About 1h by car from Lisbon is Vila Nova da Barquinha, where, as the restaurant name suggests, there is a small cosy restaurant - Recanto da Barquinha. What we didn't expect was the variety of the menu - african, indonesian, indian, brazilian and portuguese dishes are not a common mix, specially in a small village away from the big cities.
The decorations pending from the ceiling transform the small room into an ethnic museum creating a nice environment. There is a "plate du jour" for each day of the week. Friday was cachupa day - an angolan mix of corn, beans and meat sometimes compared to the brasilian feijoada. The day was too hot to eat such heavy food so we decided to eat from the menu and have a massinha de tamboril, a kind of soup with pasta and monkfish. This is a kind of dish you can find on almost every portuguese restaurant but this was truly delicious! Plenty of tomato and fresh coriander flavoured the generous amount of food. Sometimes this dish is served with too much pasta (trying to disguise the lack of fish) or with more shrimp than fish, but this was not the case. all ingredients were in the right amount.
We didn't taste any wine - the day was really hot, so water was really the best beverage.
As for dessert, the hard part was deciding which one to choose... All deserts are home made and you get lost while the waitress (who makes the desserts herself) unrolls the list. M. had a lemon cheesecake and I tasted from his (as usual :)). It was very good, not too sweet just the way I like it.
So, here's a summary on this experience:
Name: Recanto da Barquinha
Address: Rua Dr. Barral Filipe, 5, Vila Nova da Barquinha, Portugal
Phone: +351 249 711 733
Coordinates: Ask where the post office is. The restaurant is across the street.
Average price:
- meal: 15€/person
- main dish: 8€
Open: (sorry, we don't know)
Court's Decision: To revisit for sure :)
Next time I'll try the steak with peanut sauce ;)
