Restaurants and Cafés

The name is given to one of the best-known restaurants in Alentejo, as well as its corresponding chef. Everything began in 1993, when Maria and Cândido Monteiro decided to transform an old barn, resting against Alandroal castle, into a restaurant. The purpose was to attract people to Alandroal, by providing them with a space and facilities and food that were all genuinely from the Alentejo region. And that is what they did: a friend from the area helped them decorate the room in the guise of an Alentejo patio with clothes hanging out to dry, a little bird’s cage, doors of the houses with their shutters, beautiful; Maria focused on regional cuisine, with regional produce, certificates, albeit she knew how to cook other things as she learned with her mother and father who was a cook in India.      

The basic idea is simple, with local produce, olive oil, onions, garlic and aromatic herbs: mint, pennyroyal, parsley and coriander. The result is surprising, as the Alentejo-style stewed chick peas, a very rich, savoury and perfumed dish, are perhaps the house special and without a doubt, are a creation of genius. Old-fashioned leg of lamb or lamb shank, stewed in white wine; stewed secretos according to a recipe by Maria, with moist rice and thin potato fritters fried in olive oil; stewed partridge, also with delicious rice, that is made with a game sauce; dogfish soup, with real dogfish and the exact amount of coriander and vinegar; bacalhau dourado, that has Spaniards queuing up for it; deboned pig’s trotters in a coriander sauce that is simply delicious; and much more, always with exquisite produce and cuisine. The same skill is put into the desserts: fidalgo, encharcada, sericá with Elvas Plums PDO, pão de rala, toucinho do céu, moist chocolate cake, among others. A very good selection of the best Alentejo wines, together with wines from other regions of the country. Attentive and friendly service!