Wednesday 6 August 2014

dining in Porto...

I have many times shared with you "better than shoes" experiences from Porto and I hope some of you have actually visited this magnificent city by now to see for yourself that, although I am indeed biased (and proud to admit it), I am not misleading you.

Here's another one...

Imagine you arrive there late and you are looking for a place to have dinner at 11pm; you are in the centre and you head to "Tascö". You get there and it is full of young people and buzzing, good vibes for sure; you are told that only around midnight you could get a table (kitchen stays open until 1, I think) so you go have a drink and you return about an hour later. You get a table, you order 4-5 different dishes to share. You start looking at the blackboard on the wall, messages written by people from all over the world testifying to special moments have been had there... you share your own... A while later, after you have already started savouring delicious authentic Portuguese food with a definite home-made quality, you are offered a plate of "presunto", just to try... it's divine!

By then, you are treated by your first name, you are listening to great music, you are cracking jokes with the owners and laughing with the other guests and photos of you have been uploaded on Facebook having the time of your life and you already feel like your are having dinner at a friend's house! You have a bit of space left in your belly and you order dessert... but they are out of chocolate mousse so you are offered an alternative, on the house, which completes perfectly a fabulous meal!

And then you ask whether it would be possible to book a table to celebrate your birthday in a few days, longing to share this experience  with some close friends and... you are offered a bottle of Port wine as a present!! Because now you are a friend! And it's your birthday! And all this is better than a pair of Fendi sandals, on sale!!!
And of course you go back and you have a marvellous time, again, and when you leave and the guys say "until next time" you know you already can't wait for "the next time"!

Ps. Don't forget to try the "panados" and the "pataniscas de bacalhau" and the home-made fried potatoes! Oh! And the home-made chocolate mousse is a dream; have it with a glass of Port wine ;)



No comments: