Oh. My. Sweet. Goodness. I'm in HEAVEN…read more I am hiking the "Rota Vicentina," which passes through Cercal do Alentejo. It's a really cute town that deserves a lot more noteworthiness. I stayed at a great and amazingly inexpensive hotel here and the owner's no-hesitation suggestion for dinner was this place. So off I went. The front is a bar so you're not immediately sure you're in the right place. Just follow your nose to the back restaurant area. There is a limited menu but if you take a seat and just put your dinner in the owner, Sheila's, hands, you will NOT regret it! I explained my gluten problem and she brought out a cavalcade of awesome dishes including a truly local soup and main dish of pork, pickled cauliflower, and oranges. This is the second time I've been served oranges with pork in Portugal and it's a brilliant flavor combination! My gosh, I'm exhausted from that meal. But it was so good I just had to write about it. I'm sure you can get a fancier meal in a fancier setting, but this was REAL, DOWN-HOME Portuguese country food and it was outstanding! I hope that other folks walking the Rota Vicentina and passing through Cercal see this and stop in. They will remember it for a long time!

The Passarinho is what I imagine life would be like with a Portuguese grandmother. You walk into…read morethe seemingly small restaurant expecting nothing spectacular to happen but then out pops the first friendly face of a small Portuguese woman who welcomes you to one of the tables in the back. We came at just the right time because within 15 minutes all of the tables were filled and everyone looked excited to eat. We recommend you accept their suggestion of a sampler plate of local cheese and don't forget a pitcher of "house wine". We ordered two entrées and were VERY full after finishing them. We watched sadly as our table neighbors (who had shared an entrèe) each ordered a GIANT slice of wiggly cake. Next time we will have to try that too! We paid 26€ for a cheese appetizer + pitcher of wine + bottle of bubbly water + 2 entrées. This place is great for anyone looking to really taste the local cooking and the best part is the really the elderly Portuguese women who not only cook but also serve you the food. Those are some really peppy ladies!

We passed through Vila Nova de Milfontes during our "Rota Vicentina" hiking trip and our hotel…read moreowner strongly suggested we visit this place. It was a good choice and I could clearly see it is popular with locals and visitors alike, and that the food is really solid. The interior is awesome and includes a fireplace with sofas! Our appetizers were delicious: a simple salad, pimientos de padron, and local sheep's milk cheese. I didn't love my main - it was roast lamb and potatoes, but what part of lamb it was wasn't explained to me very well. It seemed like throwaway cuts of ribs and vertebrae. It was very nicely seasoned and roasted, but it wasn't choice cuts, there was much more bone than meat, and I felt it wasn't worth the premium price they put on it. My girlfriend's food (Portuguese style steak) was excellent - so good that I packed it up for lunch on the trail tomorrow!!! The real star here was the service, which started a bit slow but was attentive and careful about my gluten issue! One thing I appreciated was that when we asked for a wine suggestion, we didn't get sold the most pricey bottles of wine on the menu. Rather, our waitress suggested one of the more inexpensive items on the list and it was really really solid! And as a post-meal snack we got a small sack of walnuts and a nutcracker! Bottom line, I didn't love my main dish, but I saw how good everyone else's was. Overall our meal of 3 appetizers, 2 mains, and wine cost about €85, which is expensive compared to every meal I've eaten thus far in Portugal outside of Lisbon. That's cheap compared to back home in DC of course! Get ready to open your wallet but if you are used to expensive meals, this will be well worth it!

The ambiance was good and service was fine. The food was so underwhelming. I ordered the roe salad,…read morewhich I normally love, but this time it was so full of vinegar I couldn't appreciate it. But I finished eating it thinking: ok maybe the next item will be fine. My husband ordered some whole squids fried and they were ok. For the mains I ordered a kind of bread porridge because I had something like it at another restaurant and loved it. The waitress seemed to warn me against ordering it : "This is very..plain. like a porridge. Very...typical portugese. You still want it?" It was unfortunate that it was just like she said. The porridge had an uninspired texture and the shrimp was overcooked. My husband's meal was a fresh fish and veges and potatoes. The ingrediants are fantastic but I couldn't get over how lackluster everything i had eaten so far was. What do I say? It wasn't awful. I ate the food but i found myself thinking i would have been more satisfied if we made food at home. It was just fine. But for the price?? It hurts my heart. This was just boring.

