Where to eat in the Algarve, Portugal

Restaurante O Galeao in Lagos

It's always good to have a challenge.

When some friends, who have lived in the Algarve for a number of years, told us about a restaurant they had been to and could recommend, we quickly asked for directions so that we could try it for ourselves. This is where the challenge came in.  “You'll never find it, it's in the back streets of Lagos, somewhere up behind “Casa”” was the reply.

Well, as anyone who knows Lagos and “Casa” and has tried to find their car after leaving it by the old city wall near the “Ball” island, it's easy to walk these quaint old streets and get completely lost. You can recognise first timers easily enough, they are the ones standing at junctions and cross roads wondering which way to turn (a tip…… it took us about three years to realise that going downhill and heading towards the sea is NOT south).

Anyway, it took us about half an hour to find “Restaurante O Galeão”, and it was sure worth the effort. To make things easy for you to find O Galeão walk uphill on the Rua Candida Dos Reis (Casa is at the top), till you find the “Duquesa Restaurante” (We've not tried this one yet). Turn right and take the first right again into Rua Da Laranjeira, O Galeão is on the left at the next street corner. You can see the restaurant sign but all there is on the corner is a café/bar. Very confusing. Don't give up, the restaurant entrance is just round the side of the café.

The restaurant is a very traditional Portuguese dining room, open kitchen, tall ceiling, dark furniture, small windows open to the street, and cool, even on a hot day. There are no pavement tables, no gaudy sun shades, and no music. However the welcome is second to none, the tables have real linen cloths and napkins and the food is superb.

We think you can tell a lot about the care the restaurant takes by the quality of the house wine. We asked for a bottle of house red and this turned out to be a Convento da Vila, an Alentejo regional, a vivid plum red in colour and smooth and light to the taste. An excellent wine, and at €7.20 we would have been tempted with another bottle if we hadn't had to drive down the N125 later on.

While we were choosing our meal we nibbled at the “couvertes”, a basket of mixed breads, with sardine pate, and cheese.

The menu is extensive, and choosing was difficult, but eventually we settled on soup starters. These were a light and tasty gazpacho, with red peppers and tomato chunks, and a French onion soup, served in a large earthenware bowl and with a bread and baked cheese topping. Both soups were delicious, home made, and a meal in themselves, especially as the empty bread basket was quickly replaced.

Our friends had told us about the steak cooked with a green pepper sauce so this is what we had for our main course. The steaks were big, tender pieces of rump, and cooked just right with a hint of pink in the middle, served with green beans, carrots, cauliflower, chips, and salad. It's a nice touch when the salad dressing (home made, chef's recipe) comes in a separate china container.

Taking our time to recover from the steaks with the last of the wine was perhaps not the right thing to do because it gave us time to consider the sweets. Oh well, we'll just have to visit the gym a bit more often, “peach melba and caramel pudding please!” The peaches were served with really creamy vanilla ice cream and strawberry coulis and the caramel pudding was the best (Jackie's words) she had tasted. Coffee completed the meal as we sat back and rested in the cool atmosphere of O Galeão.

So what did all this cost ? - a very reasonable €38.

The food, the friendly relaxed atmosphere and service certainly make O Galeão worth searching out. It's one of the few restaurants in this area that is open at lunch times as well as in the evening, so give it a try next time you are lost in the back streets of old Lagos.

Oh, and while you are there, just have a look through the doors of Padaria Central, just across the street. Would you believe it, freshly baked Cornish Pasties for sale! 

PARGO    RED BREAM

BESUGO    SEA BREAM

ROBALO    SEA BASS

DOURADA    ROCK BASS

CORVINA    STONE BASS

ARENQUE    HERRING

CAVALA    MACKEREL

SARDINHAS    WHAT DO YOU THINK?

TRUTA    TROUT

SALMÃO    SALMON

LINGUADO    SOLE

SOLHA    PLAICE

BACALHAU    COD

HADOQUE    HADDOCK

CHERNE    TURBOT

ANCHOVA    ANCHOVY

This is a bit doubtful, their idea of an anchovy is not mine, Anchova is a large, flavoursome meaty fish and not the small anchovy that we know in the UK - Anchova is, we believe, known as the Blue fish in English)

POLVA    OCTOPUS

LULA    SQUID

PITU    PRAWNS

CAMARÃO    BIG PRAWNS

Jackie & Tony  2006

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

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