Name of restaurant or pub: Restaurante Atlantida

Location: Praia 3 Irmaos, Alvor, Portugal

Web site: no site

Telephone number: 0035 282 459 647

Date of visit: June 2010

Approx. cost per head: £40

Comments on wine list/beer: local wines and beers

Media link:

Review:

Restaurante Atlantida, Alvor, Portugal

Back in the 90’s when the Canadian dollar was weaker than today and Vancouver had fewer crack gangs, a group of us visited Whistler several winters on the trot. The snow was deep and the beer flowed freely and cheaply, but the thing which most excited the adolescent in me was that for the equivalent of about six quid you could order a ‘surf and turf’ in the resort’s steakhouse.

In the UK for at least twice the price you would be presented with half a dozen pieces of frozen scampi substitute and some tough-as-old-boots beef all nuked by a grumbling student in Ugg boots… you might also be in a Wetherspoons pub.

In Whistler in 1999 however you would have been served a whole pacific lobster tail and a perfectly cooked Canadian beef fillet steak with melted butter, grilled mushrooms and fries all served with a smile and an ‘Ey’. It was good, so good in fact that I ate this most nights for nearly two weeks with startlingly conspicuous consequences.

It was then, after several days of eating the most amazing barbequed fresh fish that I craved cow and opted to try the surf and turf at Restaurante Atlantida on the beach in Alvor. After the obligatory olives, bread, butter and cheese which we later discovered were not obligatory at all, the other half tucked into a perfectly cooked rock bass steak with wilted greens whilst I enjoyed a good cut of fillet topped with large and very fresh langoustines and some rosemary potatoes. The ingredients could be counted on one hand, all were very fresh, seasoned and cooked to perfection. Delicious. We paired with the local dry white which like the rest of Portugal’s wine has benefitted from state investment over the past decade.

The consensus with fish in the Algarve seems to be to gut and scale the animal then deeply score along the spine on the broad sides, roll in sea salt and drizzle with a mixture of olive oil and lemon juice as required whilst barbequing over charcoal. The real secret is of course the quality and freshness of the wild Atlantic catch, and it’s this which is the hard thing to copy at home.

Atlantida is a good place to be with seating inside and out and a spectacular view especially at sunset. The staff are friendly, and cater for locals and tourists with equal courtesy, they even let me watch the England group game during the day.

The Alvor area of the coast has several good places to eat which I’ll review as well, but this restaurant comfortably makes the top three of the five we tried during our stay.

Michael Le Brocq