Restaurante Praia da Alagoa em Matosinhos

We went around to the back of the restaurant to sit at a table facing the beach. This young lady waited on us and we got our food pretty quickly. We decided to split a prego which is a steak sandwich with ham and cheese but I had her leave ham off. I haven’t had a prego here that I have ever liked. It’s a thin piece of steak and quite dry. My hubs got something called milho frito which is fried cornbread. I had some fries. I think that if the cornbread was cooked longer it would have been good but it was soft inside and I was not a fan. I also had a mojito which was very good, I had never had one before. The drink came after my meal but it was fine because I didn’t eat much. The service was fine and the scenery was beautiful!

We were touring the island and needed to find somewhere for a late lunch so we turned off the main road towards Porto da Cruz and parked up. We wandered down to the beach area which was full of surfers and came across this restaurant just behind the beach. It was quiet on a Thursday afternoon but I imagine it gets very busy at weekends. Outside there is a large number of tables on both sides of the restaurant in a wide open area. Service was quick despite there being only one waitress serving. Considering the appearance of the place the food was surprisingly good - excellent grilled trout, sardines and meat stew. The chips were also crisp and fresh. To drink we had beers and some inexpensive but nice white wine. We were very pleased we decided to take the detour and it was fun watching the surfers afterwards.