been commissioned to create special
pastries for the dessert menu.
The area is also home to three
restaurants from Porto’s champion of
terroir, Rui Paula – the Boa Nova
Teahouse, where sea meets sky in a
startling modernist building by Pritziker
Prize-winning architect Alvaro Siza; DOP,
in the UNESCO-listed Palace of the Arts;
and DOC, on the banks of the Douro.
(Visit ruipaula.com/web for details on all
three restaurants.)
JOIN THE CAFE SOCIETY
Padaria Ribeiro (Praça Guilherme Gomes
Fernandes 21; padariaribeiro.com) is a
cafe and bakery dating from 1878, and is
known for the finest pastries in town,
both salty and sweet, including flaky
rissois (pastries filled with chicken, shrimp
or veal) and eggy Portuguese tarts. A few
doors up, at no. 47, is Leitaria da Quinta
do Paco (leitariaquintadopaco.pt/pt), a
modern cafe that occupies a milk shop
from 1920 and serves dairy-based snacks
such as ‘Romeo e Julieta’ (quince cheese
marmalade), stuffed bola de Berlim
(doughnuts) and a superb selection of
cream-filled eclairs.
The Art Nouveau Majestic Cafe (Rua
Santa Catarina 112; cafemajestic.com),
with its marble exterior, Flemish mirrors
and gilded plaster ceiling, is the city’s
most famous cafe, known these days as
the place where J.K. Rowling wrote notes
for the first of her Harry Potter books while
she taught English in the city. If you find
the popular cafe is too crowded, thecavernous Art Deco gem Cafe Guarany
(Av. dos Aliados 85-9; cafeguarany.com)
on the main square is the place for hot
chocolate or afternoon tea. It was
traditionally where intellectuals gathered,
and still hosts poetry and fado (folk music)
nights. One wall is covered with a striking
triptych by Graça Morais representing the
Indians of Brazil, who supplied the first
coffee to Porto.MAKE FOR THE MERCEARIA
Porto’s central produce market is sadly
neglected, with souvenir stalls
encroaching on it, but the street it sits on,
Rua Formosa, is full of wonderful
mercearia, or delis, bursting with localThe ceramic-tiled
Church of Saint
Ildefonso, near
the Majestic
Cafe; traditional
delis line the Rua
Formosa; stop at
Padaria Ribeiro
for pastries; a
Porto classic at
Abadia do Porto- shellfish rice
with lobster.
OPPOSITE:
colourful houses
in Porto’s historic
city centre.
delicious.com.au 131GLOBAL FLAVOURS.