PEOPLE Hank & Carina

THEN OLHÃO FOUND US...

... and we weren't even looking! Hank and Carina's story of how they came to love and live in Olhão

Welcome to our monthly column celebrating Olhão. After exploring Portugal top to bottom from Braga to Tavira enjoying so many coastal and inland locations in our RV, we decided Olhão was the place to buy our home to celebrate our “golden years”. Olhão was not on our radar at first. In fact, the discovery of Eastern Algarve was a pleasant surprise with the scale of development so much less than areas to the west. A chance winter rental introduced us to Olhão, a place we quickly found attractive for many reasons. “Walkability” is, above all, a main highlight and each month we will introduce you to places only steps away from our front door. Questions, Comments or Suggestions for new columns? Email us at hankryan2003@yahoo. com. We hope you will enjoy our column!

Olhão Restaurants – Welcome To Your Gastronomic Paradise!

Carina and I admit we share a dilemma, albeit a pleasant one. Which Olhão restaurant do we choose to walk to enjoy a tasty lunch or dinner out? On one 500 meter stretch of Avenida 5 de Outubro from the police station walking east to the two sushi restaurants, there are 32 different full service eateries! This is only counting the restaurants facing south on that street, not the almost equal number of establishments located on the streets behind this “restaurant row” together with those surrounding the Mercado buildings on both sides! Go ahead, take this walk. Bring an open mind and your appetite! You’ll likely agree that it is not easy to choose where to enjoy lunch or dinner! The Restaurant Ria Formosa photo to the right shows just one of the options. Server Antonio Santos works the daytime crowd. (more about Ria Formosa below). Here is a challenge. We’ll buy you coffee if you can identify any other location in Portugal that has such a concentrated and diverse grouping of restaurants all on one easily walkable street! Taken together, all these eateries, plus new entries further west at the Marina Ria Centre and Marina Village make up what is clearly an unparalleled “gastronomic paradise”, attracting so many locals along with tourists enjoying their vacation. Strolling by the gatherings of people eating together outside these restaurants, often with

ten or more at a table, is always fun. Located within several of these places are very large open dining areas. Gaze inside and you’ll often see everyday Olhão community life at its best. These huge rooms are where gathered

families, friends or co-workers fill every chair. To witness them all enjoying eating and sharing time together is, well, wonderful!

So You Want Cataplana?

In Spain, paella is the featured entry on almost every menu there. If there is one dish that Portugal and especially here in the Algarve, calls its own, Cataplana is it. The term “cataplana” actually refers to the shell shaped copper cooking utensil that consists of two concave halves joined by a hinge and two side clasps that seal the ingredients inside. These cooking tools ensuring that all the flavours and aromas are retained and blended together. Here in Olhão, seafood Cataplana is featured on a LOT of menus and one local place we’ve heard about even features lobster, but sometimes meat is part of the presentation. Check out the number of places that offer this entry! If you haven’t already enjoyed this meal often served for two, we have a few suggestions. Here in Olhão, along that amazingly walkable 500 meter stretch noted above, 15 of the 32 restaurants offer cataplana. We decided to visit three of those places, Ria Formosa Restaurant, Farol and Real Petisqueira, to sample their cataplana entries. Hey, somebody had to do it :-) Please note, we are not qualified as expert food critics and we don’t pretend we can fairly claim which of the three entries you will enjoy the most. Aiming to enjoy high quality seafood in Olhão is not a high risk gambit. They were all great in our opinion. The cost for a cataplana for two entry is currently 35 euros and up. Make this your “meal of the day”! Perhaps it is worth aiming for a late lunch because you will likely still be full after this meal even at dinnertime! In addition to Antonio at the Ria Formosa Restaurant, Joaquin Do Brigo do Vale represented owners Zong Hou Hu and Ji Hu during our visit to Real Petisqueira. At the new Farol Restaurant, owner Pedro Domingues (second from left in the photo), welcomes customers together with hosts Eduarda Rodrigues, Alexandro Lopez and Lucas Justo. Eulalia Leonardo (not pictured), attends to kitchen duties. Hungry for more? Here is the list of the 15 restaurants on the south facing Avenida 5 De Outubro “restaurant row” that feature cataplana: Ria Formosa, Delicia de Olhão, Real Petisqueira, Kinkas, Lagar Mar, Sabores da Ria, Prazeras, Barra Nova, Farol, Horte, Terra Mar, Piteu da Baixa Mar, O’ Franguinho, Mare Shrimp & Stuff and Galo. For our full introduction, see our first column online in the December 2021 issue. ( https:// www.eastalgarvemag.com/)

Fine Print – We choose to focus on businesses here in Olhão where we have actually been customers first. Any future advertising from these businesses that supports Eastern Algarve Magazine is purely coincidental :-)