About
Porto is a postcard-perfect city, its beauty easily captured in a single frame. Picture monumental churches dressed in deep blue tiles that look out over the Douro River and onto the opposite hillside where the city’s famed Port wine lodges and their iconic billboards are dotted. A visit to Porto is often distilled into just such an image, quite pleasantly, but it barely scratches the surface of the city. Dig a little deeper into the backstreets and we find the complexities and contrasts of city life and all of the culinary diversity that comes with it. Porto is a place where century-old opulent Parisian-style cafes, sometimes staffed by tuxedoed waiters, can be found not far from rustic cheese-and-sausage shops run by the descendants of poor migrants from Northern Portugal. More contrasts abound: Walk around Porto and you will encounter octogenarian Portuguese shoe cobblers sharing the street with Bangladeshi grocers, while hidden behind former palaces are neat and tidy shanties. And, while this is the city that gave the world the refinement of Port wine, it is also the home of the gutbuster Francesinha, a working-man’s sandwich we’d only eat to win a bet. On this full-day food tour in Porto, with at least ten tasting stops, we’ll experience both sides of the city, from the decadent to the down-home. We’ll start with a Porto ritual of flaky, sweet pastries and a strong coffee before exploring the Mercado do Bolhāo, arguably Portugal’s finest food market, which was recently reopened after a full renovation. We’ll make our way through stalls selling fresh fish, smoked meats, fruit and vegetables, stopping to greet the vendors and taste what’s in season. We’ll then set off into the city center to see some hidden spots from the belle époque of Porto on our way to a lunch counter where locals and visitors line up for a cachorrinho, a baton-shaped grilled cheese sandwich with smoked sausage, with a fanatical following. We’ll stop into a die-hard FC Porto tavern for a quick petisco of the region’s famed charcuterie and locally-packed tinned fish, as well as a taste of their house specialty – salt cod fritters. From here, we will head out into a classic residential neighborhood for a close look at how this city lives – and eats. At the local neighborhood lunch spot, we’ll be among all levels of Porto society who crowd the dining room for the daily specials, which could be grilled sardines when in season or a homey rice stew. Along the way, before we have a glimpse of the Douro river and its importance to the city, we’ll visit an historic grocery for a taste of the seminal cheeses of the north and the superb olive oils of the Trás-os-Montes region along with a scrumptious tawny port. We’ll finish in a new generation café by a Brazilian music producer whose taste in music (recognized with a Grammy) is as spectacular as his coffee and pastries. As our tour ends, we’ll come to see that despite rapid urban changes, Porto’s traditions are kept safe in the kitchen.
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