The Story of My Quest to Find Chanfana:
tl;dr Took a tour and learned about a regional dish of goat stew called chanfana. Drove 25km to try it.
We booked a walking tour of Coimbra through AirBnB, and while sitting and talking with our guide prior to beginning our tour she mentions that the Coimbra region is famous for a dish called Chanfana (shawn-faw-nuh). It's goat meat that is stewed with herbs and red wine. We continued on our tour for the next few hours, and by the end we were pretty hungry. But alas, all of the restaurants and cafes we looked at were either closed, mediocre, or wayyyyyy too expensive. That's when I remembered... Chanfana!
I went into a kitschy shop owned by a Portuguese mother and daughter. In Portugues, I asked them where we could eat some Chanfana, and first they didn't answer the question because they said I sounded Portuguese but I looked like a foreigner. After explaining that I had lived in Portugal for a number of years in the past, they told us that Chanfana is not a dish they typically try to make for tourists. Normally this wouldn't be a problem; we'd just find a more local restaurant out of the touristy part of the city. But, it was August, and all of the locals were on holiday. She said we might have some luck if we searched the lower city, but our best bet was to travel to the little village of Miranda do Corvo. We thanked them and made our way back to the edge of the city where we had parked.
The drive to Miranda do Corvo was beautiful. Verdant hills, vineyards, and small farms surrounded us on the way. We arrived at about 6:30pm only to remember that most sit-down restaurants in Portugal don't open until 7:30pm, and this was the case for all four of the restaurants in the village that looked like they might serve Chanfana. We picked one, and after waiting for it to finally open, we walked our starving bodies into the restaurant, Museu de Chanfana(Museum of Chanfana).
The meal was delicious. My wife and I both started with soup. Mine was Sopa do Casamento, or wedding soup, which was a vegetable soup made from the broth of the Chanfana with crusty bread in it. It was deliciously rich. My wife had a yummy farm soup of beans, veggies, meat and sausage. For the main course, my wife had one of the best pork loins I had ever tasted, and I had Chanfana!
I was surprised at how not-goaty it was. The meat just fell apart in my mouth and melted away. The stew liquid was so aromatic and rich with the red wine and spices. This was a meal to be remembered. We finished off our meal with a molten chocolate fudge cake and a scoop of strawberry ice cream with whipped cream, and we were so happy and full.
Last of all, the final bill for the meal was 33.50€. That included drinks, soup, entrees and a dessert!
So now you know: if you're ever near Coimbra, Portugal and you want some great regional food at an amazing price, check out Museu de Chanfana in Miranda do Corvo. read more
