Where to eat in the Algarve, Portugal

Restaurante Rio a Vista in Alvor

Some time ago we were fortunate enough to receive a copy of Julie Statham's excellent book called “Let's walk”.  Published in English by Vista Iberica, this book contains 23 detailed walks in the Algarve which vary in length and difficulty providing ideas for every occasion and using the suggested walks has lead us to some interesting places we wouldn't normally have found.

One of the easiest walks is around the salt marshes at Alvor.  Situated where the Alvor and Odiaxere rivers meet and sheltered by sandbanks, the marshes are a delight to anyone interested in bird watching.  (The feathered sort that is!).  The marshes are criss-crossed by a network of raised banks so you won't get your feet wet as you walk around some of the lagoons where you will see Flamingos (yes, wild ones - really), Black winged Stilts, Stone Curlews, Redshanks and many more of the common birds such as sandpipers, sanderlings, egrets, storks, grebes, warblers and flycatchers.

This enjoyable morning stroll gave us an appetite and the opportunity to go into Alvor for lunch.  (It's a pity some wealthy soul has fenced off the cliffs between the marshes and the Alvor estuary otherwise it would be possible to walk into Alvor.  It's quite a ride back to the N125 before turning East to Alvor.)

Anyway the purpose of this is to tell you about a lovely restaurant called Rio a Vista.  The restaurant is in the old part of the town about half way down the hill (Rua Dr. Frederico Ramos Mendes) towards the river you will either see a bustling fish trade going on (if you are early enough) or all the Alvor men folk involved in the trade, playing dominoes under the shade of the buildings there.  There are so many restaurants to choose from in this area and it's impossible to try them all.  We just went for the one that looked “less modern and more inviting” and we weren't disappointed, especially when we were invited onto the upstairs balcony and to a table with a view over the narrow street, down to the estuary at the bottom of the hill.

It was January 15^th, not a cloud in the sky, the sun was beating down, and we were thankful for this table on the open upstairs veranda, where at least we felt a cool breeze blowing.  Soft Brazilian/Andean music played in the background and was accompanied by the birdsong from the aviary in the courtyard below.

Our waiter arrived and offered us the Menu Turistica at €9.50, or the a la carte. Despite a wide range of meat and fish main courses which sounded tempting at around €7/8, we both went for the “all in option” at €9.50. This included a choice of either beers, ½ bottle of wine or soft drinks.

Covers, a selection of breads with olives, cheese and sardine paté arrived along with our chosen drinks, while we decided on a choice of either vegetable soup or fresh salad for starter and, for the main part of the meal, either chicken piri-piri or “espada”.  This isn't a swordfish steak, as the name suggests but a fillet of a strange looking thing that's a cross between an eel and a pike.  Looks fearsome, tastes good though!

Just to test the menu we ordered one of each starter and main course.

The salad was delicious and certainly fresh, with crunchy peppers, firm tomatoes, crispy lettuce and cucumber, grated carrot with raisins, onions, and olives.  A selection of dressings were available for the salad; it's so nice to able to choose this for oneself rather than having the decision made for you. The salad was so good that even though the plan had been to save some to go with the chicken piri-piri, it was quickly consumed.

The vegetable soup was a meal in itself. A large steaming bowl of thick stock with crunchy vegetables - lovely.

The main courses arrived and both were a delight.  The chicken piri-piri was a whole half chicken cooked with the restaurants own blend of piri-piri sauce and served with chips and more of that delicious salad.  A thoughtful touch was the provision of extra sauce in a little bowl but with the warning that it was hot.  Too right, hot it certainly was. Not quite as hard a kick as jerk sauce from the Caribbean but pretty close.  The fish had been coated in a herb flavoured batter and fried.  Crisp batter with a lovely taste.  Espada is a chunky fish, a bit like cod in texture but with a more oily/earthy taste like mackerel.  Again this was served with chips and salad.  Both meals were superb and complemented by an excellent vinho verde (1/2 bottle each!).

You just can't beat the day's menu (or menu turistica) at these excellent traditional Portuguese restaurants.  Where else can you have a meal such as this, simple but superbly cooked and presented and with a view of the Alvor estuary from the comfortable balcony, all for about £15, what a way to spend a January day.

To finish the meal, we were offered either fresh fruit or coffee.  The “Rio a Vista” can be confidently recommended, the staff are friendly and attentive, but not overbearing.  The food is great and the view (at least from upstairs) wonderful.  What better place could you find for a quiet and cheap lunch.

I suppose we should have gone back to the estuary and done another turn round the salt marshes to walk off the lunch but what the ….., we'll go to the gym tomorrow.

Jackie & Tony  

PS. I started this by talking about bird watching and Flamingos, so I'll finish with something even more controversial, again about birds. A number of people on the Algarve have recently reported seeing penguins. This is not as a result of too much Vinho.  The idea of penguins on the Algarve has been rejected by learned Drs. from the universities and I bow to their superior knowledge, but I've seen something. From a vantage point above an estuary I watched this bird. Never before have I seen a bird “fly” underwater chasing sardines. It wasn't a guillemot or razorbill. They are too big and they have proper wings. It wasn't a little Auk, too small (and anyway that's as believable as a penguin). No multicoloured beak so it wasn't a puffin.

So what was it ?

Your comments on this and any of the restaurants you have been to, would be appreciated.

If you would like to know more about Portuguese Food and Drink, why don't you dip into our Restaurants in the Algarve section and our series of articles on Portuguese Wines and Ports.  We also feature some Traditional Portuguese Recipes and a glossary of useful Portuguese food & drink words and phrases