Restaurants: In the Algarve you find a wide selection of Portuguese (and Algarvian) food as well as international cuisines. Portuguese lunch at 13:00 and have dinner at 20:00 but restaurants are very used to tourists and have very wide opening hours. Eating out with children is a real delight as Portuguese are very welcoming of children and try to cater for all their wishes, often producing dishes that not on the menu.
You’ll find that restaurant portion sizes can be quite generous and therefore most restaurants also offer half-portions (meia-dose). These are frequently more than enough. The best way is to ask the waiter how much food he suggests one orders. When it comes to the bill, a service charge is not usually included on the bill and tipping is at your discretion. If you do, then 10% is more than adequate, but anywhere from 5% upwards will do.
Casa Primo do Caracol is the closest restaurant to Casa Flor de Sal (1.5km). It serves simple traditional Portuguese and local food. You can not only get very good grilled chicken and fish, but also local delicacies such as snails and “Arroz de Lingueirão” (rice made with Grooved Razor Shells). The reastaurant is very popular with locals and if you wish to go there on a Sunday, you should consider walking or biking as parking will be quite difficult.
Fuseta (3.5km) has about 20 restaurants and cafés including traditional Portuguese, Mediterranean, Italian and Vegetarian. We recommend Casa Corvo, a completely no frills restaurant located right on the water by the boat quay that does amazing grilled fresh fish and chicken. Paiol Historias & Sabores is a VERY small restaurant, with a unique décor, serving delicious Portuguese Tapas. You really need to make a reservation here.
Moncarapacho has several good restaurants and, in high season, if you would like peace & quiet, we recommend you go here. The two restaurants we like the most are António and Da Anas.
Restaurant António is a somewhat more upmarket restaurant, famed for its grilled steaks on the stone (you cook the steak to your liking at your table). Their menu is very large with a wide range of European dishes as well as well-known Portuguese dishes. Da Anas restaurant has a small menu that relies on ingredients found fresh each day. We recommend their lamb chops (or leg of lamb). Their desserts are very good too.
Olhão (6km) has well over 100 restaurants and you can find most cuisines here: Indian, Chinese, Mexican, Japanese, Italian, and very many seafood and Portuguese restaurants. If you go to the main road along the lagoon, you will have the promenade and the markets on one side and restaurant after restaurant after restaurant on the other.
For a special dinner we recommend Gunther´s Restaurant in Pechão (8.8km). It is owned by a Belgium chef and not surprisingly the food is Belgium/French inspired and of very high standard. It has a lovely atmosphere, very calming and relaxed.
