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Almeja

This is a Michelin recommended restaurant, and it did not disappoint!

We started off with the pig’s head terrine toast. Didn’t know what to expect but it was awesome (slightly like a pate).

We then got the lobster dish to share. It’s for two people, and it came with other sea foods like shrimp, and squid. Also great.

For desert, we got two. The queijada Ike a tart served with whipped cream and sorbet), and a flan like fish served with bacon flavored ice cream. Both were delicious.

For drinks, got a port tonic (their version with lime instead of orange and cinnamon), and an Aperol spritz. I liked the port tonic but didn’t finish it since I felt it was like a drink with simple syrup (ie the brain effect).

100% would come back to this place.

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TimeOut Market Porto

Visited TimeOut in Porto.

Obviously got an Aperol spritz from the Aperol Spritz stand. (Should’ve worn my Aperol visor).

Got also a pizza and sushi salmon hand roll. Both were good.

Overall, this TimeOut did not disappoint.

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Vaccarum

We went to this place from a recommendation from a family on a tour we were in at Duoro Valley.

Overall, place seemed good, but we did think the family over-hyped the place.

We ordered the Pichano steak (apparently it’s different since in North America they usually remove the fat from the top of the steak). They served it medium rare automatically (ie didn’t ask, which was fine). Because it was medium rare it was a bit more gamey than I usually prefer, but still ate it. We orders fries and steamed vegetables as sides which were good. As a starter (or “snack” as they call it in Portugal) we had the garlic shrimp (which I liked how it was prepared, and it cakes with 3x the amount I was expecting). Also paired it with bread.

For drinks, we got a red wine to pair with the steak (waiter’s recommendation, which was from Duas Quintas winery). They also let us take the alcohol back!

I would come here again (ie food was good), but would also want to try other restaurants.

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Brasao

After grabbing drinks at the bar at our hotel, went here for a quick bite on our first night in Porto.

Got a prawn croquette and a beef mushroom rissole. Definitely would order the former again, but not the latter. Both these are Portuguese.

Our main and final dish is the francesinha, also a Portuguese dish. It was like an English sausage muffin with tons of gravy, but it was more of a beef. It was a good experience but would not seek to get it (like McDonalds sausage McMuffin better). (Also as an fyi it’s traditional to get it with fries)

Mixed drinks were limited (ie no whisky sour or Aperol spritz), but Glenlivet was available, so had that.

Would check this out again to try Portuguese food of others wanted to.

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17 Restaurant and Bar

First place we stopped by in our Porto trip (since it was on the 2nd highest floor of our hotel, Hotel Dom Henrique Downtown.

We mainly stopped by here to catch the sunset. View was ok, but drinks were good (at least mine was)…

Friend had an old fashion (which he doesn’t recommend), and I got a pisco sour without egg whites. They also served peanuts.

Although view as just ok (they have an outside, it doesn’t face the sunset), would still come back here for drinks, especially if staying at the hotel.

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Savor Thai

Went to this pretty upscale Thai restaurant in Toronto (more northern part, like St Clair W).

For food, we ended up getting a fixed course. None of it was pad Thai, but definitely there were hints of the Thai curry flavor in a lot of the food.

Also, drink presentations were interesting. There was a traditional smoked presentation in a covered class, but also one drink came in an aquarium.

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The Tap Room

We went here for our last meal in Dubai, which has an excellent view of the Dubai fountains.

Kept it pretty light for this meal. Just got an Aperol Spritz, with wings and beef empanadas. Would come back to this place for drinks and the view (food wasn’t bad, but mainly at a bar level quality).

FYI drink pictured below is a friend’s drink which was a cranberry mule. Apparently it wasn’t the greatest, but my drink was fine.

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Ce La Vi

Came to this restaurant for our last (late) lunch in Dubai. Gotta say this is definitely a place I would recommend.

First, this restaurant is on the 54th floor of a building called the Address Sky View building (which has two towers and, and this restaurant is located on the bridge that connects them). The view itself is awesome, and it does have a south west view for a good sunset photo. Also the elevator ride to the top has a great view (feels like we didn’t need to go to The Frame for the view).

We ended up staying here for almost 3 hours (from 3pm to 5:40pm… sunset is at 5:28pm). Now to get to the food…

For drinks (for descriptions see the menu picture below), I got the cacao hunter, the champagne pina colada, and the crimson sun (basically an Aperol spritz with grape fruit soda), and an ild fashion (which came with my friend’s dessert). The crimson sun I would get again and again. The others I could get again, but would probably try other drinks in the menu first.

For food, all of it was amazing. Definitely best meal in Dubai. Started of with beef bao buns. Best bao buns I’ve ever had. Also got fried calamari, and the fried rice tuna. Both great. For mains, got the sea bass and scallops. Also both great, and the sauce with the scallops was amazing.

For dessert, got the chocolate fondant cake. Thought the restaurants name printed on it was classy. A friend got the churro. The sauces with it (especially the chocolate one) was good. It also came with an old fashion (for two people).

Again, loved this restaurant.

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Yara

We went to this restaurant for a late lunch after visiting the Jumeirah Mosque.

Got a latte, and garlic butter shrimp for an appetizer.

For mains, ended up doing their take on Italian (as you may notice the cuisine I put for this restaurant is Arabic) did the truffle penne pasta with chicken, and a chicken pizza. Overall, food was meh (wasn’t bad but would choose another place to eat). I will say the layout of the restaurant was nice.

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Meda

Stopped by here for a late lunch. They had all sorts of cuisine, but mainly stuck with Italian.

For drinks got one of their vodka based drinks from their all day happy hour menu. I actually enjoyed it.

For lunch got the croquettes, pepperoni pizza (which was different because it had no tomato sauce, and had potatoes underneath the pepperoni), and the pesto pasta. All great choices (croquettes were a bit too salty though). Would come back again to try the other drinks and food.