Albufera - Foodie Style

Everyone has occasionally worked with an HR Dictator - the friendly person who makes you fill in those forms you just don't need to, gets you training on random topics and - well at least in my company - makes sure you take all of your holiday (even if you don't have time to take it when you want it)!

So, I find that I end up taking random weekends away and I'm just back from Albufeira which is about 45 minutes from Faro in Portugal.  During the season, it is vile as it is full of British tourists on package holidays who get drunk and eat a Full-English Breakfast as often as possible.  However, in early March it is thankfully tourist free, warm and filled to the rafters with restaurants.

Obviously, as a tourist-destination some of the restaurants (and indeed the obligatory Irish Bars) are a little - well  trashy but I stayed in the old town and managed to find a few gems.  The old town square is full of restaurants as well as quite a few nice bars which serve amazing cocktails.   On Saturday nights, several also have live bands - including a wicked metal tribute band - which are pretty good and they stay open nice and late.

We ate at the restaurants by the water/front beach and particularly liked Dom Carlos (at the top of the stairs by the statues).  You do pay a little more but the view is really really love and if you would prefer to avoid eating here, they do brilliant coffee as well as nice Portuguese Sagres.

Food wise, some of the dishes I enjoyed included

• Paella - Yes, I know, it is Spanish but you are on the Spanish border so it was pretty good.  Fresh seafood and lovely rice.  They didn't quite manage to get the slightly crispy crust on the bottom but such is life I suppose.
• Bacalhou - Cod cream with potatoes which is a Portuguese delicacy and is utterly glorious.  Yes, I know a strong fish and potatoes in the sun but somehow sitting under the umbrella with crispy rose it just seemed to work.
• T-bone steak - Very British but the meat in Portugal is really good so it tastes fantastic.  Meat was previously the preserve of the ruling classes so Portuguese food tends to use cheaper cuts so you do find tripe on the menu but T-bone is so hard to find in the UK (thanks mad cow disease) that I had to have it.
• Seafood - Apparently, Portugal is one of the highest seafood eating nations in the world (4th to be precise) and visiting this seaside village, you know why.  Lots of fresh seafood including clams and mussels as well as calamari and squid.
• Gazpacho - cold tomato soup which is slightly different from the Spanish version in that it uses more tomato essence than puree.  Much lighter but so very tasty.

Lovely town, lovely break, good food and not to pricey.

Definitely recommend it

Lxx

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