersé) with small, tightly-built villages and many country houses spreading around it miles away. Also, in some parts of France, some recent reshaping of municipalities has resulted in the inclusion of tiny formerly independent villages into a larger zone with a small town in its center. Thus (like in the Anjou for instance) you find yourself with very large communes covering mostly rural land.
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Thank you Carmenere for your “mise au point”. As you probably guessed, i know this area well, having lived in Monchique for over 40 years… I completely agree with your comments about rural towns in the Algarve or elsewhere, I also understand that for a New-Yorker it’s all relative :o)
Rui in Silves is certainly one of the top marisqueira in the Algarve and have been for many years,a nd they have retained the quality that made them famous.
Glad you had a memorable meal at Charrette, as I said, I will give them another try soon.
Chicken piri-piri was introduced to the Algarve by Portuguese returning from Angola after the independence in 1974/75. There are only 2 places to have it, one is Guia (near Albufeira), the other Monchique. At this time the best place in Monchique is “O Castelo” on the road above Caldas (the quaint spa town stuck in the 1900’s, worth a visit) which is run by the staff and cook of the famous and now nearly defunct “A Rampa”.
Ocean is in a different bracket! I have known Hans Neuner for a long time, since he arrived in the Algarve, and his fantastic evolution at Vila Vita never stops to amaze me. Pity I can’t afford to visit too often!
Another amazing restaurant, also with 2 Michelin stars, is Vila Joya on Praia da Galé. Lunch on the terrace there is paradise!
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You are lucky to live in such a beautiful place!
Thank you so much @Carmenere for further enriching what was already such a rich experience for me! It is the point, really, that one can only bring one’s own eyes to the traveling experience, and having other eyes along to broaden those horizons is such a gift. Obrigada!
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