I’ve already shared with you the francesinha from my first day in Porto.

Before.

With proper gravy application.

And the detritus afterwards.

For the public record, the beer you see in the photos “Super Bock” is a goddamn keeper. That shit is delicious and always served cold and frosty.

Hell a man could drink that as his daily beer were he so inclined.

The next day after a near comatose sleep it was time for the walking tour. I dined with a lovely couple along the banks of the Douro River and we started with the fantastic charcuterie board you see in the banner.

Salumis, chorizo, Iberian ham, jams, grapes, cows’ milk cheese, goats’ milk cheeses, sheeps’ milk cheeses. Beer and wine and a lovely tomato salad.

With pomegranate seeds, onion and green olives and a simple pour of a nice spicy local olive oil as the only dressing.

There was also a bread basket with several small loaves of still warm bread.

Holy shit.

Of course for the room rental I needed some “room ham and cheese.”

To go with the room wine.

I’m not a fucking savage. Although that ham and cheese was so insanely good there were a few moments of “eating with bare hands” savagery in there. I mean, shit I guess you had to be there.

My next day was the day of my yacht trip so I ate a fairly substantial breakfast at what turned out to be one of my two favorite restaurants I visited, Dama Pe De Cabra. Hey BFC! This is a food rec!

Everything they did was spectacular right down to the basics.

Look at this orange juice.

Something so simple but look in the glass. They froze orange slices and put one in each glass of just squeezed juice to keep it cold. Seriously I fucking loved this place and would have gone multiple times but they were closed on 2 of the days I was there.

How was their meat and cheese board?

Let’s find the fuck out shall we?

Chorizo, linguica and a smoky chorizo from the Algarve region. That bread was a house made, very rustic pumpkin bread. The jams included a marmalade and another that was an onion jam with port wine reduction.

Here’s how you do this “local style.”

I can’t… Holy shit, dude! And this was my first course!

Everything is in perfect synchronicity. Every flavor enhanced the others. Every piece was perfection.

I ate a little heavier on this morning and please notice, no alcohol. My boat ride wasn’t until 6 PM and I very much wanted to be alive for that so this figured to be my only meal for the next several hours.

Ready for main course?

This simple unassuming looking meal was without question and very easily proclaimed, one of the best things I’ve ever eaten in my entire life.

Period.

This is “tripas” or tripe with smoked chorizo and some seasonal greens slow simmered with some white beans. This has been cooked for hours in a stew along with I’m guessing a pork stock and a little tomato sauce.

I love how they give you some chunks of bread so you won’t even need the spoon. Just dunk some of that bread in the little iron pot and sample perfection. I’m practically in tears just writing this. It’s worth a return trip for just this.

Here’s the sign! Just go!

Fun story time!

I posted a Trip Advisor review of this place basically while I was sitting there. This is something I’ve never done before. I used the two food photos you see up there as banner images of the review.

I received an email this week saying that review has been read over 1,000 times. And I just posted it in mid September!

Those are sexy photos though.

After a bit of rest I took my 3 hour tour. Details here if you missed it.

I intentionally excluded food photos from that post so I could put them here.

Here you go.

Fresh homemade bread, more ham and salamis and you see that cheese right there? That dear friends is a soft, very ripe sheeps’ milk cheese that I would make sexy, sexy love time with. Fuck all the way off that shit was dynamite. The captain said it came from his friends farm.

Please note, I’m also sipping a glass of vinho verde. It’s pronounced “Veen Verd” and I brought a couple of bottles of this stuff home with me. Captain described it as summer in a glass. Vinho verde means “green” wine. Or fresh wine. This stuff is only about 3-6 months old and it is goddamn dynamite. Holy shit does it pair with the meats and that legendary fucking gooey cheese right there.

I was in heaven, man!

I ended up drinking a full bottle on the boat. Last thing I was served was a glass of tawny port. This may sound odd since I made a trip specifically to Porto Portugal but I’m not really much of a fan of Port wine. I find it a little too strong and a bit on the cloying side but Hoo-fucking-boy does it pack a punch.

It was an excellent glass of port but it got my knees a little wobbly.

After the boat trip I took an Uber ride back to the room for the night.

I made a visit to this little place which was basically sharing a wall with the building I was staying in.

This is Ruial Francesinhas. Yes, another francesinha place. I went here somewhere along the way – I’m guessing the night of the boat ride – because I have photos to prove it and according to the menu listed right there I had a Cacchoro Especial or this baby.

Along with another Super Bock or 3. Let’s take a look at what’s under the hood.

That would be a split down the miiddle hot dog that’s been griddled. It’s also got bacon and ham and it’s covered in cheese and francesinha sauce.

Dear god. And this was late at night!

Next day and I had to be a tourist.

Had to get these of course.

Pastel de nada and a cafe con leite.

This place makes these by the thousands.

And it was freaking packed there.

The pastels are a small pastry shell with custard filling and a bit of fresh cinnamon grated on top. Delightful.

I wandered around doing touristy shit like buying stuff for the granddaughters and such. Then I  made another magical discovery.

This motherfucker right here.

Casa Guedes. This place is almost next door to Dama Pe De Cabra and I saw what the folks were eating the day before.

BFC! You’re gonna want to jot this shit down because this place does this.

They roast pork leg and whole shanks and also  bake their own breads so they can make these (which you’ve seen a time or two before.)

Pork sandwich, fresh bread, sheeps’ milk cheese. Hot out of the fryer homemade chips and the ubiquitous Super Bock.

Sweet jesus yes. You need one of these.

See?

This would have been the first of 2 visits during the trip.

Later that night after finding Dok in town we headed over to a thrash metal brewery.

Cheers Dok!

Dok and I tried a sports bar for an NFL Sunday but it was also Rugby World Cup and EPL football day so no NFL for you!

They did have this lovely Porto dog though!

Wrapped in bacon and brie with honey mustard.

The next day Dok and I did more touristy things including Livraria Lello but we’re here for the food. We found a killer little tapas bar wandering around downtown, They were called Metro and Meio.

Here’s the menu.

And they brought out the bad ass tapas plate for us.

Hol-lee shit was this good. The empanada looking pastries were bacalho fritters.

While we were consuming mass quantities of meats and cheeses and beers and wine I noticed the table next to us with this odd set-up. I asked if I could take a picture.

The flaming sausage pig weenie trough! I think that was cognac that they finished cooking the sausage with.

Yes, I was given a bite and that was a real damn tasty bite of sausage.

My last full day in town and I called an Uber for a trip to Foz De Douro. It’s a part of Porto about 6-7 miles away from downtown but they have this for a view instead of a river.

I found the beach!

Then ordered this.

Yep. It was just as good as it looked.

As I was eating my pizza the owner noticed me gazing out of the window and she asked me “What do you think of the view?”

I told her “We have the same view at home but it’s an entirely different ocean. She then poured me an icy cold small dram of limoncello and said to enjoy the view as long as I liked.

This country man.

After an uneventful but extremely long flight or two home I was back in California. Back in Pedro.

I did however, have a little something that took my right back to Porto. At least for the night anyway.

Hope you enjoyed this travelogue and I hope it gave you some ideas about adding another possible destination to your vacation bucket list.

Because this place is truly magical.

Be well everyone.