With a twinkle in his eye, Mr Domingos Francisco put five fingers to his lips, kissed them with a smack as if to say: "Bravo, well chosen", as he smiled broadly at my choice of starters.
When I saw his crab pate, cradled in an attractive, orange-coloured crab shell, it was love at first sight. It was on its way to another customer when I waylaid it with excited finger-pointing.
Triumphantly, I claimed a laden shell and generously spread pate on a chunk of home-baked bread. There was no turning back after this.
My part of the table, a bar-top shared with three male - and very hungry - travelmates from Singapore, soon transformed into a conveyor belt of Portuguese delights.
There was preserved fish in olive oil and sweet onions, thinly sliced roasted red and green paprikas (pimentos assados), and a refreshing dish of fig, melon and slices of ham (presunto com melão e figos).
The main meal included succulent black pork loin (lombo de porco preto) and eggs lightly scrambled with asparagus (ovos salvegois), downed with red wine.
Though the 'damage' for a slice of heaven was 31 euros (S$62.43) each, finding this gastronomic portal called Botequim da Mouraria makes you wish you could make heaps of money just so you can jet there every other weekend to savour its menu offerings.
This snack bar is in the city of Évora, a Unesco World Heritage site 130km from Lisbon, which I visited recently. It's tucked in the Moorish quarter, where streets are no wider than the width of a horse-drawn carriage.
SUPER MAN: Mr Domingos Francisco of Botequim da Mouraria in Evora cooks, serves and bar-tends with practised aplomb.
In 715, the city was conquered and occupied by the Muslims until 1166, when the Christian knight Geraldo Sem Pavor (Gerald the Fearless) wrested it from the Moors. The city flourished as one of the most dynamic cities in the kingdom of Portugal during the Middle Ages.
Amid this cultural background, Mr Francisco runs a cosy place that starts serving food from noon. The table is an L-shaped bar counter with just 10 seats. Across from his customers, he single- handedly prepares his dishes, bar-tends, makes small talk and serves with a flourish.
He is flanked by shelves of spices, dried meats, olive oil, piri-piri (chilli bottled in olive oil), wines, bread, cheese, fruit and tarts.
When my friends and I were there, a tantalising smoked pork leg, displayed like a trophy, awaited the knife. In a cubicle no larger than a Housing Board utility room, his partner fried fatty pork (torresmos do rissol) in beer till it sizzled.
The aroma knocked us off our feet. Nibbling on these pork bits whetted our appetites for even more delicious surprises.
For dessert, we had juicy Portuguese melon with sweet pudding, and chocolate ice cream. We finished the superb meal with freshly brewed espresso.
While food in Portugal's capital of Lisbon is varied and delicious, you can eat better the further you get away from the city, and at more affordable prices. Home-style cooking is the norm, and seafood and soups are popular.
The desserts are just as good. Puddings include rice pudding (arroz doce), madeira pudding and egg custard (nuvens). Many patisseries offer some version of the Portuguese egg tarts that Singaporeans are familiar with.
Try as many as you wish, just don't miss the Belém Tarts (the original Portuguese tarts) - a speciality at the oldest patisserie in Lisbon called Pastéis de Belém.
I breakfasted at Casa Suíça, an established pastry shop in Lisbon, three times. There were just so many delectable egg tarts, pumpkin tarts and creamy custard sandwiches to polish off.
From Évora, it is a couple of hours' drive to neighbouring Estremoz, a beautiful old provincial town which is famous for its marble. Located in the walls of an old 13th-century castle, up on a hill, is São Rosas restaurant. It serves traditional Portuguese specialties on most days except Mondays.
It was a Sunday when I popped by the lovely eatery for a cold beer. The place was packed, but the busy waiters still found time to ooze warmth and hospitality. I kicked up my heels at the bar adjoining the eating area and sipped my Super- Bock beer as I flipped through wine magazines.
Without prior reservation, it was an hour later before I feasted on delicious bacalhau (salted codfish) salad, at once refreshing and robust. Unable to resist the onslaught of saliva-inducing aromas from the kitchen, I ordered more food.
I chose a cheese omelette and a flavourful dish of pork with clams (carnede porco com ameijoas). I had spied this dish at another table. Suffice to say, I had no regrets ordering it.
One does not live to eat alone, of course, so do feast your eyes on the sights too. A very pretty village to visit is Castelo de Vide, in Portugal's northern Alentejo region. Quaint houses line cobbled streets so narrow only one donkey can pass through at any one time.
With our Singaporean knack for food-hunting, we found our way to a snack bar called Sol Nascente, in a side street off the main town square. The modest eatery opens at 8am and closes at 2am. The affable owner served us a refreshing chilled ham soup (gaspacho presunto) for 4 euros.
It was followed by a Portuguese "claypot duck rice" called arroz de pato com salada, for 6.50 euros. The next lap of our motoring holiday took us to the stuff of legends. Tomar is the seat of the Knights Templar, one of the most famous Christian military orders, founded in the 12th century.
The headquarters of these warrior monks is a magnificent castle and 12th-century Templar church of the Convent of Christ. Delicious, affordable lunches are easily found here.
CONVENTO DE CRISTO: The legendary Templar Knights charged up and down this way centuries ago.
Up for yummy seafood, our well-trained noses led us to a modest eatery, Loja de Ribatejo Norte, that served value-for-money meals. Almost every table was full, mainly with locals and some French-speaking tourists. The house special was a hugely popular seafood soup.
