Eat & Drink
Where to taste traditional food in Santa Clara-a-Nova, and the authentic flavours of Baixo Alentejo: açorda and migas, honey and goat cheese, medronho fruit brandy and a sweet almost nobody has heard of.
Where to Eat
Check opening hours and availability before visiting
Restaurante Mesas do Castelinho
Regional restaurant
The village restaurant, at the Cerca da Junta de Freguesia. A pleasant, family-run space serving traditional Alentejo cooking; game dishes are the house speciality. Closed on Mondays; booking ahead is advisable.
- •Traditional Alentejo cooking
- •Game specialities
- •Regional dishes
Café Snack-Bar Duarte
Café and snack bar
One of the village meeting points. Coffee, petiscos (traditional snacks), light meals and local conviviality. It is also the right place to meet the people who live here. It is best to call ahead to confirm opening hours and availability.
- •Coffee and hot drinks
- •Traditional petiscos (snacks)
- •Light meals
- •Beers
- •Aguardente de medronho (fruit brandy)
Café Ponto de Encontro
Café and snack bar
A café and snack bar on Rua da Boa Esperança, with easy parking outside. Run by the same house as the Casa Ponto de Encontro guest rooms on Rua da Igreja. It is best to call ahead to confirm opening hours.
- •Coffee and drinks
- •Petiscos (snacks)
Minimercado Piedade
Grocery shop
A small grocery shop with food, everyday essentials and some regional products. The right place to pick up honey and other local flavours.
- •Bread, fruit and vegetables
- •Dairy, meat and cured sausages
- •Hygiene and cleaning products
- •Honey and regional products
Traditional Dishes
The traditional cooking of Baixo Alentejo
| Açorda alentejana | Bread soup with coriander, garlic and a poached egg |
| Gaspacho | Cold soup of tomato, cucumber and pepper |
| Migas | Crumbled bread cooked with pork |
| Ensopado de borrego | Lamb stew served over slices of bread |
| Carne de porco à alentejana | Pork with clams |
| Secretos de porco preto | A prized cut of Iberian black pork |
| Cozido de grão | Chickpea stew, a speciality of the Almodôvar municipality |
Bolo Chibo
Bolo chibo is described by the Almodôvar municipal tourism site as a typical local sweet. There is almost no trace of it online, which makes it one of those specialities you can only discover in the territory itself. If you come across it at a village feast or in a local kitchen, try it.
Regional Products
Flavours to take home
Aguardente de Medronho (fruit brandy)
The traditional drink of the Almodôvar municipality, as promoted by the municipal tourism site. Distilled by hand in copper stills from the fruit of the strawberry tree (medronheiro).
40-50% ABV. Fruity aroma with notes of wild berries. Harvest and distilling: October and November.
Mel (honey)
Artisanal honey from clean, unpolluted wild flora, with a beekeeping tradition going back centuries.
Varieties: rosmaninho (wild lavender, aromatic and mild), urze (heather, dark and intense), multifloral (from the hills).
Queijo de cabra (goat cheese)
Traditional cheese made from the milk of free-grazing goats.
Types: fresh (mild, creamy), cured (intense flavour, firm texture), amanteigado (buttery, creamy inside).
Enchidos (cured sausages)
Artisanal sausages from the municipality: chouriço, morcela (blood sausage), farinheira (flour sausage) and paio, all traditionally made.
Cortiça (cork)
The main wealth of the Almodôvar municipality. Cork oak woodlands shape the landscape and sustain a traditional industry.
Products: stoppers, crafts, wall and floor coverings, fashion accessories.
Azeite (olive oil)
Locally produced olive oil.
Tips
- •Confirm opening hours and availability before visiting
- •Taste the local products: medronho, honey, goat cheese
- •The Mesas do Castelinho restaurant closes on Mondays; Almodôvar (about 15 km away) has more restaurants
- •Finish your meal with a local medronho