Page 60 - WDT MAGAZINE PORTUGAL

dishes, several wines and a cold mug of beer. bread shaped like a man’s private parts. It was the first
One tour highlight was the main Porto food time I saw worldly Bourdain blush on his show.
market (in temporary quarters while its historic At another stop we enjoyed was watching bakers
location is renovated) where we sampled cured meats, making pastel de nata and then sampling the warm-
cheese, farm-fresh tomatoes, and Portuguese salt cod from-the-oven sweet, washed down with strong local
fritters or pastéis de bacalhau. The Bolhão market hall coffee. Although the most famous pastel de nata come
was made famous by an episode of “No Reservations,” from the Lisbon community of Belem, these came real
when two elderly lady bakery clerks talked dirty to close to sweet perfection.
host Anthony Bourdain and served him a large loaf of

One of our last noshes was served at a small
boisterous bar, loved by locals and tourists alike
who were already filling the unpretentious room
with chatter and belly laughs. We joined them in
imbibing, ordering beer, wine or hard cider. When a
couple of folks ordered some bottled water, the
bartender clanged a loud bell, the room quieted
and our table got lots of incredulous looks. Rita
explained the bell is always rung when someone
dares to order, much less drink, the water in this
establishment. The offenders quickly tucked their
plastic bottles away and we got back to fun times
with proper adult alcoholic beverages.

WINEDINEANDTRAVEL.COM 59