Fado and White Port Wine

Like all the southerners, Portuguese people are gourmands. And they can cook well. Mind that they pay attention not only to the dishes, but also to the place and the time of their meals. And, of course, the company.
Portuguese cuisine differs from any European cuisine, including Spanish one. For instance, Spanish and French restaurants offer a variety of snacks and salads whereas the Portuguese prefer to start their meals with the first course. To be exact, there are only two real salads in Portugal – vegetable and “green” (prepared of tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, onion and carrot, all with olive oil), sometimes spices are added.
The main dish for the Portuguese dinner is meat. Delicate veal, lamb saddle, and mouth-watering pork served with fried potatoes and boiled rice. Add olive oil or vinegar. One portion is usually enough for three. To taste delicious lamb, go to Cafe de Paris – the oldest restaurant in Sintra. Traditional Portuguese meat is also served in all the Lisbon restaurants.
What about wines? In addition to world known port wine and Madeira there is excellent dry wine produced here. Rough and flavoured red wine produced in Alentejo is no worse than Spanish Rioja or French Bordeaux.
Portuguese also love fish, cod is their favourite. According to statistics each Portuguese citizen eats 16 kilos of cod per annum. Note that all the cod is imported to Portugal from other countries. Its prepared this way: dried cod is soaked in water with great amount of salt for 24 hours. Then its crumbed and fried with olive oil. In Portuguese capital, Lisbon, it is served with boiled potatoes and corn bread.
To taste sword-fish, go to Madeira. They even organize a special excursion which is finished with dinner at the Cachalote restaurant, Porto Moniz cape. The restaurant is located on the very edge of the cape and from its windows you can observe waves breaking into black rocks. There is nothing special about its interior, but the food is delicious. Traditional Portuguese salad, vegetable potage, and of course sword-fish. The fish is served with white sauce, boiled potatoes or rice. By the way, dinner is usually included in excursion costs.
Portuguese cuisine is a kind of the country’s attraction. For local people dinner is a ritual which deserves special attention. Most citizens have dinner at one and the same time – from 12.30 to 13.30. It is the time when finding free tables in restaurants is next to impossible: not only workers but also families and small companies come here. There is a feeling that the whole country has meals at this time. After 2 pm there is not a single soul in local restaurants – everyone is busy with their work. By the way, there is no siesta here.
Another typical national ritual is fado, or, how its often called, Portuguese blues. Of course, you can listen to this music on a tape or a CD, but the show is much more interesting. It also helps penetrate into national character.
One of the best restaurants where you can see fado performance is Clube de Fado situated in the old Moorish district Alfama not far from Lisbon Cathedral. There is still an inner stone draw-well found in this building. There is a legend that if you whisper your wish standing above the well and throw a coin inside, your wish will come true. However, this is not what tourists and citizens come here for. First visitors come here at approximately 9 pm. They order their supper consisting of several courses. White port wine goes as an aperitif – its drier and not as sweet as the common one. You can also try famous cod at this restaurant. The show starts one hour later. Several musicians and a singer step out into a small platform. Musicians use double-bass, acoustic and a Portuguese guitar that looks like mandoline. The owner of this restaurant, musician and composer Mario Pacheco says playing it is difficult. Probably that is the reason why everyone gets silent when musicians start their performance. Lights fade, visitors stop eating and work stops at the kitchen too. Fado is performed by men and women with fantastically strong and moving voices. They sing about love, about being homesick. Having sung 4 or 5 songs, musicians go away, lights are switched on and meals continue till the next course. Then again fado starts. The performance lasts till 1 am.