Brilliant thanks
The fish place was the no choice place I think ! Where you just choose your drinks ??
Did you have squid anywhere ? Or see Totani ? Never found that outside Naples area of Italy but love it 
Oh yes, you get a plate of fish, how many depends on the number of people in your group.
You can eat squid at many restaurants. Portuguese love squid. But, tuna and octopus are specialities in this part of Algarve so try to eat both. Santa Luzia is most famous for octopus. I saw so many people order it. They come especially to eat it.
Apologies for slow reply/report. Since its been a while even since I got back, I will be brief !
Predictably we didn’t end up eating at any of the places you went to. Tried to go to the craft beer place but it was closed the night we were in Tavira itself.
That night we ate at a ‘Gastrobar’ ( me neither ) called Come Na Gaveta. Strange place. Nicely done out room. Friendly welcome but then given a bit of a rubbish table ( pre 9pm so not many locals in at that point ). Small plates. Octopus tempura probably my favourite. Not much by way of vegetables/salad on offer so all felt a bit heavy.
On first night had had simple yet effective octopus at a beach restaurant Cha com Agua Salgada.
Two favourite places I would definitely return to were Restaurante Noelia and Marisqueira os Fialhos.
Noelia was just a lovely room, none beachy/proper restaurant vibe and two of my favourite courses
A very simple yet lovely anchovy toasts
and octopus fritters with coriander rice
Nothing fancy just great food.
Fialhos was even less fancy. The owner of our hotel said his wife would kill him if she knew he had sent us here - no frills and likely to be rude to none Portuguese/tourists - which of course they were not.
I loved this place even if the food wasn’t up to the standard of other places we ate I would definitely go back for the genuine local atmosphere and the sight of cars parked all over then place in the road outside. Its was squid n chips for me !
You know you have found a gem when there is a cat with a half chewed off ear under your table.
Thanks again for your inspirational tips and posts.
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Nice “report”! I love local places, where you will almost always have a good meal.
As soon as I arrived in Spain I felt it in my wallet. A similar meal costs twice as much despite the higher tax, and seafood options are a bit different. Made me appreciate Portugal more. Next time I shall stay there longer.
Glad I found this thread. We are ready to try to travel again (post? Pandemic). We are going to spend a week in Tavira in May. I’m ready for some beach, seafood, and wine.
It all looks fabulous, will have to see what things look like at this point.
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Octopus and tuna are the most common things to eat in this region. If you don’t eat both then are are lots of fish (can’t avoid fish in the Algarve).
May should be lovely, in terms of weather. High summer is much too hot and really, really crowded.
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I was talking with an importer of Portuguese tinned food - and he was talking about (and gave us a can) this spicy sardine paste that is served at almost every meal spread on toast/bread (or so he told us, this will be my first time in Portugal). It was delicious and not as “fishy” as you’d think. I wonder if that piri-piri spread you show in those pictures is a version of that? Was it just spicy or did it have any of that “umami” (not a fan of that word but can’t come up with another one right now) quality that you might get from fish, where it just blends into the background (like anchovies sometimes, but this paste was not anywhere near as strong as anchovies are, even when they are a background note)?
The piri or chilli sauce is not very spicy and there are many versions. Some are saltier or a tad spicier but it does not overpower the food. I tried the supermarket bottles a few times but it’s more salty than spicy so I stopped eating that. The flakes or fresh piri piri are better.
Anchovy paste is quite different and “umani” loaded.
I buy my own stash of piri piri and eat 1 or 2 alongside a meal. The partner smiles and shakes head when I pull it out of my pocket when we eat a meal.
Looks fierce but it’s quite mild (I eat spicy). I thought it was tomato sauce on the bread.
In Tavira you can try different brands at this little place just on the other side of the medieval bridge. Tinned sardines are served on a plate with bread etc. The young owners are very kind (and speak English). Even more awesome for us, they have Portuguese craft beers.
Portuguese (tinned) sardines are, IMO, the best. Eat a tin or 2 every single day you are in this great country!
I want to add that swordfish is more popular than tuna. Restaurants have both, though.
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Yeah, this was NOT an anchovy paste, it was a sardine paste and not fishy at all IMHO (what this person gave us, not what you had). I’ll keep an eye out for both!
Yeah, I know. Sardines (in paste form or in tins) taste more like mackerel (but mackerel is stronger). There are sardine pastes which may also contain extra bits to “enhance” the taste further.
I mash whole filets on bread/toast and add chillies to my liking.
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Well I mentioned the bike ride to St Luzia for octopus to the friends we are meeting there. And they think it’s an awesome idea and they love octopus. So now that excursion is mine to figure out. 
If you have any details or advice beyond what you posted let me know! 
presunto,
Loved, loved, loved your Tavira dining report. Just fabulous with great photos! I’m a huge polvo (pulpo) fan and so enjoyed the polvo in Santa Luzia.
Many thanks, Maribel!
Right after leaving Tavira I took the bus to a town on the other side of the border and a second bus directly to Sierra de Aracena.
