Camelo Restaurant in Viana do Castelo, Portugal is one of the top rated restaurants in the country. During my stay in Viana do Castelo in the northern region of Portugal, my fellow bloggers and I had the opportunity to dine here.
We were greeted by terrifying monkfish in the cooler and stables where they keep the pigs that are to become someone’s dinner. After an appetizer of chicken gizzards, which I didn’t know at the time, we were brought varying plates of meat.
I have no idea what kind of meat it is but the portions were more like dinosaur. I think it was some kind of pork? Whatever it was, it was delicious.
A glass of vinho verde, the local specialty, was a must. It’s a nice crisp white, or “green,” wine found throughout northern Portugal.
We had the choice between meat and fish. Since I knew my trip to Germany would be very meat heavy, I chose the fish, which turned out to be an excellent choice. It was a hake fillet breaded perfectly, exactly how you would want it if you were to order fish and chips. Each platter was meant to serve two people, but once we finished this plate another followed it.
My more adventurous colleagues shared the four person serving of the meat plate, with a selection of mystery items, namely blood sausage, livers and assorted cuts of meat. Both selections came with the choice of tomato rice, which had a tasty broth, or “blood rice.”
The Minho region specialties include sarrabulho com rojoes, which is rice cooked in pork blood with shredded pork. I didn’t order a portion for myself, but thought I would try some from Linda‘s bowl. It’s completely an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t think about it being blood, it’s much tastier. All I can say is that it’s salty. I ate all of it off my plate.
After dinner, we were served aguardente, which our guide told us was “like tea.” Once I got a whiff of the firewater, I realized that no, it was nothing like tea. It brought tears to the eyes and curse words to the mouths of many in our group. But if you inhale and sip it like a fine scotch or tequila, it’s much nicer, warming your belly.
My dinner was a part of my post-Travel Bloggers Unite blogger trip with Visit Porto e Norte but all opinions are my own.
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