Restaurants and Cafés

It is a Wine Cellar-Restaurant and both names suit it well. It occupies a very picturesque space with three different rooms: the main room with very high headroom, old brick floor, white walls, wooden ceiling, heavy wooden chairs and tables and seven large clay jugs in single file along the whole right side of the room; this leads on to another receding room with traditional Alentejo furniture; and from here on to a third room, which is simpler but just as comfortable connecting to the kitchen that is large and tidy, and to the terrace outside. It deserves to be seen. The clay jugs, in addition to being decorative are useful, they are still used to make wine – which is known as vinho da talha, wine that is fermented in the clay jugs or vases. This justifies its name as a wine cellar, the same way the good food gives it the dignity of a restaurant.

The menu is very long and what surprises us is not so much the long list of delicacies but their variety, especially as regards the specialities, game and vegetarian dishes. Among the favourites are, for starters: small cheeses and local sausages, crépine crackling and silarca mushrooms with eggs or grilled; the main dishes include stewed chickpeas, lamb stew, beans and thistle stalks (it may be a vegetarian dish or with pork but what makes it special is the aroma and flavour of the aromatic herbs), asparagus migas with carne de alguidar and tomato and partridge açordas; desserts that are all homemade include encharcada, soft cheese tart, toucinho do céu and sericaia. The wine cellar consists of close to fifty references from a dozen producers, all from the council of Vidigueira. Friendly service!