Porto Food Guide: Francesinhas, Fish Markets, and 48 Different Ports

Porto has decided that its food culture is going to be exactly two things: a sandwich called the francesinha and forty-eight different kinds of port. Both are correct decisions.

What is a francesinha and where should I eat one?

The francesinha is the Porto sandwich: two slices of white bread, slabs of cured ham, fresh sausage, chourico, beef steak, melted cheese on top, the whole construction drowned in a tomato beer sauce. Optional fried egg. Chips on the side. A Porto chef tried to recreate the croque-monsieur in the 1950s with local ingredients and missed by about 600 calories.

Cufra on Avenida da Boavista: €11 with chips and a beer. A 1950s diner with red leather booths and regulars who've been ordering the same lunch for decades. Cafe Santiago is the more famous one with a two-hour queue. Cufra is genuinely good and you can sit down.

Where is the best fish market in Porto?

Mercado de Matosinhos, twenty minutes from central Porto by metro. The drill: walk through the market to look, then come back to the restaurants opposite on Rua Herois de Franca at 7pm. Buy your fish, walk it across the road, they grill it for €15.

We bought a 1kg robalo (€18) and a small octopus (€12). The restaurant grilled the fish over olive wood and boiled the octopus, served with potatoes, salad, and a bottle of vinho verde. €52 for two with wine. The bass had a charred skin and clean white flesh and was the best fish we've eaten in Europe.

Which port cellars should I visit in Porto?

Cross the Dom Luis I bridge to Vila Nova de Gaia. Twenty-eight houses store and age port here. Skip Sandeman's (most touristy, smallest tasting). Do Graham's or Cockburn's instead (€25 each, genuinely informative tours with a 10-year, 20-year, and vintage tasting).

Better still: Espaco Porto Cruz on the Gaia waterfront (€15 for six ports paired with chocolate, no tour, just structured tasting). Less production, more port.

What else should I eat in Porto?

Masseira (Rua de Diogo Brandao): the bakery for pao de batata (potato roll with chourico or cheese, €1.50 each). Two of these and a galao for breakfast is Porto's best breakfast for €4.

Manteigaria for pastel de nata (€1.40, eat warm, dust with cinnamon). The Porto branch of the Lisbon famous chain.

Esporao No Porto on Rua do Almada for one nice dinner: modern small plates, rotating seasonal menu, €70 for two with an Alentejo red.

Pizzeria Antonio Mezzero in Matosinhos: the best pizza in Portugal. €12, Naples-style. We did this on our last night because Linda wanted "anything else, please" after three days of francesinhas and port.

Porto food budget for 4 days, two people

Porto is the rare European food city that's still genuinely cheap, and the meals come with river breezes, red roofs, and pastel azulejo tiles.