The best recipes and places to try it
If you go to or are in Portugal, you can't return home without trying the most typical dish, codfish or as they say here "bacalhau".
In Porto, codfish can be found everywhere, so unless you prefer a particular recipe, there is no need to look for a specific restaurant. However, there are dozens of ways to cook this fish, and some restaurants have become famous as experts on one of these recipes.
Probably the most popular is Bacalhau à bras, which in some places can be found as Bacalao Dorado. It is a very simple dish in which the codfish is accompanied by scrambled eggs, potatoes and black olives. If we want to try it in a more exquisite version, we can try it at O Cantinho do Avillez, or if we are in Gaia, at De Castro.
A typical Portuguese recipe is Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá. During our tour of "medieval Porto" we passed by the house of the Portuguese cook, the author of the recipe. According to this recipe, the fish is shredded, soaked in milk for two hours, then cooked with garlic and onions, served with olives, parsley and boiled eggs. One of the best places to try it is Adega de Sao Nicolau.
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Porto is also the birthplace of Bacalhau à Ze do Pipo, which you can try at the more than 100-year-old Abadia restaurant. This time the codfish fillet is accompanied by onions, mashed potatoes and mayonnaise, all baked and served in a clay pot.
For those who want a more personalized experience, Casa Virtude will be the perfect choice. The restaurant uses a traditional codfish recipe and serves it in a modified formula - frying the codfish in tempura and adding a boiled egg and olives.
Finally, if we are not very hungry and fancy a tapa or petisco, choose Bolinhos de Bacalhau. Cod fritters that can be found all over the city but are one of the specialities of Petisqueira Voltaria.
A word of caution about petiscos: when you go to eat at many restaurants, you will get appetizers, but they are not free. Knowing this, you can refuse or eat out, and then it will show up on your final bill.
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