After leaving Sau Lourenco do Barrocal, we drove for nearly two hours to reach our lunch stop, Ilha do Arroz Beach Lounge & Restaurant.
We kicked off our meal with rice balls and Algarve-style squid. Interestingly, the establishment’s staff recommended that we eat the rice balls with soy sauce. The squid, which was cooked in garlic, was not only satisfyingly tasty, but tender, too.
It may look like fish and chips, but it’s actually cuttlefish!
The squid was followed by a cuttlefish platter. Seasoned with salt and pepper before being fried, the cuttlefish tasted even more awesome when we squeezed the lemon over it.
Our main course was a stew-like Cataplana, which was filled with clams, mussels, prawns and three types of fish: golden bream, sea bass and monk fish. Needless to say, the freshness of the ingredients really shone, and everything was cooked to perfection. The tomato flavour was punchy, too. The Portuguese really know their stuff when it comes to seafood!
We would’ve saved more room for dessert had we known that it would consist of five different items! There was vanilla ice-cream with chocolate chips, a very rich chocolate mousse cake, creme brulee, rice pudding with coconut, and a fruit crumble. To describe it as sinful would have been an understatement!
Stay tuned for part 2!
