Foods from Restaurante Caravela
Comments
2017 Feb 25
I came for a Saturday lunch with four Portuguese people (including my wife). The experience was mostly better than our relatively low expectations!
For starters, the Pasteis de Bacalhau (salt cod fritters) and the Rissois de Camarão (shrimp turnovers) were fresh and flavourful, and very much as I remember them being in Portugal. I didn't try the Caldo Verde (kale soup), but it was received without great enthusiasm by its owner.
I absolutely loved my Bacalhau à Casa (house salt cod, pictured) — a big hunk of flaky salt cod, pan fried in olive oil, and finished in the oven to crisp the edges. The soffrito topping was pretty good, as were the small potatoes. The bland broccoli and carrots were strange and felt out of place.
My wife's Carne de Porco à Alentejana (marinated pork and clams) was quite disappointing, even for me, the only non-Portuguese at the table. Generous amount of pork, but it was a bit chewy and lacked the awesome flavour for which this dish is renowned.
Only half the dessert menu was available, meaning most of us skipped that course. Another time!
Note: if you don't want bottled (Nestle) water, be sure to specify tap water. Serving bottled water by default is authentically European, but it might catch you by surprise.
For starters, the Pasteis de Bacalhau (salt cod fritters) and the Rissois de Camarão (shrimp turnovers) were fresh and flavourful, and very much as I remember them being in Portugal. I didn't try the Caldo Verde (kale soup), but it was received without great enthusiasm by its owner.
I absolutely loved my Bacalhau à Casa (house salt cod, pictured) — a big hunk of flaky salt cod, pan fried in olive oil, and finished in the oven to crisp the edges. The soffrito topping was pretty good, as were the small potatoes. The bland broccoli and carrots were strange and felt out of place.
My wife's Carne de Porco à Alentejana (marinated pork and clams) was quite disappointing, even for me, the only non-Portuguese at the table. Generous amount of pork, but it was a bit chewy and lacked the awesome flavour for which this dish is renowned.
Only half the dessert menu was available, meaning most of us skipped that course. Another time!
Note: if you don't want bottled (Nestle) water, be sure to specify tap water. Serving bottled water by default is authentically European, but it might catch you by surprise.
2016 Dec 27
This restaurant in Orleans opened just yesterday and is the region's only Portuguese restaurant on the Ontario side of the river. The menu looks promising -- most of the iconic Portuguese items are there. Although I can just see Portuguese people exclaiming, "Rice *OR* potatoes! What is this, a French restaurant?!" 😁
OSoloMeal
Ever since that place on Dalhousie closed, the only answers I ever get to that question are that, and 'Montreal'.
...every once in a while, Ottawa kills a little piece of my foodie soul that no amount of shawarma can resuscitate.