Home | Travel | Destinations

Portuguese Algarve For Food Lovers

By: Mark Bartley

Read More About Destinations

Just like many tourist areas the Algarve has more than its fair share of generic restaurants and cafes catering for tourists and providing home from home food, but although they may be perfectly adequate in their own right, to really experience the cuisine of the Algarve it is best to look for smaller, family-run restaurants. The biggest influence in Algarve cooking is the sea, and local cuisine features fresh fish and shellfish very strongly. Start courses can include everything from fresh cheese and smoked ham through to a fish soup unique to the Algarve and smoked swordfish.

Boats arrive every day with fresh catches in the fishing ports that line the Algarve. After tourism, this is the next biggest contributor to the loacl economy, so holidays in the Algarve are a perfect opportunity to give your teast buds a new experience. Atlantic white tuna is a fine example of Portuguese cuisine at its best, and other fish such as mackerel and sea bass feature heavily on Algarve menus. If you like your fish really fresh, then you may want to pick your own shellfish from the tanks in many restaurants, but I'm not that way inclined. It is then cooked and brought straight to your table: it doesn't get much fresher than that.

There are alternatives to fish though. If you prefer something else, Portugal's history as a major trading nation is reflected in the food choices on offer. The spicy chicken piri-piri features on many menus, and meat or poultry are usually grilled, fried or cooked over hot coals. There are lots of local fruit and vegetable in Portuguese cooking, so vegetarians are well catered for.

Although eating out in the Algarve is cheap with a typical three-course meal with wine costing around 20 to 25 Euros per person, Algarve villas offer visitors an chance to rustle up their own creations using fresh, local produce themselves. Villas on the Algarve are a perfect blend of traditional local style with every modern convenience. Light, airy and spacious, luxury villas in the Algarve give visitors a chance to relax and unwind in superb surroundings, as well as getting into the kitchen if they so wish. The best place to buy produce are the many small markets, where fresh vegetables, fruit and a wonderful selection of meat, poultry and cheeses allow visitors to try things out with a range of flavours.

Because of an abundance of almonds and figs in the region, the Algarve is well known for its cakes and deserts. One of the most popular desert dishes is rice pudding, and although it may seem to be a strange choice after a light meal, the Portuguese love of filling food makes it a completely different style from the typical British rice pudding you might expect and is a delicious way to end a meal. Portuguese wines are uniformly good, and the reds from the north of the country compare favourably with the Spanish wines from Rioja and Ribiero.

The Algarve is also very easy to travel to. Algarve holidays are always popular, and international connections are excellent. A good internal transport system and road system mean that the Algarve is opening up, allowing visitors to easily travel away from the crowded resorts and to discover new and stunning parts of the region. New building controls mean that villas in the Algarve are fitting to their surroundings, luxurious and less inclined to be part of a 'complex' and more tranquil than before. A wealth of activities including world-class golf and superb water sports makes the Algarve attractive for visitors who want to do more than just lie on the beach. The quality dining just tops it all off, and the Algarve is an ideal destination for food lovers.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

The Algarves food delights can be enjoyed by hiring one of the many villas in Portugal or selecting perhaps other holidays in Portugal that base tourists in luxury hotels. Mark can recommend both as a way to get the best of a stay on the Algarve.

Please Rate this Article

 

Not yet Rated

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Destinations Articles Via RSS!
Additional Articles From - Home | Travel | Destinations
Sign Up for a free account.
Our other websites
All about SEO
Beauty Tips Forum
Submit Articles
Member Login
Link Us
Submission Guidelines
Ezine Notifications
Article RSS Feeds
Sitemap
New Stuff
About Us
Developer
Good shopping portal
Link to Us
Contact Us
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service

counter easy hit

Powered by Article Dashboard