This restaurant, steps away from our AirBnB on a residential street, caught our eye much more than the restaurants in any of the more picturesque squares, or even the restaurant above the fish market, which, I'll always go for the restaurant above the fish market. But this particular fish market was selling only vegetables and jewelry the day we were there, so...
Restaurante Palhuca may have looked unassuming at 7:30, but there was a wait by the time we left at 9. Old hands at Portuguese portion sizing by now, we ordered a platter of fried eels to share, along with a couple bowls of soup and a glass of wine. Of course, bread and olives came out too, along with a nice surprise entire wheel of sheep's cheese, and just like that, we were on the road to being overstuffed despite our best efforts.
As far as balance goes, this meal was pretty deal. Nice salty crunch to the abundant eel, a pungent tang on the sheep's cheese, a bowl of bread that wasn't that weird cornbread-esque brick we'd occasionally see, and a version of vegetable soup so good we drew it out to eat with the rest of our meal (unfortunately making the cook think we didn't like it - which couldn't be farther from the truth). read more