Portuguese Seafood: What to Order and Where

With a long Atlantic coastline, Portugal has some of the best seafood in Europe, and it’s often simply grilled with olive oil, salt and lemon. Here’s a guide to the seafood you’ll see on Portuguese menus, how to order it, and how not to get a shock when the bill comes.

Quick answer: try grilled sardines (best in summer), polvo à lagareiro (roasted octopus), amêijoas à Bulhão Pato (clams in garlic and coriander), cataplana (a seafood stew from the Algarve), arroz de marisco (seafood rice) and percebes (goose barnacles). Fish and shellfish are often priced by the kilo, so ask before you order.

Fish

• Sardinhas assadas: grilled sardines, at their best from June to September and the star of the June street festivals. Eat them on a slice of bread.
• Dourada and robalo: sea bream and sea bass, grilled whole.
• Peixe espada preto: black scabbardfish, a Madeiran speciality, often served with banana.
• Atum: tuna steaks, especially in the eastern Algarve and the Azores.
• Carapaus: small horse mackerel, often fried.
• Bacalhau: salted cod. See our bacalhau guide.

Shellfish and octopus

• Polvo à lagareiro: tender roasted octopus with olive oil, garlic and potatoes.
• Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato: clams with garlic, coriander, olive oil and lemon.
• Gambas à guilho: prawns sizzling in garlic and chilli oil.
• Percebes: goose barnacles, harvested from wild rocks on the west coast, salty and prized (and pricey).
• Ostras: oysters from the Ria Formosa and the Sado estuary.
• Lapas: limpets grilled with garlic butter in Madeira and the Azores.
• Santola: spider crab, stuffed in its shell.

Classic dishes

• Cataplana: a seafood stew cooked in a clam-shaped copper pan, the Algarve’s signature dish.
• Arroz de marisco: a soupy seafood rice for sharing.
• Caldeirada: a hearty fish and potato stew.
• Choco frito: fried cuttlefish strips, Setúbal’s speciality. See Setúbal.

How to order

• Priced by the kilo: fresh fish and shellfish are often sold by weight (ao quilo or “kg” on the menu). Ask the weight and price before it’s cooked.
• Choose from the display: many restaurants show the day’s catch on ice.
• Look for the grill: the best places grill fish outdoors over charcoal.
• The couvert: bread and olives aren’t free. See Portuguese etiquette.

Where to eat seafood

• Matosinhos (Porto): a street of fish grills. See what to eat in Porto.
• Sesimbra and Setúbal: grilled fish by the harbour. See Sesimbra.
• The Algarve: cataplana and beach restaurants. See Algarve beach restaurants.
• Ericeira: clams and sea urchins. See Ericeira.

Pair it with vinho verde. More: what to eat in Portugal.

Prices and details change, so please double-check before you travel. Spotted something out of date? Tell us in the groups.