Porto Food Tour with Taste Porto
They say love goes through the stomach, although I think that falling in love with Porto is easy even while hungry : ) Anyway, Porto has such a rich gastronomy that it would be a pity not discovering and learning this aspect of Portuguese culture. In my previous articles, I have written a lot about typical Portuguese food, desserts, places to eat, drink, vegetarian restaurants, francesinha, Port wine tasting, etc. But Taste Porto is here to guide you through the secrets of Porto tastes and show you the best out of it in a way you will feel like talking to an old friend showing you his passion for something he has known for many years.
There are several tours you can take, for example the longest-running food tour Downtown & Bolhão Market Food Tour, or Craft Beer & Food Tour in Porto – yes, you read correctly, Porto is not only about Port wine as some people think.
I took part in a Vintage & Port Wine Food Tour and I can tell you that before the tour I thought how much I knew about Portuguese gastronomy, Porto secret spots and Port wine production. However, during the tour I discovered I still have some drawbacks and I was very excited to learn about new traditional food and local places I have not known before, although I have been tasting Porto for more than a decade!
The tour started in Casa Chineza meaning literally “A Chinese House” – a lovely grocery store opened in 1939. Here our tour guide Ângelo explained to us about typical Portuguese charcuterie and we tried our first food and wine!
We continued the tour in Mercado do Bolhão being an open-air market first opened in 1837 and renovated a few years ago. We tried some canned fish, more wine and learned about some local products. What I personally like the most about Mercado do Bolhão is meeting the local people selling their products with love and pride. The lady in the picture proudly showed us her tomatoes, which are one of the biggest in the whole country.
Afterwards, we walked in the city while Ângelo showed us some secret spots related to gastronomy, but also architecture and other fields. I was again surprised when he showed and explained some places I did not know even after walking in Porto streets for more than a decade.
As a next stop, we visited one of the oldest cafés in the city, where we learned about its history and also about how important the coffee in the lives of “Portuenses” (= Portuguese name for Porto locals) is. Do not worry, if you do not drink coffee. Portuguese have a solution for you (and no, it is not a decaf coffee).
On our next stop we tasted one of the most popular Portuguese fast food – bifana – accompanied with white wine.
Afterwards we finally tasted several types of Port wine accompanied with traditional pastries and learned about its production in a lovely private room of Garrafeira OIi Portugal.
Overall, I highly recommend the food tour with Taste Porto for anyone visiting Porto for a few days and wanting to learn (not only) about its gastronomy, but also for people (either expats, but even locals) living in Porto for some time to build up on their knowledge and see Porto from a different perspective.