The restaurant was in a narrow cove; looking out over perfect turquoise water, between two dramatic jutting cliffs. There was a light breeze coming off the sea as we tucked into the whole sardines. Little white rowing boats, with names like Pedro and Rita, had plucked them from the sea that very day, and they’d been thrown on the coals with a squeeze of lemon and butter and spice.

It’s been almost a year since I road-tripped across Portugal with my parents. (A perilous undertaking, if ever there was one!) but I still remember the flavours of Portugal: big, bold cuisine; calamari and prawns at the coast; and on the slopes of Monchique, whole chickens dripping with peri peri sauce and salty slivers of Jamon Iberico.

Tasty, unfussy, and often very affordable, Portuguese cuisine takes its influence from the Mediterranean as well as its many colonies. Peri peri sauce, for instance, makes use of the African Birds Eye chilli. The Portuguese are also Europe’s biggest fish eaters; they eat it grilled, poached, fried and stewed and pretty much in any manner imaginable, but their favourite is dried and salted Bacalhau – cod to you and me.

Closer to home, our Portuguese cuisine has a lot to thank Mozambique for. What would a Portuguese restaurant be without LM prawns, after all?
If you’re in the mood for some peri peri or espetada, check out our list of great Portuguese restaurants:

Joburg

A Palhota (The Hut)
Try: whole peri peri chicken
Price: R90

Adega
Try: the famous pan fried prawns
Price: at a special price of R119 during lunch everyday and on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday evenings

Alimentos
Try: LM style chicken
Price: R89
Or: 1 kg queen prawns with rice or rice and vegetables
Price: R149

Back of the Moon
Try: Portuguese-style queen prawns
Price: R175

Churrasqueira
Try: pork clam stew
Price: R69
Or: house steak
Price: R90

O Braseiro Portuguese Restaurant
Try: 1kg Mozambican prawns with chips and rice
Price: R247

Pigalle (Sandton)
Try: Bacalhau
Price: R149

Restaurant Parreirinha
Try: queen prawns served with chips and rice
Price: R128

Rodizio (Fourways)
Try: Rodizio (16 to 20 different prime cuts of lamb, beef, pork and chicken)
Price: R128 per person

Salsa
Try: Portuguese grilled baby chicken
Price: R85
Or: 8 queen beer cream prawns
Price: R130

Tasca-do-Sol
Try: Portuguese chicken served with chips and salad
Price: half chicken: R60; whole chicken R75

The Flamingo
Try: Portuguese bean stew with pork sausage
Price: R64

The Guildhall
Try: Portuguese steak
Price: R80
Or: trinchado
Price: R70

Pretoria

Braza (closed)
Try: beef espetada served with grilled vegetables and a choice of starch or salad
Price: R90

Catemba Portuguese Restaurant
Try: rabbit stew, served with rice, chips and salad
Price: R120
Or: pork bean stew, served with rice, chips and salad
Price: R90

Hillside Tavern Lynnwood
Try: Portuguese ribs, served with a choice of starch or salad/vegetables
Price: R80 or R96

LM in the East
Try: LM steak with a choice of starch
Price: R105
Or: Portuguese-style prawns in garlic butter
Price: R125

Pipas Portuguese Restaurant
Try: Portuguese style chicken served with chips or rice and salad
Price: R65 (half); R79 (whole)

Prosopa
Try: trinchado
Price: R58
Or: prawn curry
Price: R90

Durban

A Cabana
Try: prawns and baby chicken combo
Price: R73
Or: prawns a cabana
Price: R73

Butcher Block Glenwood
Try: rib and chicken combo
Price: R118

Peri Peri De Mocambique
Try: spring chicken
Price: R60 (half); R85 (whole)
Or: combos like calamari and prawns or chicken and prawns
price: combos range from R85-R95

Bazarutos
Try: 10 queen prawns
Price: R105

Cape Town

Beleza Restaurant
Try: Algarve seafood cataplana: a seafood and chorizo sausage and potato stew served in a traditional Portuguese copper steamer with rice
Price: R140

Braza (closed)
Try: flying rump espetada (250g) which is rump and chicken breast served with grilled vegetables and choice of starch or salad
Price: R75

Carla’s
Try: 8 or 12 queen prawns
Price: R110 (8); R148 (12)

Casa Valdez
Try: 300g beef or chicken espetada served with rice or chips
Price: R100 (beef); R80 (chicken)

Chapman’s Peak Hotel Restaurant
Try: Portuguese steak
Price: R125

Dias Tavern
Try: trinchado
Price: R79
Or: 250g rump espetada
Price: R78

Madeira Seafood Restaurant
Try: trinchado served with chips or rice and vegetables
Price: R96
Or: 300g rump espetada served with chips or rice and vegetables
Price: R96

Pigalle (Greenpoint)
Try: lemon butter queen prawns served with choice of starch and vegetables
Price: R180

Roberto’s Signature Restaurant
Try: 6 beer, garlic and mild green chili queen prawns served with rice and sauce
Price: R95

Tasca de Belem
Try: bacalau grilled or oiled served with a boiled egg and chickpeas
Price: R220

Toni’s on Kloof
Try: feijoada (traditional stew with beans pork fillet/chicken/chorizo/murcela) served with white rice
Price: R76

Valora
Try: beef fillet prego roll
Price: R75

By Katharine Jacobs and Kelly Pluke