I came to Porto, a city in Portugal, with a must-try list containing bifanas, green wine, port, and pasteis de nata, but my most memorable meal of the week was in Matosinhos. This food diary covers what I actually ate across a week in Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia, plus a day trip to the coastal town of Matosinhos.
Coffee
Booínga Coffee — Matosinhos
The best coffee stop of the trip. Booínga is a specialty roaster in Matosinhos, a short train ride from Porto, and the barista knew exactly what she was doing. We liked the place so much that we bought two bags of beans to bring home. If you are having trouble with which beans to select, just let the barista know your favorite notes profile, and she’ll help you out.
So Coffee Roasters — Porto
Solid specialty coffee near Igreja de Carmo. Good enough for a cappuccino and a cinnamon roll. Worth knowing as a convenient option.
Breakfast & Pastries
Manteigaria — Porto
My favorite pastéis de nata while I was in Porto. I went to the Clérigos location, which is convenient if you’re already heading to the tower. They have multiple locations all over town.
Fábrica de Nata — Porto
Another place that sells pastéis de nata. Conveniently located right in front of Mercado do Bolhão, so easy to grab one before or after the market.
Imperial McDonald’s — Porto
The breakfast sandwich was simple (eggs, cheese, bacon), but the bread was noticeably better than anything I’ve had at McDonald’s in America, which I was pleasantly surprised about. They also have other Portuguese lunchtime offerings like the McPrego and McBifana.
Mila — Porto
A croissant shop. I had no room left, so I had taken some to-go, and even as takeout they are were absolutely delicious. I would come back again.
Bella Roma — Porto
I tried the Bola de Berlim, which is a Portuguese doughnut that is filled with a rich egg yolk-based yellow custard that is similar to the German Berliners. They have many different baked goods to choose from.
Seafood
A Marisqueira de Matosinhos — Matosinhos
I’ve raved about this meal of the trip in my other post, so I won’t go into too much depth here. This was my best meal of the trip, and I would go again if I came back in Porto. We ordered sapateira (local brown crab) with no sauce, carabineiros (scarlet shrimp), grilled over rice, and camarão médio (medium prawns). Everything we ordered was amazing, but the must have would be the scarlet shrimp. You must order it with rice, and you mustn’t spare the “butter” guts.
Uma Marisqueira (Zé Bota) — Porto
We came here to order the seafood rice, and combined it with some sardines and a bread basket that came with pâté and butter. They are located in an alley. The pâté was just an individual Pingo Doce packet of pâté made out of sardines. However, it was after this meal that I went on the hunt for more pâté made out of fish.
Sibuya Urban Sushi Bar — Porto
Sibuya is a Spanish sushi chain that opened its first international location here. We ended up wandering in randomly to order some rolls and sashimi because we wanted to eat something lighter. The favorites were butterfish and salmon sashimi.