Day 24: Porto Part 3

The Mercado Bolhão's original location is currently undergoing renovations, with promises to open July 2020. All the stands and shops were moved to an equally nice temporary indoor space. You can find just about anything here: fresh meat, seafood, fruits, vegetables, home goods and supplies. We picked up some oranges and made our way to the Majestic Cafe. This long-standing establishment is very similar to Les Deux Magots in Paris. The staff is all dressed up in suits or bow ties with vests. Much of the decor is virtually untouched since 1921. You can get a decent breakfast like French toast, although it’s on the pricier side. Honestly it’s probably worth just getting a cup of coffee or tea and admiring the interior design.

Another dish you do not want to miss when in Porto is the cachorrinhos. It's a Portuguese sausage in a crispy bun with cheese and a spicy sauce. Cervejaria Gazela makes some excellent dogs that go well with fries and an ice cold beer. In our opinion the sauce is not spicy at all but those who have a sensitive palate may want to order the sauce on the side. Just be prepared to be asked, "which side, left or right?" Over at the wall of photos, you’ll spot a picture of Bourdain with the owner. You can tell he was genuinely happy in the pic at a simple bar like Cervejaria Gazela. A million thank yous to you Tony for all the food recommendations you have provided.

Still hungry, we made our way to another recommended restaurant called Brasão Cervejaria Aliados. Our guide from day 22 prefers this eating establishment because of their good service and fast seating compared to overly crowded places like Café Santiago. Though we were sat immediately, ironically the server did not return for at least 10 minutes to obtain our order. You have to hassle them to even get their attention. And it wasn't even that busy that day. Luckily the food was decent. The salad with sliced green apples and tomatoes was refreshing, however the sprinkled bread crumbs on top was very baffling. Maybe it was to add textual contrast but some of the crumbs got very soggy, leaving a very unpleasant gritty taste in your mouth. The meat, mushroom and truffle rissol was more appetizing. In Portugal they have petiscos, small dishes that are the equivalent to tapas in Spain. In this case, this petisco was a breaded, fried Portuguese turnover called rissol. It was very similar to the ones we ate the day before on our wine tour to Douro Valley. Lately we have been on a truffle craze and it absolutely satisfied our truffle obsession.

Later on we took a bus to just outside of Porto where the beaches are located. It was such a beautiful day for a nice stroll. The ground started out as a rocky terrain where the locals fish and eventually it transitioned to the more familiar sand we are used to back at home. The sun was warm but it was accompanied with a pleasant cool breeze. Unfortunately we were pressed on time, so we weren't able to go in the water. We were actually dressed very nicely, just in case we needed to rush to our dinner reservation. On the other side of the street, opposite to the beaches were some bars with outdoor seating. We parked ourselves on some surprisingly comfortable lawn chairs and ordered a round of cocktails. The service was unusually slow at Bocca, from the time the waitress came to take our order, to deliver our drinks and to finally receive our check. We quickly paid and rushed to our bus back into town. With our luck, we were caught in some major traffic, right in the middle of rush hour. At times, it felt like we were only going 5 miles an hour. We got off the bus to walk the rest of the trip, hoping we would make our dinner reservation in time. We saw our bus pass us to make a turn, finally off the busy street and driving uphill at a decent speed. Like we said, no luck for us.

After hiking up some steep hills and basically passing every restaurant we have eaten at the past few days, we arrived 10 minutes late to Euskalduna Studio. From the outside, it didn’t look anything like a restaurant. We were confused and just when we spotted a button that looked like a doorbell, the door swung open and we were welcomed by one of the chefs. Inside was very sleek and modern. We were the first to arrive and the same chef that welcomed us, kindly pulled our chairs out for us to sit down. He pushed us closer to the tabletop, something even fine dining establishments rarely do these days. In front of us was their kitchen where you can observe every little detail and action that was going on in our courses. Slowly, two at a time couples would arrive and eventually the dining room was nearly full.

Before dinner service, we were presented a blank card. If you were in the mood to be surprised, avoid flipping the card. Otherwise you can peek for a brief description of all the dishes that were to be served that night. One thing to keep in mind is that they only have one prix fixe menu. You must have faith in all the chefs that they will deliver some amazing, high quality dishes through out the night.

Right away you can tell there is a bit of Asian influence in the food they serve. The dashi with vegetables was probably one of the most flavorful broths we have tasted. One of the chefs explained that dashi is typically infused with dried fish to provide the signature umami flavor. If you don't know, umami is one of the five basic tastes, along with sweetness, sourness, bitterness and saltiness. It is often described as savory, closely associated with broths and cooked meat. Interestingly, their dashi has no meat products at all. They combine various vegetables in their stock to create an exquisite broth that is arguably tastier that any beef or chicken soup out there.

After travelling in Italy for many days and the longing for Asian food was worsening, our cravings were finally satisfied with plates of rice and tuna, along with oxtail and Kimchi. We were even transported back to France with a shallot pie, a tribute to the French tarte tartin. Normally this buttery pastry is topped with caramelized fruit like apples or peaches, but instead the onion variety was the focal point, often seen in savory dishes. Yet you can see why they went in this direction...the natural sweetness when you caramelized shallots, along with a slightly burnt taste made this tart a winner in our book.

Euskalduna Studio is the epitome of our wanderlust. We seek amazing restaurants all over the world, hoping they will serve a little slice of heaven. That night we tasted multiple slices. Along with the food, we enjoyed the unparalleled level of interaction with these talented chefs. They were entertained by all of our questions and appreciated our interest in their style of cooking. And we weren’t surprised to find out that many of the cooks worked or interned at the famous Mugaritz in San Sebastian, Spain. It was a pleasure witnessing the chefs cook right in front of us, demonstrating their skills and knowledge of Asian cooking techniques, while displaying their passion, love and dedication to use of local Portuguese ingredients. They certainly put Porto on the map. And we are excited to see where they will be at in a few years from now.