There are plenty of Portuguese expats in Brussels and an equally good number of Portuguese…read morerestaurants. But how about cantinas that dish out some homely favorites at a good price? Now those are often harder to come by.
You learn about places such as Caramulo through word to mouth. There is nothing elegant, sophisticated or culinary challenging about what goes on here. But from the number of people, you know something is on.
This is cantine food at its best. Bacalhau, or Portuguese salted cod for us Anglophone speakers, is one of the main items on any Portuguese menu. No surprise then to find it here done in four or five variations. They do plenty of other fishes too, including bream, fish stews, seabass, squid, all kinds of shellfishes and octopus.
Now that's not all, they have Portuguese glazed meats and a number of carnivorous cuts. Beside most of us taking variants of the cod, one did manage the lamb chops and ended up just as satisfied.
Now, as you know, when you eat gran's cooking, you usually eat til you drop. Well this might not be your gran cooking, nor is it an eat as much as you can, but portions are such that I would be cautious about eating any more than a main (maybe 'a' shared starter). This coming from someone that can eat far more than most.
You can guess then that I can't comment on dessert. We never got near to trying them. But based on starters and main, this place ticks a very many boxes. Good portions, good taste and very affordable, what else do you need?
It is about homely food. If you want sophistication in a restaurant setting then go somewhere else. Bring sophistication to this table and it would loose its appeal.
(Next door is a bar, a very standard bar. The only connection between the two is the shared corridor leading to the toilet where you might just be entertained by guests that have indulged in more than they should have next door!)
