Portugal - Ideas for Gastronomy, Food and Wine Experiences for your clients - From Black Pork to Green Wine!
Are you looking for new destinations for your foodie clients? Have you considered Portugal yet? Sometimes overlooked but Portugal is a true gastronomic gem and with fewer tourists, engaging local people and more unique local dishes and varieties of wine than you can imagine - there is enough to tempt your clients back time and time again!
Travel Kinship’s DMC & Local Operator partner in Portugal is the fascinating foodie, Paula Alves and her company Portugal by TravelTailors. A painter and culinary lover, Paula knows how to appreciate the colours and flavours of the places explored.
You just have to take a look at one of our Gastronomy Tour Itineraries to see just how much Portugal can offer the food and wine lovers among your clients. To get your taste buds fired up here are a few gastronomy experiences we can provide for your guests. Have a look and if you are hungry for more please get in touch and connect with us on SquirrelFish.
Visit Fishing Villages and get involved! Fish Markets and Sea Urchins.
Nazare: Visit the beautiful fishing village of Nazaré. Meet the fishwives in the market, learn how to prepare the fish and take it to the beach for sun drying. Enjoy a seafood lunch at a local restaurant. Go sightseeing through the lower and higher parts of the village, learn about the history and fishing traditions. Ericeira (Sea Urchins Experience): Visit the beautiful fishing village of Ericeira and learn all about sea urchins. Visit the caves of a local grower, learn how to pick them and pick some yourself, learn how to open them and taste the unique roe straight from the ocean. Enjoy a seafood lunch at a local restaurant overlooking the ocean where you will be able to taste some of the delicious dishes the locals make with this delicacy.
VIP Gastronomic Experience: Setubal, Azeitão and Arrabida with Chef Artur: Over the course of a full day, chef Artur will lead your guests on an exclusive, private tour in his kitchen “on wheels” along the seaside. Guests will visit the Setubal farmers' market to source the best and freshest local ingredients. Enjoy a traditional Portuguese breakfast with the chef at a local bakery and visit a shellfish farm to buy fresh seafood that you will cook for lunch.
Explore the beautiful sights of the Atlantic Ocean from the Arrábida hills and stop at a cliff overlooking the water where chef Artur will head up a cooking lesson to help spin that bounty into a delicious lunch using the kitchen in his van and outdoor grilling. Partake in an informal lunch together, nap in the sun or take a plunge in the cool water at the nearby beach, before heading out to Azeitão village to taste some specialty sweets and local wines.
Travel back in time and discover the roman process of Wine making in amphorae, in Portugal this tradition is also known as “Vinho de Talha”.
In Portugal, the Alentejo region has long been the guardian of talha wines. Here, the techniques developed by the Romans, for making wine in the clay amphorae called talhas have been kept. The talha winemaking process has been handed down from generation to generation throughout history, almost without change. The wine made in talhas is unmatched. Whether it results from more classic procedures or modernised ones, talha wine is the essence of the millenary wine culture of the Alentejo. Historical data suggest that talhas existed as far back as Roman times, in other words, for over two thousand years. The proof includes engravings showing how the Romans made and stored their wine in vessels similar or almost identical to those that we find today in Portugal.
Algarve Private Fishing and Clam Picking!
Embark on a private fishing experience on board a traditional fisherman’s boat. A truly genuine experience with a local fisherman and an opportunity to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Natural Park of Ria Formosa. Quiet and steady waters of the lagoon allow everybody to enjoy fishing or just have fun. In the afternoon, partake in a Clam Picking Experience: Another unique local experience, an opportunity to spend the day with a local clam picker on his daily clam picking tasks. A real-life adventure on a traditional fisherman's boat with life experience of these ancient skills and secrets. The activity takes place in the heart of the Natural Park of Ria Formosa, a protected lagoon for different species of fauna and flora. Guided by a local experienced fisherman and a marine biologist, you will learn the old ways of clam and razor clam picking. Finish with an oyster tasting accompanied by a glass of wine.
Experience the unique Azores tradition of "Cozido"
A privately guided tour to Furnas where your clients can enjoy the “cozido” (boiled) lunch (chicken, beef and pork, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, yams, cabbage, black pudding and chorizo). Here, the soil temperature is approximately 100 ° C and the cooking, in pots placed in holes near the hot springs, lasts for six hours. As one of the largest thermal centers in the world, with about thirty varieties of water at various temperatures, these mineral water springs are also used to treat rheumatism, bronchitis, skin and digestive tract diseases, since 1870.
Learn about the culinary treasure "Porco Preto" - Black Pig.
Your clients can visit Barrancos for a truly genuine experience - visit a smoke house where the famous Smoked Black Pork Ham is produced, known in Spain as “Pata Negra” and in Portugal as “Porco Preto”. Enjoy a VIP private visit, a Ham Carving Workshop and naturally the final prize, a tasting of the outstanding Ham. The Casa do Porco Preto offers guests the possibility to go on a visit full of flavor, where they can find all the secrets behind the traditional production of hams, shoulder cuts, black pork loins and sausages, a culinary treasure recognized worldwide.
