Pimms -- the Francesinha

I went to Porto recently with my friend Mona, because, damn it, that's how we do. On our before last day, we went to a restaurant called Pimms and we decided to try what every Portonian (it's happenin') is eating/talking about: the Francesca. No. The Francisconiah. NO. The Francesinha! Hahaha. This was only to illustrate how we tried saying that word 28 times before getting it right once, and then f*cking it up the other times.

A Francesinha is an abominable looking piece of food. Seriously. It is FULL of things. Listen (or read) to this: bread, ham, sausage, steak OR roast beef, covered with melted cheese and a tomato and beer sauce. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat! It reminds me of a sloppy joe, no? This dish was surprisingly way more expensive than anything (no wonder, with all that meat!) on any menu. So, we SHARED a HALF. Hahaha! Go big or go home, but the opposite.

 

I believe I wrote that it was 'a pile of stuff''. That pretty much sums it up. Whoever had this idea was on some hard drugs. But probably just too much pot. HAHAHA. Munchiiiiies! The whole thing was somewhat overcooked and the meat was hard. The sauce was quite tasty though! Silver lining... always find the silver lining. It was kind of like a grilled cheese on steroids.

 

All in all, we were disappointed with the experience.

 

Score: 5

 

And they never ordered a Francesinha again.

Miss OPO

Mona and I made a point of finding non-touristy restaurants while we were in Porto two weeks ago, and I think we managed to find a couple gems! We visited Miss OPO on our last night, located on a small side-street, going down to the Douro. Ugh, I miss everything I just talked about: Mona, Porto, Miss OPO, and the Douro. But enough reminiscing!

First off, it is called that because OPO is the airport code for Porto. I know this because I'm a: so cool and b: I work for Transat. Mama knows her airport codes. And Miss OPO sounds way better than Miss YUL (Montréal's airport code). This place seemed very hipster-like. Maybe a bit too much so... They had a communal table at the front, cement floors and walls and minimal deco. I'd say it was a bit industrial looking, but with wooden tables and chairs giving it a classic touch. The menu was written by hand on a notepad: they change it every day, which is very cool.

We shared two dishes: the 'Pretty Salad' and the 'Shrimp with finger lickin' sauce and okra'. And we shall start with the salad. It WAS pretty, unlike this awful AWFUL picture, hahaha! This salad was supes fresh and ubs pretty! Some crisp greens, almonds for the crunch, sweet papaya and strawberries, hot radishes and very tasty and perfectly ripe mango. I usually am not a huge fan of fruits in salads but this totally worked. There was also fresh cheese in there, which totally completed the dish. We really loved this one.

The shrimp. OK, I'm just gonna mention again, as if you didn't know, how much I loves me a good shrimp. If someone would ask me to choose between a person I really love and shrimp, I'd have a hard time. If I could just eat one thing all day, every day, I'd choose shrimp. If shrimp is on the menu, that's what I'm having. If I could MARRY shrimp, I'd need a damn good reason not to do it. If...you get it. They were cooked to perfection and they had absorbed all the flavor from the sauce, which, as the name says, WAS finger lickin' good! The okra fit right in there and just biting into it, all that flavor would just explode in my mouth! We had soooo many carbs all day every day while in Porto, that it was nice not to be eating bread or rice or potatoes or bread again.

Service was not the best. Actually, quite bad. We entered and were greeted by...no one. HAHAHA. She came to see us after a couple minutes and just announced that they didn't have any tables. Then, she decides to put us at this bigger 'communal' table. A waiter comes over and he was rude too. We were then asked to change to a smaller table because a bigger group had come in. Geez. Our waitress was actually nice and was able to crack a smile or two. Third times' a charm!

E agora, a pontuação! (And now, the scores!)

Food: 9
Service: 6

I would LOVE to say I'd be back buuuuuuut, myyaaaaa, I'm pretty dang far.

Romados

Last time I visited Romados, it was before the fire of 2013. I lived on the plateau at that time(ah, the good old days!), only a couple blocks away. I'd go there all like a floating cartoon following a smell. Mmmm!

So, when my cousin Gen and I decided to go out together for lunch, I totes suggested Romados! Why? Well, I wanted to see the new digs. But most of all, I wanted that awesome chicken back where it belongs; my mouth.

Romados is this magical place that sells Portugal. Seriously. That piri-piri, that chicken, those pasteis de nata!!! Basically, there are about 25 seats, a counter for the pastries and other loveliness and a counter for le chicken.

The chicken. With salad and fries. I said yes to some extra spice in the piri piri (I mean, who doesn't like spicy?) and had the quarter leg. Okay, let's start with the salad. Okay, we're done talking about the salad. The fries were perfect. Who says you need ketchup? They were hot as f*ck, really well seasoned, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Le chicken. Ah, le chicken! It was juicy, it had crunchy skin, it had awesome piri-piri sauce on it, it just fell off the damn bone. Basically, chicken heaven!

