Where to eat in the Algarve, Portugal

A Eira do Mel  in Vila do Bispo

I'm sure that many of you have passed through Vila do Bispo on your way to Praia do Castelejo beach or to take the road north to other west coast beaches such as Bordeira and Monte Clerigo and on up to Aljezur. Or perhaps you have noticed it on the right as you have driven by in the car on the way to Sagres and the Forteleza or Cape St. Vincent Lighthouse. Well, Vila do Bispo is the main town in the Camara (council) of the same name: it borders Lagos Camara to the east and Aljezur Camara to the north and administers a large part of the Costa Vicentina Natural Park, including the familiar villages of Burgau, Salema, Budens, Raposeira and the town of Sagres. The Camara buildings are here and the main health centre for the region - this is where rates are paid and cars are taxed and through the main square, behind the market hall and heading for Castelejo is A Eira do Mel, a restaurant offering excellent traditional cuisine.

The building is traditional blue and white on the outside and an old farmhouse we believe. Inside, the décor is also traditional, the atmosphere is cosy and friendly and one really nice thing is that the tables are much bigger than in most places so there was enough room to arrange all the dishes without having to manage a balancing act.

We decided to start with the couverte and tucked into bread and butter, olives, carrots done in vinegar, homemade sardine pate and quail's eggs along with a bottle of our usual choice - the house red. This was somewhat of a surprise as it was the first time we have been served with an Algarve wine as the house wine - this one was Barranco Longo 2006, a vinho regional at 12.8% and a blend of Aragonez and Cabernet Sauvignon (the first grape very Portuguese and the second grape, not at all). However, we managed to overcome its non allegiance to traditional Portuguese grape varieties (of which we are staunch supporters) and ordered a second bottle - as it was very smooth!

Our starters arrived, vegetable soup for two, fried octopus and scrambled eggs with anchovies and capers. All the dishes were interesting - the soup contained a wild herb that we could not identify and proved impossible to translate but it provided a distinct flavour; the egg dish was very tasty.

For our main courses, we had ordered rabbit stew, tuna Algarve style in a tomato based sauce and the special of the day for 2 people - wild prawns, pork and chorizo cataplana with onions and red peppers with garlic and ginger flavours coming though. The prawns were whole but had been peeled in the central region making them very easy to deal with. Boiled white rice with cardamom was served with the tuna and the cataplana but rice with tiny pieces of fried chorizo came with the rabbit. Both of these rice dishes were excellent but particularly the latter and a variation we shall try and recreate at home. This is rather a different menu from most you see and several of the choices are for two people. The owner is a member of the “slow food association” and several dishes are an example of that form of cooking.

We didn't need to but all four of us succumbed to the homemade desserts menu and we tried flan pudding with nuts and caramel, traditional almond roll but the hit of the puds was lemon and ginger ice cream, which was declared as sublime. We completed our meal with café duplos and a café com leite.

This is a slightly more expensive place to eat and the bill for four of us which included all of the above and water and a beer was €140 but it was a different experience and well worth it. We enjoyed this restaurant and there were other dishes that we would like to try another time.

A Eira do Mel (A Place of Honey) is open for lunch and dinner, closed Saturday.

Local tel no. 282 624 723

Maggie & John:

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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