Gastronomy

Trying out the Algarve’s regional cooking is a must for any visitor to the region. Rich in flavour yet simply prepared, its cuisine, like everything in this region, has its origins in distant times and customs and has absorbed various influences.

Fish and shellfish naturally play a starring role in the cookery of a fishing area faced by the Atlantic. For this, the finest recipes come from fishermen who, across the centuries, have perfected the art of preserving the sea’s natural flavours – grilling seafood slowly over charcoal. But there is more.

There are many recipes in which seafood is deliciously combined with aromatic herbs, spices and other ingredients. The most famous of these is the dish, Amêijoas na Cataplana – clams prepared in a deep copper pan of Arabic origin with a hinged and sealable lid, particularly good at preserving the dish’s flavours and aromas.

However, the sea is not the only strong influence. All the inland areas have provided the Algarve’s cuisine with marvellous recipes using market-garden produce, wild plants and meat from the mountain pastures as their stock ingredients. Internationally renowned, its sweets are to die for! No-one can resist the taste or appearance of these heavenly confections of almonds, figs, oranges and carob, all cultivated in the Algarve, blended together with eggs and sugar.

Its famous Medronho brandy – distilled from the arbutus berry – belongs to the same magnificent tradition, as do its fruit liqueurs and regional wines.

It is an immensely rich legacy, increasingly available for your enjoyment in restaurants and traditional bars throughout the region.

The rich and varied gastronomy is one of the Algarve’s invitation cards, gathering recipes from the coastal area and from the inland regions.

The Algarve is just one of the many Portuguese gastronomic paradises for those who enjoy fish and shellfish.

Every morning boats arrive with their fresh caught fish that is carefully prepared by the Algarvios (as people from the Algarve are called in Portugal) at the many fine restaurants. Some of the most popular fish dishes are the fish soups, the octopus rice, whelks’ dish with kidney beans, the fish-stew and the shellfish açorda.

Inland it's a different story, about vegetable plots, flocks of sheep fed by the green mountains and the smell of wild flowers. From the broad beans to the cherry chicken and the bean stew, all the inland dishes have a unique countryside label.

However, the first place in Algarve gastronomy goes to the sweets. Among them you’ll find the irresistible Dom Rodrigos, the Morgadinhos, the fig cheeses and many other almond, honey and fig sweets. The tradition of these sweets comes from the Age of the Discoverers and was founded in the convents.