@Thimes , there’s only 1 bike shop in town as far as I know. We rented bikes from them for a few days. They have a map and can offer info if you have questions. Else you can look at the map on your phone to find the street that takes you to the road with a designated bike path to Sta. Luzia. That’s probably the only road to get there from Tavira.
If I go that way next time would check out the 2 local restaurants just off the main road from where you turn to reach the boat ramp and restaurants etc. Both restaurants are full of locals only. That’s where I want to eat next time.
Look at the menus and prices at several places before deciding. The first 2 or 3 restaurants are full of tourists only as they don’t want to walk a bit farther down the road. Check your receipt, too. For some reason I got charged more for the swordfish and not the octopus and tuna. Look at the tax column.
And of course the local covered market hall. It’s not magnificent like in Spain or France but it’s fun to stroll through after your bica with pasteis de natas (there are cafes outside the market). There’s a spice stall inside with stuff for all sorts of ailments. I only bought the fresh piri piri.
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Thanks for the intel and the idea! Looking forward to the trip.
Thanks for all your posts. We had a fabulous time in Tavira, such a nice quiet change from much of the greater Faro area. I’m horrible at remembering to take pictures of food at the table, so I’ll post when I remembered to take a photo. We stayed not far from where you were, in the heart of the city and really only ate within walking distance - unless traveling to explore a different part of the coast.
When we arrived we had lunch at a place called “La Terraze”. It was a nice setting right on the river, up from the center of the action. They had great salads (which are hard to find in much of Europe IMHO) which was exactly what we wanted feeling jet lagged and foggy after our flights.
We did eat at Come na Gaveta, the gastrobar and enjoyed everything. The octopus tempura was excellent, nice light coating and super tender octopus. We also had a tuna taco, pork cheek tacos, sardines “on a rope”, and a few other dishes. All were great. They were packed and had no availability when we called, but when we walked by we asked if they could seat 4 and they said if we could be done in an 1.5 hours they could, they just needed the table back by then. No problems, we finished in a little over an hour without feeling rushed and glad we did.
We also ate at Ti Maria, which also calls itself a gastrobar. It was not nearly as good.
The most surprising meal was out at the beach in Tavira. You have to take a ferry out to the beach and there are probably 10 restaurants out at the beach. You’d think they’d be horrible since there is such a captive crowd but we had grilled sea bass and it was one of the best grilled whole large fish we had. Cooked perfectly, well salted, and charred well on the skin side without overcooking the fish.
In St. Luzia we ate at Casa de Polvo and did a full meal of octopus (of course). We actually enjoyed it enough to go back at the end of our stay for one final lunch (we don’t typically repeat restaurants on vacation). The fried octopus was excellent, the different fried starters were all good (except the english pasty style one which we found too bland - the samosa one was very nice). The cataplana was great, the roasted dishes were well done, we loved the feijuada . . . we just had no complaints.
We loved the Algarve but just didn’t expect the huge UK crowds in Faro (our own fault, we should have). We much preferred the quieter ‘edges’ of the Algarve (east and west) but we will hopefully be back!
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OMG, everything looks great! Glad to hear you had a nice time and made it to Sta. Luzia. It’s an easy bike ride for good food. It’s harder to get simple boiled potatoes in Spain but so common in Portugal.
Now you know it’s so hard for me to force myself to go to other places (for holidays) for a change. I could visit Portugal, Greece or Spain twice a year if I could!
Oh yes, Algarve is super popular with Brits. Small towns are more my style, plus the prices are local.
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I’m starting to plan a trip to Portugal for next summer, and we’re always looking for smaller towns to stay in. Tavira looks to be the size town we like, but we’d love to be somewhere in Northern Portugal (doesn’t need to be the coast). Porto and Lisbon look wonderful and we’ll probably spend a bit of time in one or both, but we’re hoping for somewhere smaller that still has great food options. Any towns we should look into? Will likely start a new thread eventually as well.
As a point of reference, other favorite places we’ve spent time: Denia, Spain; Kas, Turkey; Portovenere, Italy; Luang Prabang, Laos; Penang, Malaysia.
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If it doesn’t need to be on the coast, I’d seriously consider the UNESCO World Heritage town of Guimarães, the “cradle” of Portugal.
It’s a really lovely town, population, 152,000 with a vibrant food scene. Restaurants such as A Cozinha. Here are the chef’s other recommendations-
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Thanks Maribel – this town does seem quite interesting, and definitely the size we’d be looking for. I’m going to start a new post with more specifics about our trip (though we still haven’t even bought tickets yet). The main important detail is that our group will be 2 adults and a 19-month-old toddler – so this may impact some of the dining choices we make (though hopefully we’ll still be able to dine out and eat great food – our toddler is currently 14 months old and will happily eat at restaurants in a high chair, and he loves grilled meat and fish).
Thanks again, and let me know if you have other thoughts.
Dave
The Portuguese love toddlers so he’ll be very welcomed anywhere.
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