Bladders, heads and tongues: codfish is king in Ílhavo

Imagine going into a restaurant and buying a cod-based experience. That’s exactly what 14 establishments in Ílhavo propose until Sunday. The Sabores de Bordo Festival is in its first edition but it is recommended.   Ílhavo has long been considered the Capital of Cod, thanks to its great connection to fishing and also to its consumption. Now, you can put another medal in your lapel, with this festival where the by-products of cod reign supreme.

Dishes with bladders Always known in Ílhavo, these less noble parts of the faithful friend are little known outside the area. They are the dishes that fishermen who walked the seas of Newfoundland and Greenland used to make and that is why they are called the “maple flavours”.

Patrícia Gomes, the national chef specialising in fish and a lecturer at the Escola Superior de Turismo e Tecnologia do Mar, says that “you can see that the restaurants are highly committed and I think that this will be felt at the table”.

Let’s start slowly because that’s how meals and experiences should begin. Let’s start with some codfish “patanistas” or marinated samos.

Then, let’s move on to the main courses. Let’s start with some fried codfish faces with wild bean rice, or a broth of cod tongues with poached egg and toasted Ílhavo valley pada, or the traditional Chora, a hearty soup with rice.

Let’s continue then with a gandaresa bacalhoada, with a samos bean stew or with fried cod tongues with mixed salad and bean rice.

Let’s taste everything, giving each dish time to pass from the palate to the brain and we will have an experience. This is the aim of the Bordo Gastronomy Festival which runs until Sunday in Ílhavo and which 14 restaurants have joined.

Let’s look at it another way, let’s look at the places and their clients, and there are many other experiences. We spent two excellent days in Ílhavo on the subject of cod flavours, but which took us to go inside codfish restaurants, climb the highest Portuguese lighthouse, visit the beautiful Vista Alegre Chapel, or watch the sun set, big and red, on the calm waters of the ocean. There are so many other experiences.

But let’s get back to our faithful friend, as the codfish is known in Portugal. It was two days in which we only ate cod and we were afraid that the experience would become monotonous. Nothing could be more wrong.

Not only were the gastronomic proposals very diversified, but also the spaces. In common with all the restaurants we visited, only friendliness, which seems to be transversal to the people of Ílhavo.

The first restaurant we went into was in the middle of Ílhavo fishing port, next to the fish market and storerooms, once the gates had been passed. The Bar da Lota restaurant is simple and focussed on fresh produce. Apart from the cod, Maria Amélia Oliveira and Arnaldo Maia, the owner and kitchen team, never know what fish they will serve their clients. They’ll be whatever the sea gives them that day. Besides the grilled fish, cod and fish fingers, the menu also has eel stew, squid and cuttlefish. There’s also grilled meat, which is basically consumed by fishermen.

At dinner, we had a completely different experience at Canastra do Fidalgo, in the heart of Costa Nova. We had an appointment, and when we arrived, the door opened and we were welcomed with a “welcome, Jorge” that left us with a smile on our face. This is a restaurant with only 28 seats, with a simple decoration, where the stripes that made the houses in the village famous stand out. The service is very attentive and professional, and the food prepared by chef Leandro Mota is absolutely divine. The picling bladders I had a meal that I’ll remember for years to come, and which ended with a chocolate cake with peanut ice-cream and caramel, absolutely divine.

The last of the culinary experiences of this Gastronomy Festival was at the Bela Ria Restaurant, in Gafanha de Aquém, a family-run establishment with Jorge Pinhão at the helm of the traditional cuisine. Here, you enter through the café and only then you reach a small room where codfish is absolutely king and which has a codfish à casa that we will tell you about on another occasion.

If you don’t have anything on your agenda, take the opportunity to go to Ílhavo on Sunday and embrace a culinary experience. The list of participating restaurants and the programme can be found on the council’s website. If you already have plans for the weekend, cancel them, because this experience is really worth it.