We ordered a hot favourite - skewered squid, prawn, fish and capsicum on a stick (espetada dela lulas).The aroma hit us before the dish even reached us. The generous chunks of seafood were juicy, fresh and came with salad and potatoes that were slightly salty but mouth-watering.
It was almost 10 days on the road by now, and as much as Portugal's fiery chilli oil-sauce, called piri-piri, fired up my palate, my tastebuds were craving for belacan and chilli padi. So for dinner, we had curried squid (carrie de lulas) for 8 euros, followed by tarte de peixe, a fish dish for 7 euros, downed with a Mateus rose wine, for 6 euros a glass.
As grand, majestic and forbidding as the monuments in Tomar were, its people were quite the opposite: warm, cheerful and welcoming. A visit to their only cinema - Cine-teatro Paraiso (translated, it's Cinema Paradiso, as in Giuseppe Tornatore's classic movie of the same name) - made us a new Portuguese friend, Pedro.
As a farewell gift, the warm, effusive chap specially baked "Tomar slices" - a traditional speciality of bread pudding soaked in sweet syrup - before we left town.
Whether starter, main course, dessert or farewell fare, it was tough not to fall under the spell of Portugal's welcoming homespun flavours.
Portugal's food trail
ROOM WITH A VIEW: Having drinks at Pousada de Santa Maria in Marvao, with its spectacular view, is a sublime experience.
BOTEQUIN DA MOURARIA
Snack bar for lunches
16A, Rua da Mouraria.
7000-585 Evora
Tel: 266-726-775
Just about everything here is good.
SÃO ROSAS RESTAURANT
11, Largo D. Dinis. 7100 Estremoz.
www.saorosas.pmeevolution.com
E-mail:sao.rosas@hotmail.com
Tel: 268-333-345
Must-tries include the delicious salted codfish (bacalhau) salad and the pork with clams (carne de porco com ameijoas).
O JOÃO
Cafe-restaurante run by João Antonio
10-14 Rua Joaquim
Antonio Mouzinho
Tel: 245-965-142,
Alegrete
Order the salted codfish (bacalhau) and fried squid
PASTELARIA SOL NASCENTE
31 R/C, Rua de Olivença
7320-134 Castelo de Vide
Tel: 245-901-789
Refreshing chilled ham soup (gaspacho presunto) and yummy claypot duck rice, Portuguese-style (arroz de pato com salada).
CASA SUÍÇA, LISBON
96-104, Praca. Pedro IV
1100-202 Lisbon
Tel: 213-214-090
Delectable egg tarts, pumpkin tarts, and creamy custard sandwiches.
PASTÉIS DE BELÉM
84-92 Rua de Belem.
1300-085 Lisbon
Tel: 213-637-423
Belém Tarts, the original Portuguese tarts.
RESTAURANT VELHO MACEDO
Run by Jose Joao Lima
Barbosa
117, Rua da Madalena.
1100-319 Lisbon
Tel: 21-887-3003
Specialities: Salted codfish (Bacalhau), prawn and squid kebab (espetada de l'ulas gambas), thick rump steak served with a special sauce (bife a cafe).
5 things to do
1.Visit Tomar and explore the awesome and mysterious Convento de Cristo (Convent of the Order of Christ), a Unesco World Heritage site. It costs 4.50 euros (S$9.06) to enter the former hilltop headquarters of the Knights Templar, who wielded enormous power between the 12th and 16th centuries. Located on wooded slopes above the postcard-perfect town, the mise-en-scene of the castle-monastery makes you feel as if you've stepped into a movie set. You'll need at least half a day to soak it all in.
2.Check out the Pousada de Santa Maria (tel: 245-993-201). At about 150 euros a night per suite, it is the priciest abode in Marvao, a garrison town in northern Alentejo, just 10km from the border with Spain. It is perched on a craggy, sun-kissed outcrop and offers spectacular views. Go to its restaurant for a romantic dinner with stupendous views of the sun setting over the hills and the white-washed villages below. Or savour a glass of port wine (vinho porto) in the Pousada's tranquil salon as you drink in that top-of-the-world feeling.
3.Visit Pasteis de Belém in Lisbon's Rua de Belém (Belém Street). A lovely, spacious teahouse founded in 1837 with beautiful traditional tiles on the walls, its custard tarts are to die for. Eat the light, crispy tarts warm, with a sprinkling of cinnamon. A really enjoyable way to spend a lazy afternoon is to sit inside and eat pastry after pastry as you people-watch.
4.Drive yourself about. The roads are consistently well-maintained and have clear directions, especially when you are in the more rural or culturally preserved areas. By simply lowering your car windows, you can enjoy the 'corked' landscape as you zip from one district to the next. Portugal produces more than half the world's cork. The cork oak trees are squat and gnarled, with portions of bark from its trunk stripped off.
5.Drink and be merry. There is much good wine and port in Portugal. In Portelegre, we made a fun visit to Adega Cooperative Portelegre (tel: 351 245 300 530), to see how they made wine. Even though he was busy, manager Marmel gave us a full 30-minute tour of the place. Three million kilos of grapes per harvest come through its gates each year - 80 per cent is red. Here, the fruit is crushed, its juice extracted, seeds and skin separated, before being stored in subterranean vats to be preserved. You can also buy bottles of wine from the cooperative on the spot. A nossa (cheers)!
2 dont's
1.Don't forget your Portuguese phrasebook. Knowing key words, like vinho do porto branco (dry white port) or l'ombinos (black pork tenderloin) can bring pleasure or pedantry to your palate.
