Good food in Macedo de Cavaleiros

The Azibo river beach is the calling card of Macedo de Cavaleiros, as is the Entrudo Chocalheiro of the village of Podence. But this territory of Trás-os-Montes has another charm that makes many people go there on purpose. You can eat really well there.

Trás-os-Montes is the region par excellence of good meat. The “posta” is one of the icons of traditional Portuguese gastronomy, as well as the “alheira” sausage, which was even considered one of the 7 wonders to be tasted in our country.

Macedo de Cavaleiros has many good restaurants. In fact, it is one of those places where it is really difficult to eat badly. In most Portuguese cities and towns there are always one or two gastronomic temples, but it is also easy for people arriving from abroad to land in a restaurant where the landmarks of the country are right outside the door.

But in this transitional municipality between the Transmontana Terra Quente and Terra Fria, the most likely thing is to leave a restaurant satisfied. In this town of 6,000 inhabitants, there is an unusual number of restaurants where people with magical hands for cooking reign supreme.

The two times we went to Macedo de Cavaleiros (and this is one of those territories we will always return to), good traditional gastronomy has always imposed itself. And we have tried many restaurants.

In most of them, it is the typical food from Trás-os-Montes that prevails, with special emphasis on the meat, which may have the label “carne mirandesa” or be from the same breed but without the denomination of origin, or even from another animal that you may call “lavender”. This means that regardless of what we call it, we are sure that it was raised in the open air, having as its main food recipe what it finds in the fields.

Posta, miminhos, rodeão are some of the meat proposals that you will find in the municipality’s restaurants. But the famous dried hominy with butelo and roast kid will also be on the menu at the right time, as well as game meat with wild boar at the head.

The hors d’oeuvre paradise

If the wallet is well-stocked, a meal in these lands of Cavaleiros must begin with the starters. It is good to be prepared because there are bound to be sausages and maybe even wild boar in a vineyard of garlic. What is almost never missing is the “alheira” sausage.

The alheira sausage bears the stamp of Mirandela and its fame is justly deserved, but it should be noted that the whole of north-east Trás-os-Montes is home to this exceptional sausage, which only gained the Mirandela epithet because it was the terminus of the train station there. Therefore, when the sausages from the entire region were sent to the rest of the country, they were stamped with the Mirandela stamp on the volume.

Once here, we realize – after eating in more than one restaurant – that the smoked meat is treated here with art and each case is a case, with the seasonings making all the difference in a championship where only the best ones enter.

The restaurants

We do not make assessments here because we are not critics, which does not prevent us from having a critical look at the restaurants and their food. This is not, therefore, an evaluation. We spent a total of six days in the municipality of Macedo de Cavaleiros and we ate in several restaurants.

There are several names you should put on your agenda. In Podence, don’t miss a visit to Moagem do João do Padre, where the “posta” (beef steak) is treated like few other places. This will be a long visit, because every piece of meat you put in your mouth is a festival for the palate, with the unique juices of the good mirandesa meat surprising you. We were cats and purrs.

When the time is right, we highly recommend the greens tart, a dessert invented in the house as part of the Grelo Gastronomic Festival which “resurrected” the archaic sweet greens.

Then, in Macedo de Cavaleiros, there are various options. From the more traditional D. Antónia, which serves tenderloin miminhos that make you want to eat more and a rice cream with caramelized apple, all accompanied by a regional red wine, to Real Domus, where for the first time we were introduced to Rodeão, a type of sirloin steak that is a little more fatty but equally tasty, and where the sympathy and art of Susana Santos make the table full and the customer satisfied.

A slightly different suggestion is the one at Brasa, which became famous with the Francesinhas that brought people from Macedo to a nearby village and ended up taking the restaurant out of the village and putting it in the city. Here, a slightly more refined cuisine is proposed. The francesinha is still there, but there are Italian dishes, French-inspired cuisine and a delicious hand of beef with chickpeas. The panacotta with berry jam will make your eyes smile with pleasure.

Also Villar de Masaedo puts special care in the presentation. The complete name of the restaurant is Villar de Masaedo by Quinta da Amendoeira and you can understand why. This was the first name of Macedo de Cavaleiros and the Quinta da Amendoeira gained its just reputation as a producer of sausages and traditional products. Hence the signature.

Villar de Mazaedo is a new and successful venture. With an airy decoration, the care is extensive to the open kitchen, to the service and to the products, where the emphasis is on Bisaro pork and Mirandese meat.

There are many options in the lands of Cavaleiros. With greater or lesser care in the presentation, with a more professional or more – let’s call it – traditional service. But in all of them, we found room for friendliness, even when each one was full.

Gastronomy may be a good reason to go to Macedo de Cavaleiros, but it’s not the only one. During Carnival, the Caretos de Podence are one of the most genuine Portuguese traditions and the Azibo lagoon is the beach of excellence in the north-east of Trás-os-Montes and a place of great biodiversity.

There are several reasons that may lead us to Macedo de Cavaleiros. The movement of its nightlife, the unique geosites, the traditions and the landscape. Whatever brings you to Macedo de Cavaleiros, you will leave with one certainty: even the snails are good in Macedo de Cavaleiros. In Azibo.