Where to eat in the Algarve, Portugal

Restaurante O Antonio at Porto de Mos in Lagos

If you read last month's restaurant review, you will remember that walking around the Alvor marshes was one of the walks in Julie Statham's book - “Lets Walk”.

Another of our favourite walks is from Praia da Luz to Porto de Mǒs.  The plan of the walk takes you a safe route around the golf course on the road out of Luz towards the N125.  Heading back to the coast you get to the coastal path at the top of “Black rock” but there is a quicker way and that is straight up the side of the rock itself.  This way is not recommended, but it is quicker, and the sense of achievement when you get to the trig point at the top is real.  Just be warned it is VERY steep and it's much worse coming back down.  The walk to Porto de Mos takes about 45 mins and the magnificent views all along the way are worth the effort of getting there, not least because when the goal is achieved and you arrive on the beach at Porto do Mos there is the welcoming sight of Antonio's restaurant.  A lazy lunch, a sit on the beach to let it all go down and you are ready for the return walk to use some of those extra calories.  What away to spend a day.

Antonio's is in an ideal position with the open terrace extending out over the glorious beach.  What better way to enjoy a meal, sitting, relaxed, facing the sea and being amused by the efforts of the surf school patrons?

The first time we went to Antonio's I guess we felt a little confused.  We had been studying the language and carefully ordered our meal in correct but faltering Portuguese.  The response ?

“Well done, nice try - lousy accent !”

Over some further visits we realise the banter between staff and customers, particularly if you are recognised, is a regular feature and makes you feel welcome.

Antonio's is one of the few restaurants, on a beach, that is open just about all year round.  Open for drinks only, or snacks, pizzas at €5, (Pizza!, you want pizza, it's frozen you know!) (They're not by the way), or full meals, you will be made welcome at any time from late morning to late evening.

Again blessed with a glorious hot sunny day that had us swapping places at table to even out the sun tan, we sat on the terrace enjoying a cooling breeze (I remember now it was the day we heard that England had had snow and people were being warned to stay home).  We ordered a bottle of house white while we decided on what to eat.  The wine arrives quickly and it is an excellent white Douro called Porca de Murca.  We had decided against fish so the smooth citrusy wine was ideal and at €6.75 a bottle, a real gem.

The covers arrived and could have been a meal in themselves.  A basket of mixed breads, sardine pate, vegetable pate, cream cheese, a large regional cheese, olives and butter were laid before us. Although its not charged if you don't eat it, it's too tempting and, having ordered soups, a chicken piri piri (Jackie's favourite) and grilled rabbit for starters and main course, we sat back and snacked on what was in front of us.

The soups are reasonably priced at €2/€2.5, with lots of other starters all in the range of €3/€4.  Main courses are between €7 and €11 and cover a wide range of fish, (many that are not usually seen elsewhere and all available for inspection in the large glass ice cabinet at the entrance, or brought to your table as chef's choice), meats and vegetarian dishes.

The soups arrived, one a light onion soup with a delicious stock and crunchy onion slices and the other a vegetable soup with carrots and cabbage.  Both soups are delicious and we manage to finish off the bread basket while enjoying the starters.

Jackie's meal arrives, “who order turkey?” Confusion again, “no we ordered chicken,” “Sim, big chicken, turkey, OK“.  The chicken piri piri is a half chicken served with an enormous fresh salad and a bowl of chips and Jackie tucks into that straight away while I reminisce about how I used to keep pet rabbits, when as a child I was living on Granny and Grandad's small holding.  Shows how naive you can be when you are young.  Although my rabbits used to breed like, well, rabbits, it never occurred to me that there never seemed to be more than five or six in the disused pig sty I used as a pen for them.  Rabbit stew was on the menu often enough though, and I have always enjoyed rabbit despite the many small bones.  Anyway this meal was no disappointment.  What must have been most of a whole rabbit, grilled and basted with garlic and served with boiled potatoes, carrots and broccoli was slowly consumed.

With empty plates in front of us, comments such as “that was terrible” and replies like “yes, I see, you hate so much you have to finish all” were exchanged.  By this time we were full and couldn't manage a sweet, but there is a wide choice of cakes and ice creams all at around €3/€5.  Two coffees rounded off a great meal and at a total cost of €32, where could you get better.

Antonio's is a restaurant that we use a lot.  The evening meals are special, as the atmosphere is more relaxed but still entertaining: the only problem is that someone has to drive back - I certainly don't fancy the walk back down the rock at night.

In the season it does get busy, so if you fancy risking the banter, booking is essential.

Restaurante Antonio's is right on the beach at Porto de Mos in Lagos.

Local telephone number 282 76 35 60.

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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