Nice place in the center of Vila Nova de Milfontes with a wide variety of fusion food. Great…read moreatmosphere and very high quality food. Apart from some fancy fusion food (Italian, Japanese, Malay, Indonesian, etc.) they also have some great burgers and steaks! My favorite is Mango Prawn Curry. Amazing!! For starter try their croquetes. Bom apetite!!!

At the recommendation of our accommodations we made a reservation at Ritual for dinner. The…read moreatmosphere and location are marvelous. The staff are top notch, quite helpful--making suggestions and answers all our questions. But the food was the star of the evening, honestly the best meal we had on our week long walk of the Rota Vicentina. Both salads were phenomenal, incredibly fresh cheese accompanied by wonderful vibrant produce. And the scallops were perfectly cooked, delicate, melt in your mouth. The curry was light and flavorful but didn't overpower the natural flavor of the scallops. Overall we had an outstanding experience and highly recommend you try Ritual.

Took a quick shopping break here at the Pingo Doce next door. Sat down in this little coffee shop…read morewith our Bulldog, who was welcome at the outside tables. Got some coffees, coke, a samosa and a rice ball for a snack. Just came together at 5 Euros. Talk about value...and it was even very tasty. There are other food items on the menu as well, in case you feel hungry, but we just needed a quick snack. Coffee quality was fine as well and it was nice to sit outside and take a quick rest from driving. Most supermarkets in Portugal have some coffee shops right next to. Like this one...and they are mostly very well prices. A great place for a snack and a coffee.

We stopped for lunch in Castro Verde, and we were pleased to find Villa Italia! The pizzas were…read moreamazing! A must stop if you are passing through on your way to Lisbon or Lagos.

On my way to Evora and found this small old town. Most locals ordered the Italian pizzas which…read morelooked great. I was in the mood for some pasta. The squid ink pasta with shrimps was freshly prepared as it took about 30 min. The house wine was also smooth. Highly recommend if you are near by.

Simple good food from a popular local establishment. Worth the short detour from the A2 traveling…read morefrom Lisbon to the Algarve. We were a party of 3 couples (Brits and Americans) and arrived just before 2pm on a Tuesday in October to a crowded back room full of locals having lunch. All the staff were friendly and the waitress Ana helped translate the menu and was happy to make recommendations. One unusual dish was the pork and clams. The chicken was marinated and grilled. The steak was cooked in butter and garlic. All were delicious. We all had the same dessert - a simple but incredibly light "whipped creme fraiche" with a cookie under and caramel on top. Heavenly.

What a wonderful find on our stroll through old town Vila Nova de Milfontes. Friendly and…read morewelcoming cafe with a shelf of books you can read whilst enjoying a cup of coffee. My daughter had bacalhau (cod fish) bruschetta which was loaded with fish, tomatoes and cheese - very flavourful and filling. I opted for pasta with clams - very simple flavours of olive oil, garlic, Parmesan and coriander and it was delicious. Not to be missed is their Almond Tart with Blueberry Chocolate gelato - the tart was a little over baked but it went very well with the gelato which was refreshing. We also ordered freshly squeezed orange and carrot juice which was good but would have been better if the oranges and carrots were chilled. Service was excellent and attentive.

We found this cute place when we arrived in Milfontes. We didn't have a reservation, but they…read moreworked out a table for us. Service all around was excellent. The food however was lackluster. It was greasy and garlicky and lacked flavor unfortunately. I had the fish of the day plate. Others has the burgers (veal and vegan).