Hello Beauties,

I spent a week in the lovely Algarve in beautiful Portugal, aka, my country.

I can honestly say that I know Algarve. I studied there and lived for four years there. Besides that, I make sure to spend at least one week per year there.

Algarve is worldwide known for the sun, the beaches, the amazing views, and the food.

Last year I did a post about the best spots to eat in the Algarve on the Barlavento side of the Algarve. This year, I stayed on the Sotavento side.

And now, you are wondering, what means Barlavento and Sotavento, right?

These expressions are used by the fishermen, and Barlavento means Windward. It´s the area facing the wind. Sotavento means Leeward, meaning the area that is opposite to the wind.

In Algarve, these expressions are used to divide the zone. Barlavento is on the occident of Algarve, and Sotavento the east. Each zone is the mirror of one another because each one has eight municipalities, one mountain, and one river.

The Sotavento side, the one near Spain is known for warmer waters, and I can guarantee that is true.

After some explanations, I think you are ready to have a taste of some of the best restaurants that exist on the Sotavento side, which I highly recommend.

Let´s start

Dom Petisco in Vila Real de Santo António

This restaurant has an amazing view of the river and Aimone on the other side of the river.
The food has amazing quality. The best shellfish that I ate during that week in Algarve of all the restaurants. As main, we went for the seafood rice and it was good. It had more seafood than rice, which is not usual in restaurants. Was delicious, especially after we added a little spice. But that is a detail, we like spicy food.

D´Gusta in Tavira

If you like Tapas, or regular dishes in mini portions to divide, this restaurant is for you.
Located in 4 Águas, where you catch the boat to Tavira Island, it´s open until late.

It has a good space, being big enough to accommodate a large group.
I loved the food. It was all tasty. We asked for some dishes to divide. I recommend the Arabic rice, the legumes à Bras, and the tuna Tartar was incredible.
The roasted chorizo was good, but on a windy night can be dangerous. ; )
On the sweet side, the apple Strudel is something that you need to try.

Come na Gaveta in Tavira

One more restaurant in Tavira, and one more with Tapas.
This one stays in the center of the city. It’s A small restaurant, so I highly recommend that you make a reservation at least a few days before.

The space has a nice vibe, and the food is delicious. The sweet potato fries were the best that I ever had. The Algarvian board, as a little bit of each typical food of Algarve, like the tuna muxama.
The loin woodpecker was tasty and very aromatized.
I loved the presentation of the ‘Biqueirão na corda’.

Sem Espinhas in Praia do Cabeço

If you think it is just a beach restaurant, you are wrong. Sem Espinhas, is a well-known restaurant, known special for the quality of the food, the amazing attendance, and the ambience. I can say that the reputation is true, it has all the things that I mentioned before.
Maybe the best one in terms of all packages. I ate grilled tuna and it was delicious. Served with roasted sweet potato. The cod and prawn skewers were also delicious, and something that is not usual to see on a menu.

Noelia restaurant in Cabanas de Tavira

Maybe the hardest restaurant to book. If you try to make a reservation, maybe you will have a table in October. YES! OCTOBER. Forget if you want one in summer.
I could get a table but just at 10 PM, for a person like me that likes to eat early, it had to be good.
This restaurant has a famous chef, Noelia herself. She is in the kitchen and sometimes goes to some tables to talk with the clients. The restaurant is always so busy, that the attendance sometimes is not what you are expecting of a famous restaurant but was always professional and nice.
The food. Most of the dishes are based on rice, different types of rice with different types of condiments.
We tried the oven rice with sea bass and prawns, the black Angus oven rice, the sardine oven rice, the octopus fritters served with coriander rice, and the rooster fish fillet.

All the rice that I mentioned was different. The one with the black Angus had Curcuma and was so tasty, and delicious. The one with the seabass, which was the one I chose, was amazing with a little tomato and well balanced. The rooster fish fillet was just delicious.

I can understand why this restaurant is so famous. The food is good. We could share the dishes because they were big enough for that. I need to come back but at lunch and maybe in winter, because like you read, they aren´t light dishes. 😉

These were the restaurants that I had to recommend to you. There are a lot more that I already went and love, but can stay for another post.

PS: All the restaurants mentioned above need to be reserved in the summertime if you want to have a chance to eat at them. And one more thing. They don´t know that I exist and that I´m recommending them to you. I just want to share with you some good places for you to have a nice trip in Algarve.

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