There has been live music, festivals and pop up vendors nearly every weekend of the last month.
Sardine Festival at Praia Grande
We got our first taste of sardines at the Sardine Festival at Praia Grande.
Calling it a “festival” might have been a little generous. It was essentially one vendor under a collection of tents, with a ticket system we had to figure out before we could actually eat or drink anything. The beers were mini, although, to be fair, apparently that’s an imperial, a perfectly normal Portuguese beer size.
The traditional sardine plate came with grilled sardines, bread, boiled potatoes and a side salad. The sardines themselves were HUGE, probably twice the size of any sardine I had seen before which actually made them surprisingly easy to filet.
And they were delicious.
Eating the skin was optional. Brian partook.
Decklan went a different direction and had a bifana, the classic Portuguese pork sandwich. It was our first introduction to something we would eat several more times later in the trip. Our eventual assessment: the bread is always good, but a bifana definitely benefits from mustard.
The setting helped make up for the festival’s limited scale. Praia Grande is aptly named—it really is one of the larger beaches we visited around Sintra. The beach sits dramatically below the road, festival area and restaurants, with a long stretch of sand at the bottom of the cliffs.
Chef’s on Fire in Cascais
Then there was Chefs on Fire in Cascais. This was a true festival. We liked it enough that we went twice in one day—lunch and dinner.
Held in a public park in Cascais, Chefs on Fire was expansive, beautifully designed and filled with food from some seriously talented chefs, including multiple Michelin-starred chefs.
It also had another bizarre payment system, this time involving an app and tickets. It took us a while to figure out what we were doing, but once we did, the experience was fantastic.
Throughout the park were little seating areas that felt completely different from one another: blankets and pillows on the grass, velour couches, old-school chairs and tables made from old doors. Even the drinks were served in real glassware, which somehow made sitting in a public park drinking a spritz feel much more civilized.
The drink options were mostly beer, wine and spritzes. My surprise favorite was a Lillet Rosé and grapefruit spritz,which is especially odd considering I rarely drink either rosé or grapefruit.
The food was the real reason to be there.
Decklan met Michelin-starred chef Miguel Laffan, whose station was serving a kimchi, burrata, chili and honey pizza. Laffan asked Decklan if he wanted to be a chef.
Decklan’s response was puzzlement and muteness. in which the Michelin-starred chef laughed and said “Fuck no” while ruffling his hair. So, culinary career officially ruled out.
The kids’ area wasn’t particularly exciting for an 11-year-old, and the kids’ food options were pretty basic. Decklan quickly figured out that using our adult tickets was a much better strategy. In hindsight, we should have bought him an adult ticket as he used quite a few of our allocations.
A few favorites stood out.
Third Wave Taqueria’s “Duro de Matar” was an asada taco with elote and one of our favorites of the day.
And Chef Marlene Vieira, the only female Michelin-starred chef at the festival, served one of the most memorable desserts: butter ice cream with candied nuts.
Between the two festivals, we got two very different versions of Portuguese food culture.
One gave us giant grilled sardines, pork sandwiches, tiny beers and a spectacular beach.
The other gave us Michelin-starred chefs, couches in a park, grapefruit spritzes, butter ice cream—and our 11-year-old telling one of Portugal’s best chefs that he absolutely did not want his job.