Regaleira: here the Francesinha was born

Don’t think that we’re going to reveal any great secrets here, that the Francesinha’s are kept under lock and key in a safe. But this is the story of a sandwich that was born in a restaurant in the city centre, quickly won freedom, spread and is now one of the two gastronomic symbols of Porto. By chance, António Passos went to France one day and met a barman there. It was thanks to this chance meeting that Regaleira became part of the city’s history. The story is told to us by Francisco Passos, 27, one of the restaurant’s partners: “In France, António Passos discovered a bartender one day in a hotel, found him extraordinary and invited him to come and work with him”. The barman was Daniel David da Silva, a man who had left Terras de Bouro in search of a better life.

Daniel starts working at Regaleira and, inspired by the French “Croque Monsieur”, decides to create a new sandwich, taking advantage of the Portuguese meats and smoked meats and inventing a sauce with a strong and spicy flavour. It was 1952.

“The story of the name is also very interesting. Mr Daniel David da Silva was a womaniser and it’s even said that he used the tips he received in France to go on the buses to see the women, who were more elegant and well-dressed than the Portuguese women of the time and he went crazy about it. So, when he made the strong sauce he called it Francesinha because the French women are spicy”.

The first of the secrets is out. Who tells the story is Francisco Passos, a 27-year-old criminologist descendant of the founders of Regaleira and who, in 2014, took over the running of the restaurant with his brother.

The original Francesinha

The original Francesinha recipe is still the one served today at Regaleira. Instead of the flat bread, it is served with the five-quine bijou bread. It is served with a slice of cheese, fresh sausage and sausage, a slice of roast pork leg and a second slice of cheese. Cheese is placed on top of the bread, which is then grated. This is the real francesinha.

As for the sauce, Francisco Passos explains the recipe to us: “it takes a bit of beer, a bit of tomato, chilli pepper, a bit of this and a bit of that…”, he says with a smile on his lips, ending with: “when you try it, try to discover the ingredients”. We didn’t manage it, of course.

The truth is that few know the original recipe. “The secret of the sauce was passed on by the inventor to Mr Augusto, who passed it on to Mr Alberto, who is now the person who makes it. Few people know the recipe in its entirety and it is kept in a safe. The sauce begins to be made in the kitchen and is finished in the living room. Those in the kitchen don’t know what goes on at the counter and those at the counter don’t know what goes on in the kitchen.

Leixões S.C. team in the 50’s

The Leixões style sauce

The Francesinha’s sauce is spicy, as Daniel David da Silva says, because the French are spicy. But if you ask for Leixões-style sauce at Regaleira, it is served extra spicy. Learn about the history of the Leixões sauce, as told by Francisco Passos:

At Regaleira, the sauce can be served with more or less spicy. “We have a version for children, without spicy, but the Francesinha is spicy in its confection and can even have extra spicy. If you like it spicy, you only have to ask for one “à Leixões”.

At this point, the question is: how did the Francesinha become popular? The story, once again, is simple: “A friend of the house asked for the secret of the sauce in the 1950s and duly authorised to take it to the Mucaba café, in Gaia, which still exists but in another place”. From then on, more or less inspired copies were created.

It was not Daniel David da Silva who opened Mucaba, contrary to what is often said. The creator of the Francesinha worked in Regaleira until he retired, and then returned to Terras de Bouro, where he spent the last years of his life.

In some places “they make excellent francesinhas, but the only real one is the one at Regaleira”, says Francisco Passos, for whom it is a source of pride that the sandwich has spread, first in Oporto and then throughout the country.

That’s why the other Francesinhas are not considered competition. “We are invited to all the festivals, because the origin of the dish is consensual, but we never go to any. This is where the real Francesinha is made”, even if others may be proud to hold up posters saying that “they are the best”.

“We’re often told that we should have registered the sauce, but it’s a good thing we didn’t, because that way we’re in the history of Porto, which is an honour and a pride”. Every day, in the morning, “there are more than a hundred people that come through the restaurant because we are part of the tourist routes and the guides bring us here”.

