Tavira Restaurant Reviews – Part 1
Here follows the first batch of restaurant reviews from our new home town. I would value any comments and suggestions for other establishments to try, as well and second opinions on the places we have already visited!
Quatro Aguas – Located up near the jetty to the Isla De Tavira, this is a high-end seafood restaurant with prices to match. The seafood, however, was outstanding. A shellfish cataplana was sparkling fresh and no morsel of seafood was less than perfect. The cataplana also had the rich tomato flavour often missing from the dish. The portions were not the usual huge size you find in Portugal but were neither too little nor too much. We will come here again for special occasions.
Avenida – A neighbourhood restaurant very slightly off the tourist trail between the old town and the train station. This is a very good traditional Portuguese restaurant with attentive and friendly service. A Secreto Porco Preto (Black Pork) was served with tasty home-made chips, salad and flavourful baked rice, along with piles of pork, cooked ever so slightly pink as seems to be the way in Portugal (it has done us no harm!) An Arroz De Marisco (shellfish rice) was beautifully flavoured and very generous with the shellfish – prawns, clams, crab claws and more. The tiny olives served as part of the couvert were excellent here as well. Very tasty and cheap house white too. Highly recommended and affordable.
Rive Gauche – We love this quirky modern European place with funky mismatched decor and lighting. Along with the bread and olives you are
Rive Gauche - quirky
brought “surprise of chef” which can be anything from hard to fathom salads in shotglasses to curried mussels. The food itself is more straightforward – excellent steak with a good dauphinoise, a trio of of fish fillets and an imaginative duck salad starter have all been enjoyed by us and our visitors. A trio of chocolate desserts was truly stand-out and deserved the “fine-dining” label. A decent, well described wine list. Rich food and quite high prices make this a good choice for special occasions. The service can be as quirky as the decor!
O Patio – The tourist favourite, lots of English voices when we visited. Very popular and well-known. The reputation IS justified, and this is a very safe option for those wishing to try out local fish and shellfish with the confidence of knowing exactly what will be on the plate! The food and service are very good. Several tasty couvert options. Prawns in brandy were good and a cataplana was fresh and generously portioned, if not the most flavourful we have tried. Where it falls down is the price – you are not told the price of those tempting couvert dishes and certain things are pretty astronomical. A great place for a holiday treat, but, as we live here, think we are more likely to stick to the more “local” and affordable places.
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Tags: algarve, avenida, o patio, quatro aguas, restaurant review, Restaurants, rive gauche, tavira
Do try Vela 2 – I cannot remember the name of the street – but is tucked away past the Vila Gale Hotel up near a church. Seems to be no menu – meat or fish – only ever had the BBQ fish – loads of it and fantastic value.
Vela 2 – I have read about that one and keep forgetting to try it – I think it is near where we live as well – I have heard they have very fresh fish (and tons of it) at lunchtimes – many thanks for reminding me
If you fancy a trip through the hills try Mesa da Cume, fantastic views and decent home cooking. It’s about a half hour out of Tavira on the Cachopo road.
In town Bica is about the best we have tried. Loving the blogs, keep ‘em coming!
Hi Andy,
Glad to hear such a good report on Bica, we keep meaning to go in there – thanks for reading!
Have enjoyed your recommendations. Here are some of our own. Brisa do Rio, just around the corner from Bica – very good food, excellent service, reasonable price attractive decor and no TV! Xico traditional Portuguese good simple menu a litre of very drinkable wine for 3 euros.O Ciclista – just past the railway bridge north side of river very popular with Portuguese and Spanish families at the weekend and with the workers during the week – and rightly so.
Hi and thank you for your recommendations!
Everyone keeps saying Brisa De Rio to us at the moment so it will be top of our list to try very soon – during April we have lots of guests which will mean lots of meals out so I look forward to trying your recommendations and reporting back!
Thank you for reading the blog!
Ben, I can’t remember the name of the restaurant but it’s next to Quatro Aguas and it has an outdoor area. The dishes are small plate style just like tapas. The Ovas (fish eggs) and Atum are great. They go great with a cold imperial on a hot day.
Hello again,
I will have to look out for that one. I know there is another restaurant next door but haven’t tried it yet!
Best wishes, B
[...] restaurant last week, so decided to review it in full as an update to the mention it got in a round-up of Tavira restaurants a while ago in the [...]