Portuguese Restaurants in [South River, NJ]

Regional Dining Discussions New Jersey
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South River, being home to a Portuguese, Polish, and Mexican population offers several options for dining in its small downtown area. I’ll cover a few of the various Portuguese establishments in the thread. Feel free to chip in if you’ve been to any of them.

  • Cafe da manhã - Cafe, bakery, and dining. Daily specials posted on Facebook, various baked goods.
  • Sabor d’amor - Cafe, bakery, and dining. All you can eat buffet on weekends.
  • Nossa Aldeia Portuguese Bakery & Deli - Cafe, bakery, deli.
  • Cafe Cirino - Portuguese/Brazilian luncheonette, cafe, and bakery.
  • Campozino - White-cloth dining with rodizio.
  • Ria Mar - White-cloth dining.
  • Portuguese Fisherman White-cloth dining.
  • Cavaco Supermarket - Grocery store, bakery, and take-out Portuguese BBQ.
  • Express Deli & Fresh Meats - Portuguese/Brazilian grocery and deli.
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Sabor D’amor is a family-owned restaurant and bakery, located on Whitehead Ave. in a strip mall in South River.

A typical spot for the locals in South River, you can expect to find warm, home-cooked meals and fantastic service.

On weekends for dinner, they offer an all-you-can-eat buffet, but so far I’ve frequented Sabor only for lunch.

Be on the lookout for their Facebook page, where they regularly post the daily specials.

Their menu offers a variety of authentic and typical Portuguese dishes and sandwiches, such as bacalhau cooked in a variety of styles, sandwiches like the prego or bifana, and much more.

They even prepare the elusive Francesinha from Porto.

For the uninitiated, the Francesinha is a famous dish from Porto in Portugal, that consists of a ham, steak, and cheese sandwich then covered with cheese served in a secret sauce, topped with an egg, with french fries on the side. It’s phenomenal.

In addition, they make fresh-baked bread, snacks, and pastries. Come early in the mornings on weekends and you’ll find warm and fresh pao de queijo and croissants straight from the oven!

Photos below in order: Codfish with mashed potatoes and onions, croissant and bola de berlim fresh out of the oven, assorted Portuguese pastries, prego sandwich.

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Nice pics as usual! So do you have any good steak/rodizio recommendations? I normally don’t visit this town but I have enjoyed ria mar.

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The only one that offers rodizio is Campozino, and I’ve enjoyed their food several times, but never ordered their rodizio.

The restaurant is similar to Ria Mar and Portuguese Fisherman… they make a nice and strong sangria, an excellent picadinho appetizer, and a good Portuguese style steak.

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Cafe da manhã is a favorite small local lunch spot / bakery for me in South River. They regularly prepare fresh Portuguese bread and pastries as seen below. In addition, they offer lunch and dinner specials, posted on their FB page. https://www.facebook.com/cafedamanha37/

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For dinner, I had a very good carne alentejana (pork and clams) from Portuguese Fisherman.

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Funny, friends of ours son had a sweet 16 party to go to over the weekend, we dropped him off and we went to eat at Fresco’s in East Brunswick. (which is excellent) Both Ria Mar and Portuguese Fisherman have been around forever plus a day, Ria Mar being my personal favorite. The Portuguese Fisherman is pretty much all original, probably has better value than Ria Mar, but Ria Mar did have an extensive update about 10 years ago and I just prefer it.

Nice list!

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Cavaco Supermarket is a Portuguese deli, grocery, and bakery. The shelves are stocked with products imported from Portugal.

On the counter, they offer a variety of fresh baked breads, codfish fritters and turnovers, pastries, as well as of course espresso. In addition, they are a churrasqueria and offer delicious BBQ chicken, served in a giant tray over rice and fries.

The pastries I’m not too much of a fan of compared to other areas, but the chicken was delicious and the fries were fresh cut.

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With a peculiar name, is HeBrews Coffee, a Brazilian luncheonette and pizzeria, coffee shop, and cafe.

First and foremost, their coffee and various coffee creations are delicious, and the cafe has an incredible homey feel to it, in both its decorative interior and even their coffee mugs.

You’ll find a large painting of Christ the Redeemer of Rio in the dining room, and various Baiana art pieces as well.

The menu is incredibly expansive, starting with typical cafe fare such as omelettes and breakfast sandwiches, but also includes Brazilian luncheonette options as well! This includes salads, wraps, panquecas (stuffed savory crepes), and burgers.

They even have Brazilian pizza, which is made with a huge creativity of toppings such as catupiry cheese, heart of palm, corn, olives, etc.

Their house pizza, for example is topped with mashed potatoes and ground beef! On weekends, they occasionally offer a Rodizio de Pizza (All you can eat pizza, with over 10 pies to choose from, including delicious dessert pies!)

They have a long list of salgadinhos (little salty savory snacks) on the wall, which they make fresh. My favorites are their coxinha (chicken croquette with catupiry cheese) and rissoles de camarao (shrimp chowder fried pastries).

Plus, they even have fresh squeezed juices and smoothies, as well as garapa (fresh-pressed sugarcane juice)!

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