Quick food, Porto

Imagine if you can, 7 Manchester City fans; all in our City gear; wanting to be in the action and atmosphere pre-match, but also wanting to see what Porto has to offer.
We walked a short distance from our hotel, down the hills and along the cobbled streets and found a square with cafe/resturant type places. The sun was lovely and warm so we sat in the outdoor seating area. (When I say the sun was warm - we were in t-shirts/football shirts and all of the locals were wrapped up tight in their winter woolies!!).
The language barrier wasn't an issue as these very clever people had photographs next to all of the options in the menu.
Six of us were talked into 'Porto's speciality', and the non-adventurous one (my Dad!) had a hamburger (which came without bread!!).
Porto's speciality is a hot sandwich. You can choose the filling you want, but traditionally, it's a piece of white bread topped with sausage, bacon, steak and cheese, then the other piece of white bread. Now the interesting part! The sandwich is then wrapped in more cheese and smothered in a orange spicy sauce. It's not one for those with poor cholesterol and it is very filling!! We all enjoyed it. It was something none of us had had before.
The price was just right and the beer was on draft (Super Bock). We sat and ate our meal taking in our surroundings. Admiring the beautiful buildings, watching the local teenagers practice their skateboarding, watching the old trams that passed and getting a sense of this area of the city.

It looked good...
The bread was very nice....
The ham and cheese were ok...

But oh dear... "the steak" ????

It tasted like it had been pulled out of the river. 4 of us tasted it but the nicest description anyone had was "rank"

Typical Portugese café to have a good chat and a hearty breakfast. The place was so busy that we had to stand. We did not mind and could have stayed there for ages just people watching. Old and young chatted away having their tapas and drinks.

Favorite Dish: We had a mixture of tapas and all were scrummy and kept us going for most of the day. The coffe and hot chocolate were good too.

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This place is what we call at home a "hole in the wall" cafe. If you filled the seats and the bar I doubt if you could get a dozen people in it. It is just a bar with a couple of tables made from barrels and a small bar. I laughed that one of the tables had a "reserved" sign on it like it was the Ritz dining room. However, it was a refreshing stop for a light lunch of very simple sandwiches, chips and, since it was a warm day, a coke. It's main attraction for us was that it is right on the Praca do Infante Dom Henrique between our last stop at the Bolsa Palace and our next stop, the Ribeira

The food plaza on the fourth floor of the "Via Carina" shopping center offers lots of different food. McDo, Pizza Hut and many other fast food chains are present but you will also be able to find small local food stores and cafés. The place was very crowded with all seats being taken when I first went there at about 1.30 pm but it had thinned out later when we returned at about 5.30 pm.
By the way, the security people, one of whom you can see on the left, didn't want me to take pictures of the place - but I couldn't have cared less ...

Flunch, loacted on the third floor of the shopping centre in Gaia, is a buffet style restaurant offering salads, meats, pasta and pizza. Simply select what you want, pile it high, and head for the check out.

Favorite Dish: Anything from the meat selection.

Third floor, Gaia Shopping Mall.
The third floor at the Gaia shopping mall is a wide range of bars and restaurants, all at good prices. Restaurants include a buffet sytle, italian, chinese, McDonalds, Israeli and a couple of sandwich bars.

I haven't tried the food and I haven't been to McDo for the past 5 years at least .. but i've had a look inside and the building is quite nice !!!

This famous talkabout pastry is the best i ever taste. A Crumbled and caramilised crust while sweet tasting full fragrance custard is the best to describe this delicious tart.