An experience in a Portuegese restaurant, Mexico City

Yesterday, I went with a friend for dinner in a Portuguese restaurant. It was the first time I tried Portuguese food and would like to share something about it.

The restaurant is located in Emilio Castellar street in Mexico city, the name of the restaurant is "Casa portuguesa" , which is Spanish for "Portueges House"

The location of the restaurant was perfect , they also have seats outside in the open and it is just opposite the Lincoln park, so I felt it is a perfect setting for a date.

Restaurant was just Across the Park

Casa Portuguesa

As soon as I got the opened the menu, I found that menu has a total of 6 pages and 4 out of them were filled with bacalhau dishes. I didn't know what Bacalhau was so I asked my friend who speaks Spanish to get more information from waiter.

Bacalhau (salted and dried cod fish) is the most commonly eat dish in Portugal, is it like what "Rice" to Chinese and what "Curry" to Indians.

You'll quickly understand that the Portuguese love “bacalhau” (salted and dried cod fish). They actually say that there are 365 ways to cook bacalhau - one recipe for every day of the year! (Surprising is that Cod Fish it is not even caught in Portugal, but shipped over from Norway)

2 of the most popular Bacalhau dishes are  Bacalhau à Brás" and "Bacalhau com Natas" (which translates to "Cod Fish with Cream").

 Bacalhau à Brás 

 "Bacalhau com natas" 

is one of the most popular cod dishes that you'll find served at traditional Portuguese restaurants and households.

Bacalhau com Natas is like a lasagna made of cod. It includes layers of cod fish, onions, dices fried potatoes, and lots of creamy deliciousness.

Another surprise for me was when I noticed a dish named  - "Peri Peri Chicken" , this was one dish that brought me back memories of year 2009 when I was in Kuala Lumpur, I have eaten hundred of times that dish and it was one of my favorite dish there but I never realized it is a Portuege dish.(who said ? "Ignorance is bliss")

Anyway, without wasting any further time, I ordered it immediately and it turned out better than what I expected.

   "Peri Peri Chicken" served in Portuege restaurant.  (Peri Peri is the name of sauce which is spread across grilled chicken and which gives its a unique taste, this sauce is made from chillies only found in portuegese).

"Nando's" are South african chain of restaurants in Kuala Lumpur which also sells Peri's Peri's chicken

Now, it was time for deserts, although there were usually options in the menu like ice creams, chocolate cake but we decided to go for Portuguese specialty.

So, we ordered "Pastel de Nata"  which is the most famous deserts in Portugal, we didn't know what it was. But when we saw it , we both were surprised to see that it is nothing but "Egg Tart Pastry" which we both (separately) have eaten couple of times in Macau, China.

Portuegese sweet dish "pastel de nata", nothing but Portuegese Egg Tart Pastry.

My Chinese friends can have a taste of authentic portuegese food in Macau, which was a Portuegese colony for around 350 years.