The 13 best traditional restaurants in Porto

Few things are better about Porto than its abundance of family-run restaurants. And Casa Nanda is an absolute classic of the genre. These guys have bene cooking here for more than 35 years, and the dishes have been refined to perfection: highlights include hake fillets with rice or potato salad and the grilled beef rib.

We don’t hold back about the stuff we love, and when it comes to the Adega São Nicolau, we love everything. There’s a menu full of great dishes – chicken bordelaise, octopus fillets with rice, or the perfect appetiser, cod cakes. Then there’s the desserts (all homemade) or the outdoors tables, overlooking the Douro river. Then there’s the great service – António Coelho has been doing this since he was 11 (in a legally-okay way, we’re sure). Just one thing to note: The restaurant is small, the queues are (very) long. Make a reservation or be prepared to wait. 

A restaurant named after the patron saint of eating had better be pretty shit-hot. Luckily, Taberna Santo António in Miragaia is. Order one of the four daily specials, all guaranteed to be good. If the menu includes alheira sausage pie and turnip greens, or cod pataniscas with rice and beans, choose them. From the massive dessert display, the homemade chocolate mousse is among the city’s finest. Nice one, St Antonio.

The secret of this Foz classic is simple: food portions are family-sized, so take plenty of company. The cod à la Brás is so good they only serve it once a week, and we'd recommend the octopus rice. The adventurous might want to go for the tongue stew and the ‘cabidela’ blood rice, scary-sounding but delicious.   

If it’s a Monday, head to Rápido for their Spanish-style cod. If you’re reading this on a Wednesday, book a table anyway and order a cozido. This restaurant, next to the São Bento railway station, is steeped in tradition, which has earned it many devoted patrons. The owner himself picks all the ingredients – including those in the famous oven-roasted octopus, served by special order. Oh, and save room for dessert.

You’ll probably have to wait at this traditional restaurant: both upstairs and downstairs rooms are usually full, particularly at lunchtime. Home-style dishes are the speciality here; one of their most famous, veal pie, is difficult to find elsewhere in the city. And there’s more: hake rissoles, fried sardines with rice and beans, ‘rojões’ diced pork, duck rice and tripe stew, Porto-style. Prices are reasonable too.  

A Cozinha do Manel is a Porto classic. Don’t miss the duck rice and the roast veal, and check out the walls. Everyone from sports stars to prime ministers has dined here, and their pictures decorate the space. They came, they ate corn bread – which comes fresh every day from Avintes – and they got their picture taken.

Antunes rule number one: everything goes down great with a glass of house wine. Rule number 2: follow the advice of Dona Maria Luísa. Third rule: close your eyes and point at the menu – whatever you choose, it will be good. Try hake fillets with vegetable rice, partridge stew, cod with onions (served year round) or wild boar with beans (when in season). Pork fans, the knuckle will blow your porcine mind.

This Campo Alegre restaurant’s name is pretty descriptive: this is indeed Amélia’s kitchen. She’s in charge of the show, offering delicacies such as the cod cakes or the eight (yes, eight) other kinds of cod dishes. If you’re in the mood for meat, go for the tripe stew, the ‘mirandesa’ beef steak, or the baby goat (sniff sniff).

The Taberna dos Mercadores in the Ribeira is owned by the same family as the nearby Adega São Nicolau. Traditional and regional dishes dominate the menu: prawn açorda bread soup, rojões diced pork and even an unmissable arouquesa meat pot. For special days – and by special order only – they make cod tongue rice and roast kid goat, prepared with ingredients that proprietor António Coelho sources from his home town of Resende (sort of ‘return to Resende’).

At Senhor Zé, the chefs really, really like cod. And they do it well, too. But that's not all that's on offer; try the roosterfish with açorda, hake fillets with beans and rice and the veal liver with onions. For dessert, they do an unreal vermicelli dish.