Did you know there was Green Wine? Explore the Minho region's unique gastronomy.
Vinho Verde (Green wine) is unique worldwide and is an excellent reason to explore the Minho region. Its name is possibly related to the predominant colour of the region in which it is produced or the acidity that is peculiar to it as if the grapes are harvested before being ripe. However, both the whites and the reds are light wines that are drunk chilled and go well with fish and seafood, which abound on the coast.
The white, the most well-known and best-loved, is a particularly aromatic and refreshing drink, enjoyed as an aperitif, with salads, snacks or as a simple break on a hot day. We mustn’t forget, however, the wine’s greatest ally - the local cuisine. Start with caldo verde (cabbage soup), continue with river trout or some excellent fish from the coast, an arroz de cabidela (chicken rice cooked in blood), rojões (braised pork chunks), sarrabulho (pork rice cooked in pig blood) and end with a sweet noodle or Abade de Priscos crème caramel for dessert. And relax!
Not just any tour of Porto! A exclusive tour discovering the best Port Wine Lodges with a Knight of the port Wine Brotherhood.
Your clients can taste a wide range of spectacular Port wine with a Knight of the Port Wine Brotherhood. They can explore the world of Port wine with a passionate wine expert with 20 years of experience to guide them through the very best and offbeat Port wine lodges, bars and shops in Porto tasting some special or old wines. An extremely knowledgeable and passionate wine guide will not only craft the idyllic vinous experience just for your guests but will personally accompany them every step of the way providing insight, stories and comments on each tasting.
Visit the Private Wine Cellar of Bussaco Royal Palace (once the private cellar of the Portuguese Kings) and a tasting menu of 5 moments at “The Mesa Real” (The Royal Table)
We’ve prepared a very special experience for you, combining a wine tasting of some unique and rare wines at the wine cellar of the legendary Bussaco Palace. This palace was built for the last Kings of Portugal in 1885 and is now amongst the most beautiful and historical hotels of the world. At the beautiful Mesa Real, a former royal banquet hall that once hosted historic banquets, decorated with ten huge paintings of Camões´Os Lusiadas’, depicting scenes of Vasco da Gama's voyage to India, and under a magnificent Moorish ceiling, your guests will indulge with fine modern Portuguese terroir cuisine mastered by prominent Chef Miguel Silva.
Other Portuguese regional treats we will make sure you can try...
In Porto you have to try Francesinha which is the Portuguese take on the croque-monsieur French warm sandwich, typical from the Northern region of Portugal. The ingredients vary but it normally includes: linguiça, pork sausage, cold cuts and lean beef steak. It is served on white bread, that is then covered all around with cheese, before being “drowned” in the sauce (a tomato base with beer and piripiri), and taken to the oven to warm the ingredients and melt the cheese.
In Averio - For dinner, try the famous local dish - Leitão à Bairrada - Roasted Suckling Pig - in one of our selected restaurants
In Coimbra - For lunch, try the famous local dish “Chanfana” - Goat Stew in Red Wine, Bayleaf, garlic, and Olive Oil - at its main site “Miranda do Corvo”.
In Tomar visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site Convent of Christ and try the local convent sweets “Beija-me depressa” - Kiss me quickly.
In Nazare/Ericeria: For lunch, we recommend the famous Portuguese coast fish, such as the Sardines, Sea Bass and Gold Bream or even the Snapper.
In Obidos - visitors must taste the famous Ginjinha de Óbidos, a sour cherry liqueur preferably drunk from a small chocolate cup, where the liqueur is quite rich and sweet, contrasting with the bitterness of the dark chocolate cup which you should eat afterwards.
In the Algarve: One can’t help delighting in the local cuisine. Fish and shellfish are the main ingredients for a number of delicacies: from snacks with clams, barnacles, octopus or roe, soups and the most famous cataplana (copper casserole with steamed fish and seafood), or specialities such as carapaus alimados (skinned marinated horse mackerel) and stuffed squid. Head to the town of Guia, and try the famous Guia Chicken Piri Piri, where a hot, spicy sauce coated onto the meat as it roasts and is a must for every visitor in the Algarve. Sweets are another highlight, especially dom-rodrigos (egg and almond sweets), a recipe from the nuns of the Convent of Nossa Senhora do Carmo.
We hope you found this information about Gastronomy tours in Portugal interesting and useful. If you would like more information, example itineraries, images and videos please contact us and connect with Portugal by TravelTailors on Squirrelfish.
Let us know if you would like to set up a meeting with Paula to discuss how Portugal by TravelTailors can assist you and your clients in Portugal (inc. Azores and Madeira).