8 days in Portugal-5-11 to 5/18/2022

Day 1-Lisbon
Arrival/Igreja Sao Cristovao
Praça da Figueira, Confeitaria
Praça de Comércio
Streets in Baixa and Alfama
Dinner at Farol De Santa Luzia

Day 2-Lisbon
Lisbon Cathedral
Church De Sao Vincente de Fora
Lisbon National Pantheon
Lunch at Time Out Market
Walking around
Dinner at Boi-Cavalo

Day 3-Lisbon
Belém Tower
Upper level
Jeronimos Monastery
Upper level/High Choir
Church of Santa Maria
Dinner at Basque

Day 4-Faro
Old town
Old town continuation
Church of San Pedro
Dinner at Villa Adentro

Day 5-Faro/Albufeira

Farmer Market
Sao Rafael Beach
Lunch at Rocha Palha
Old town, Albufeira
Stoll in Faro
Dinner at Pigs & Cows

Day 6-Faro

Ria Formosa

Desert Island

Desert island cont'

Lunch

Faro Island

Dinner/Faro @ night

Day 7-Beja/Lisbon

Beja Castle

Beja Cathedral

Lunch-Adega 25

Abril

Bairro Alto, Lisbon

Dinner-Taberna

Day 8-Peniche/Lisbon

Surf beach

Old town

lunch @ Sardinha

Coast line

Dinner @ Ramiro

Lisbon at night

Day 5- Dinner at Pigs & Cows, Faro-5/15/2022

Pigs and Cows is a French & Portuguese restaurant located on Rua Baptista Lopes in Faro. 

The restaurant is ran by a husband and wife team.  The chef is French and the wife is French/Portuguese.    The chef used to work in the aerospace industry in France and wanted to do something else so they move to Faro where his wife originated from and decided to open a restaurant.  It took them a while to come with  a concept but ultimately they settled on serving dishes that came from their travel, served in a cozy atmosphere, where customers should have a feeling of dinning at home surrounded by world music and great company.


The motto of the restaurant is Good vibes for happy people.  I like that!

   

The poster on the left said that this is not an ordinary restaurant.  Pigs & Cows  are a space of share, for those who are not in a hurry, for epicureans and happy people...

If you sit down it's because you have already chosen come and spend a moment of your life with us, in a quiet and different environment, dedicated to the pleasure of the table, to the music and to you!

The chef menu is listed at 44.50 Euros per person for 3 courses.

 

Our table is against the wall and not to far from the entrance.

 

View from our table of the dinning room.

 

Posters for cows against the wall.

 

Table set up.

 

 

 

We were given an I-pad to select our menu.  On the right is bread basket to start.

 

This is the first page you see when you look at the menu.

 

The kitchen is in the back on the left.

 

Another view of the kitchen.

 

Here you can see the chef in the kitchen.

 

Here is the wife and husband team looking over the orders.

 

Hoa ordered a bottle of red wine: Lagoa Lva 2018 - 29.50 Euros.

 

Amuse bouche: toasted bread, some type of Camembert, Iberico jamon drizzled in balsamic vinegar.

 

Hoa loves Iberico Jamon so this hit the spot!

 

We had 4 choices for our starters.

 

I selected the smoked codfish. 

The dish was brought to our table in a smoking cloche, then our server lifted the cloche and then smoke just emanate creating a lot of oohh and ahh's.

 

The chef told me that Codfish is cured first and then served in a citric nage, dill, red peppercorn, and citrus zest.

 

What a lovely presentation.

  

Very light dish and I also enjoyed the citrus nage which is very refreshing and light.

 

Hoa selected a Beef Carpaccio.

 

 

Also very good, and nicely presented.

 

For our main dish, we had a choice of 5 dishes.

 

Hoa is a carnivore so of course he ordered the Beef Filet Mignon, with roasted potatoes, mixed salad, and served with Roquefort sauce.

 

 

Hoa enjoyed his Filet mignon and he also liked the sauce. 

 

I selected the Chef's sea Bass.  It was brought out to our table and our waiter proceed with a blow torch to caramelize the surface of the fish.

 

Very fun to watch our server doing this.

 

The sauce was rich tasty and really delicious, but I don't remember what was in it.  The Sea bass was served with 3 types of cauliflowers.

 

For desserts we have 5 choices.

 

I selected the House's surprise which is a Pavlova with raspberry sauce and a crème Anglaise on top.

 

So colorful and also very good.

 

Hoa ordered the panna cotta with an goose berry sauce.

 

Both desserts were also very good.

 

At the end of our meal the chef came by to ask us if we enjoyed our meal and of course we told him we loved it.  He was also very surprised that we spoke French and he was delighted to talk to us.  He even offered Hoa some Japanese whiskey and proceed to tell us how him and his wife got into this business and how they both love to live in Portugal vs. France. 

We asked him how he was able to charge so little (44.50 euros per person) and make money.  He then replied that he manages this restaurant really closely so there are very little alimentary waste, also they are in Faro and they have to price their food accordingly for the locals. 

We really enjoyed the time food here and the service was friendly and professional. Our total bill came of 106.28 Euros including tax and service.  What a steal for an amazing dinning experience.

 

NEXT.... Day 6-Ria Formosa

 

 

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