Restaurants and Cafés

A meal in the restaurant O Encalho is like a meal at home: based on local produce cooked according to traditional recipes, simply and carefully, resulting in dishes that are full of flavour. It opened at the start of the century on the initiative of Mariana Lourinho, who had never worked in a restaurant before and decided to do the things the way she knew. i.e. like at home. And she continues to do so, as she confesses, she never thought she would have so much success. The room also helps with its hospitable and cosy atmosphere provided by the old thick walls, the brick floor, the wooden ceiling, the fireplace, the niches with slots made of bricks that is used as a wine rack, the curtains, the tables with cotton tablecloths protected by paper covers and the padded chairs. It is as simple as it is cosy. 

The food is also simple and appealing, exalting the traditional flavours of Alentejo. The starters include the ever-present regional cheeses, Alentejo pork sausages, cured Alentejo pork ham, crackling, green asparagus with eggs and a variety of salads. The main dishes include migas, made like in olden days with a frying pan used just for that purpose, very firm and golden, chickpea stew, lamb stew, beans and mushrooms, pig’s trotters in coriander sauce, bacalhau açorda, bacalhau broth with purslane or spinach, fresh cheese and egg. Desserts include homemade conventual, traditional desserts, such as encharcada de ovos, sericaia, pão de rala, chocolate mousse and rice pudding (without eggs) and other treats. Exclusively regional selection of wines!