Ah, the Francesinha. Hard to spell, harder to finish, and even harder to go to Porto without…read moreordering at least one.
When you talk about dishes in the city, this is the one that comes up every time. Brasao Alidas is one of the preeminent spots known for them - where you walk in and the server kind of already knows what you're going to order. I was planning on going here anyway, but our Uber driver recommended it for good measure.
For those unfamiliar, this is a monstrosity of a sandwich. A pork and steak sandwich is made out of white bread, sliced cheese is placed on top, and a boiling beer and tomato sauce is poured over to melt the cheese and cover everything. Lastly, it's topped with a fried egg.
I fear what has just been created cannot be described as easily as viewing a picture will convey.
It really is wild. Even though this is a sandwich technically, I don't think a single person in history has ever attempted to eat this with their hands.
Where to even start. It should probably with the bread, but you can barely even taste that the bread exists. The cheese is melted thoroughly over the top such that it's mostly what you taste on the outside.
On the inside, it's a whole bunch of meat. This sandwich has steak, sausage, cured ham, and pork loin. The steak is actually cooked pretty well inside all of that - it's got a decent sear and a nice medium rare. The pork manages to be pretty solid as well.
What I wasn't as much a fan of was the beer/tomato sauce. These two flavors gave a slightly sweet and kind of sour flavor that I didn't really like much. When the sauce is so present it's something you're getting with every bite.
I got a full portion, and it was simply way too large. For 18 euros you could easily split one of these between two people.
While it's cool in theory, I ultimately don't think this sandwich works for me. For one - there's just way too much going on. You lose half the taste of the ingredients. Secondly, there's no textural contrast - everything just turns out soft, even the meat. Thirdly, the amount of fat is too much - the cheese especially.
Overall, it was a cool one-time experience, and I'm sure this restaurant executes the concept of a francesinha well - but I don't think I'll be ordering it again. 7.25/10