Pasteis de nata. Hello. Hello you! When I went to Portugal, I couldn't get enough of these (and gained 5 pounds probably). These were just as lovely. Custard-y goodness. Mmmm. Soft, flaky, everything you should have in a pasteis!

Service was good. Everyone smiled, everyone was happy. It's nice to go somewhere where people are happy. I guess selling 300 to SIX HUNDRED (yes, this is a fact) chickens a day makes you happy as can be! It was counter service but still worth mentioning!

And now, the scores!

Food: 9
Service: 9

There's no doubt in my mind that I'll be going back.

Barroso

When you live in Lachine and you plan on eating...IN Lachine, you have few options. OK, few good options. My sister was in town and she's a freak of walking so we decided to walk to around the 32nd avenue and check out 'the resto scene'. Well there were a couple Italian restos and this Portugese one. And since I'm in forever search of the food I ate when I was in Portugal last year, I said OH YES to this resto. (ps: there are 3 Barrosos in the 514)

It was a nice day and they have a cute little [but quite narrow] terrasse so we obviously chose that option! On top of it you get a partial view (yes, partial because there's a building hiding half of it) of the water. There was some portugese music playing in the background.

Sardines

Chicken

Shrimp

We had to wait quite a while to order because there was only one waiter and there were other clients on the terrasse. Anyhoot, we all had the table d'hôte: started off with a very plain salad with three olives and too many onions (and for me to say that...). I had the sardines because that's one of the many things I loved to eat in Portugal (it's actually there that I started liking the little ones). There were four huge sardines, almost exceeding the surface of my plate. They were very tasty and with just a tad of lemon, were perfect. The only thing was that, well, I didn't remember that sardines had that many bones. I'm serious, I think I swallowed a pound of bones while eating lunch. I COULD have died. Could have. The rice was minute maid. Minute maid man! Geez. The chips were homemade, crispy and a tad tasteless; lots of ketchup went on those babies! My mom had the shrimp and they were DE-licious. Well seasoned and well cooked. I despise overcooked shrimp (and usually, the people that cook them... just... kidding). She thought they were spicy but they were just perfect, really!My sister had the chicken breast that was too dry, but the bread that came with it was fluffy, at least!

The service was as good as the rice (ok, that's just being mean!). It took the waiter a good 10 to 15 minutes to come back to our table and take our orders and our water glasses were empty half the time. Oh, and my mom had ordered the place and not the table d'hôte but she got the latter...

And now, the scores!

Food: 6,5

Service: a generous 6

If you miss Portugal, don't go there but if you want to eat a simple dish that resembles it a tad, this is the place.

Café Vasco da Gama

This place is right beside my job, like RIGHT beside it... so I was bound to go at one point or another. I guess I was a bit scared to go in what with all the serious business people coming in and out of the café.

For those of you who don't know, Vasco da Gama (or DE Gama), was a count and a Portugese explorer. One day, my dad and I made a lunch date and since we'd been to pretty much all the restos around my job, we decided to go there. It was quite nice. Quite nice indeed! Anyhoot, the place itself is quite long and narrow and has about 40 seats, most of them, very low... which is a tad weird at first but you get used to it. There was some spanish-y portugese-y music playing...  ;) Oh and I loved the tiles on the floor! Reminded me of Portugal :) The whole place was really pretty.

Basically, you go up to the counter, you pick what you want and then you sit and wait for your meal. People that work there are friendly, quick and efficient. They have to be because there are lots and lots of people eating there and getting food to go. The choices: there weren't as many salads as I'd wanted and the paninis were really overpriced. I will NOT pay 13$ for a panini, even if it has duck in it.

I ended up having three salads: beet salad, lentil salad and somekind of niçoise salad. All quite tasty I'd say. Tastier than they looked anyway. This was served in a long plate with 2 pieces of bread with some olive oil. A nice addition to the plate, I found.  I didn't write down all the little details about the three salads. I just know that the beets were a tad undercooked (I HATE that!). The niçoise: lots of green beans, not much tuna. The lentils were actually very tasty, with somewhat of a citrus sauce. Quite tasty indeed! It was a very nice mix of flavors: the earthy-ish taste of the lentils and the punch of the citrus sauce.

I have nothing to say about the service. It was good and it was quick. They're used to the table turnover, you can tell. I also took the rest of my lunch in a doggy bag and the waitress came back with it in 2.5 seconds (I swear!).

And now, the scores.

Food: 7/10 I mean, we're talking salads here
Service: 8/10

A good place to go for a quick lunch or if you want to take something to go.

ps: They also cater small and big parties!