And whenever it is asked for, the story of the birth of the most well-known and appreciated of Portuguese sandwiches is told. “Most of the time, it’s the waiters who tell it and people are happy to be in the place where the Francesinha was born”. That’s why Regaleira is starting a small exhibition space about the history of the pitéu and the restaurant itself. “Often people – even foreigners – come here because they have informed themselves and know that this is where the Francesinha was created, but we are looking for more photographs so that we can give them more context.”

Good news! Three years later, Regaleira is back open again. Fans of francesinha can now return to Rua do Bonjardim (it opened next door to the previous space), try the best sandwich in the world and recognise many of the staff, as almost all have stayed on.

Regaleira’s past and future

A Regaleira was born in 1935 in the building on Rua do Bonjardim – where it still stands today – by Abrantes Jorge and António Passos. “It’s one of the oldest restaurants in Porto”. Abrantes Jorge was a man with several hotels in the city. With his son-in-law António Passos he decided to open a restaurant, with no one knowing who challenged whom.

It was António Passos who, with his wife Lurdes, ran the restaurant. “At the beginning, Regaleira was a very select restaurant, only Porto’s high society came here. But in 1950, they decided it should be more open and they remodelled the space”, he tells.

Two years later, Daniel David da Silva is hired and invents what decades later would come to be considered one of the best sandwiches in the world. “At first, Francesinha was a dish served as a snack, with a small glass of fruit juice to soothe the spiciness. Only later did it start to be served at mealtimes”, says Francisco Passos.

The Francesinha made Regaleira more popular and hands-off. Busy with the other family businesses, António Passos gave partnership to two of the employees of the house, Manuel Ferreira and Augusto Marinho. Even today, despite their failing health, they are still partners in the new generation of the Passos family. “It is a shame that Mr Manuel is not here today, because he has many stories and is a very cute character, he is a real tripper and the face of Regaleira,” laments Francisco Passos.

Francisco and his brother inherited Regaleira in 2007, but only took over the business a year and a half ago. “We decided to move forward not just for the business, but for the history and the family. Here a while ago the restaurant went through a less good phase, but now it’s doing well. We’ve managed to get more people in and get the older customers back.”

The house has recently undergone refurbishment and has been modernised without losing the patina of what is one of the oldest restaurants in Porto. There was little more than painting in the main room, the bathrooms underwent a thorough renovation and even the neon sign at the door was restored.

The secret to the rebirth is simple: “our objective is to adapt to the times, but without de-characterising the house. That’s why it keeps this older look and that’s also why the employees have been here for many years and we already have people working here who are their children. Sometimes they tell us to go to hotel school and bring in new people, but that’s not what we want. We want to keep the staff and train them, because they know and are the Regaleira”.

5-star Francesinha

We tried it and we liked it. The Francesinha from Regaleira continues to do justice to its creator, Daniel David da Silva. The sauce is thick and very tasty and the ingredients are still the same as always and of good quality.

We wanted the Francesinha as the rules dictate, on five-quine bijou bread. I asked for the Leixões-style sauce and Alfredo Beleza just went for the traditional. To go with it, we ordered fries that are made in house, sliced and wavy, but thick. “We still make the potatoes like we used to. They are not like those for suckling pig, thin, but thick so that they can take advantage of the sauce”, explains Francisco Passos.

Often, over the years, restaurants end up slacking on the preparation of the dishes that made them famous, but Regaleira has managed to recover the splendour of the Francesinha and this is one of the best we’ve ever eaten.

The difference starts with the bread that surrounds the sandwich. The five-quine bijou bread doesn’t get as soggy as the flat bread and maintains its flavour. The meats are very good and you can feel the aromas in your mouth that are lent by the wood they are grilled on. And that makes all the difference.

As a curiosity, it should be noted that Regaleira has remained faithful to its suppliers and the fresh sausage and sausage that go into the dish are bought today in the same place where they were in 1952, the Salsicharia Leandro, in Bolhão. The bread has also been bought for decades at Padaria Taboense, now Infante Santo.

Even the chilli pepper essential to the dish has always come from the same producer. “Since 1952, we have bought all the produce from a producer in Mesão Frio and then dried it here”. Staying true to those who helped francesinha become the iconic dish of Porto, Regaleira honours this success story.

(article updated with the restaurant’s renovations and the history of the chilli pepper).