Cantinho de S.José is another quintessential place right on our street.
Don’t be put off by its outside looks, that said, not that it is a palace inside, but you’ll get my point in a minute.
You go through the pair of sixties’ aluminium frame doors and down a few steps. As you proceed and your eyes adjust to the place you’ll reckon there are quite a few tables, maybe ten or a dozen.
To the left, at the end of the space, which is right there, there is a counter with the fridge window displaying the desserts, behind there’s a decoration of sorts with bottles of wine.
The friendly very talkative waiter will hand you the menu but by the time is done with it you no longer need to read it because he’ll have said it all using plenty of adjectives and descriptions very much his own. Well, of course this all depends on how much your Portuguese has improved since checking in at The Elevator Hostel.
Possible options are…
…Arroz de Pato. Duck Rice is a traditional recipe from the North of Portugal. The duck is cooked in a broth the flesh is removed and shredded. Then duck stock is used to cook the rice, giving it the flavour and the rich taste) and…
… Cozido à Portuguesa (a traditional stew of different meats and vegetables, with numerous regional variations, with rice, potatoes, cabbage, a plethora of sausages, including of course the blood sausage, the meat sausage and the flour sausage which is made mainly from wheat flour).
It’s difficult to tell in advance how far you’ll be able to move after any one of these mains, both excellent choices. By then, the talkative waiter will return to your table and start reciting the desserts of day. Invariably he’ll start with the calorie bombs, like for instance that egg pudding that takes bacon or lard or both, by saying, ‘first the light ones…’
Just in case, let me spell out here some basic survival instructions…there are four steps that you have to negotiate to return to our street. Make a left go straight ahead at the first intersection and left on the first street up, following the tracks of the funicular, back to The Elevator Hostel.
the elevator hostel 