PORTUGAL - PORTO - GANDRE - RESTAURANTE FLÔR DO BALDO

Miguel Renoir Spanish Guides
Aug 18, 2022
3 min read

Updated: Nov 20

A Food experience across the border in Porto, Portugal by Jonathon Lipsin

RESTAURANTE FLÔR DO BALDO

Today, my friends took me here in Porto, Portugal, to a working man's restaurant seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It is by a river with big trees not unlike those in California looming outside the windows of an industrial-style, huge dining room. There is a wood-fired oven and long banquet-type tables, all with dishes set upside down as is the custom here.

True enough, clumps of working people huddled down at disparate distances in the dining room over mysterious bowls and plates of steaming food.

A basket of homemade bread, still warm, is set on the table, delicious, nutty, and dense, and proves a great complement to the ubiquitous bowl of olives present everywhere in Portugal.

A plate of homemade chorizo, mysteriously black (black pudding/blood sausage?), and a type of sausage appeared, and I declared it the most delicious I had ever tasted.

I am in the hands of my friends, so I let them order, and what comes is a tripas (tripe) dish without the tripe. Tripas à Moda do Porto (Porto Tripe) is that unique dish to Porto that I had once before. It is the animal's guts and intestines, cooked in a stew with beans and other meats like chicken and pork.

“The Infante D. Henrique, needing to supply the ships for the Ceuta military expedition commanded by King John I in 1415, asked the inhabitants of the city of Porto for all kinds of food. All the meat in the city was cleaned, salted, and layered in the vessels, leaving the population with only the sacrificed offal to eat, including the guts. It was with these that the Portuguese had to invent food alternatives, thus resulting in the dish Tripas à Moda do Porto (Porto Tripe).

Thankfully, this dish came without the guts, which I will forever forego, and instead came with chunks of boiled beef. This resembled what I know as cholent, the unique Jewish dish we eat sometimes on Shabbat.

The tripas without the guts dish hails from Tras O Monte, the ancient Jewish area where Jews lived before the Inquisition in peace until all hell broke out. My dear friend here hails from that region and is of Jewish origin.

The other dish ordered was chicken and rice mixed with chicken blood.

Portuguese cuisine is not for the faint of heart, and because I am an intrepid traveller, I feel I must indulge in everything without reservation.

The other day, on my wanderings in the city, I came upon a menu where I spied grilled groundhog. Right there, I drew the line, but when I went back to my friend, voicing my incredulity at their eating habits, she readily and laughingly told me it is the name of an eel-like fish that is served with its tail in its mouth. I decided to pass on that also.

The chicken boiled in a soupy stew and mixed with the dirty rice was delicious, chicken blood notwithstanding…..

We drank a bottle of Vinho Verde (green wine), a typical wine that originated in the historic Minho province in the far north of the country. This is a sharp, fresh wine that one can usually only drink a glass of, and it helps with digestion.

The end of the meal was French pudding (possibly a type of Pasteis de Nata), made with 12 eggs and Oporto wine. Which was delicious.

We finished off with an “um café” (standard black espresso) and a homemade grape spirit with honey, which was on the house. This last drink blew the roof off my head as I relaxed in the languor of a fine meal……