Serra da Estrela: Food
It will not be secret to anyone the good that is eaten in Serra da Estrela. They are ingredients of the highest quality combined with the experience that, generation after generation, the rugged mountain life imposes on the people who live there. And, from the art of survival, it became the art of cooking, which in Beira Alta is seasoned by altitude and cold. The Beira food is rustic and straightforward, but that is not why it ceases to be rich and presented with pride. Try some of the advice that we leave here, and you will know where it is best to eat in Serra da Estrela.
Searching for the best food in Serra da Estrela is like looking for treasure. Not because here it is difficult to find them, but because we will discover true treasures. We chose only half a dozen, but here there is not much chance of making a mistake. If there are people who know what to do with the riches of this mountain range are the edges.
“A Colmeia“, next to the Guarda is a good example of what it is to eat well in this region: with special care in presentation and service, it is the fresh ingredients that make the difference. The good taste of the menu is not, at all, to despise and here coexists the Cod with Broa with the Costeletinhas of Lamb to the Alhinho, to end up in a divine cream milk. With more than a thousand wines, the wine cellar is very precisely considered the best in the region.
If like us, you are a connoisseur of the enormous variety of bread that we find in Portugal, you can not miss the Bread Museum in Seia. The museum’s grocery store is a dream and we can find a number of different breads there to take home. The gastronomic center/restaurant also has bread as the central focus of all the dishes and the specialty is Codfish with the Museum.
Since we mention museological spaces, the visit to the Cheese Museum in Peraboa is a unique opportunity to know the whole process of producing this monument of national gastronomy and also to visit a fantastic restaurant. The House of the Masters is associated with the museum and is one of those places where pilgrimages are made, such is their quality. If you want to try the lamb chops with cherry gravy phone before you book because the space is small and crowded.
One of the region’s gastronomic ex-libris is Júlio, in Gouveia, which has already had 40 years of tradition. The kitchen is open, in plain view, and it is here that “delicacies” such as the goat with mushrooms, the feijoada a pastor, the carqueja rice with entrecosto, trout of the escabeche, or hunting dishes depending on the season are born. wild boar, partridge or the rabbit. The roots of this kitchen are undeniable.
In Largo do Pelourinho de Valhelhas, Manteigas, the Vallécula is another name that prides the region. In this restaurant installed in a granite house from the XVII, Beirão veal loin is a dream, the apple puree seems to have been made with the apples of sin and the cod in the tiborna fell from the sky. Save space for caroulo potatoes with rosemary honey, because chestnut liqueur needs company.
Before returning home, we know that you will want to take some of Serra with you. Still in Manteigas, right in the center, Routes and Regional Flavors, is a gourmet grocery store where you will find the best products from the area. Arrived directly from the regional producers, we have jams and olive biscuits, black olives, sauces and salpicão, assorted teas, wines from the border and, of course, the buttery and famous cheese from the Serra. It is all good and with the guarantee of provenance, even as the pantry there from home appreciates.
