I visited A Canastra da Ribeira, Porto a few days back for a late lunch. Located next to the water, the restaurant is a casual dining restaurant. The restaurant has indoor seating too but why would you not want to enjoy the view? Hence I opted to sit outdoors.
Even though the restaurant has a decent amount of seating, it is still a small restaurant and there isn’t enough room to move around (so once you sit, get up only once you are done). This is a common thing with the smaller restaurants in Porto. I actually prefer this since you can just sit and relax while you have your food.
The restaurant offers some of the famous Portuguese dishes with Cod fish. I have been told that the Portuguese love the Cod fish.
Since it was a hot day, I settled down and ordered for a Peach ice tea along with a Cod fish in Cream. It was a bit disappointing to find out that the restaurant does not serve fresh juices and the ice tea too was the Lipton one.
The staff is friendly and helpful which makes it really easy to order even if you don’t speak Portuguese.
My drink came out in a few minutes itself and I began sipping on it. It felt great to have a cold ice tea on a hot sunny afternoon. However this was not the case with the food. It took a lot of time for the dish to come out given that the restaurant was not too busy when I had placed my order.
After waiting for some more time, my food came out and I was impressed by the way the dish looked. If I were to compare this to a dish, I would say it looked a lot like a Lasagna.
The dish was cooked well with the fish being soft and tasting fresh. I think there were a few pieces of potatoes too stuffed under the cheesy layer. The salt was a bit on the lower side and maybe serving some condiments by the side might up the flavour a bit more.
Given the size of the dish, I was not able to eat the entire thing so I got the same packed so that I could have it later.
I ordered another ice tea so that I could just relax for some more time and enjoy the view and the performance of the school kids who were playing some cool instruments and singing some lively songs.
The question is, will I visit them again if I am in Porto? Probably yes. I need to try other dishes to completely form an opinion on the food.
The overall experience: Good
Total – 18 Euros (AED 74.50)
Baggage and Dish 