Tasca Saloia

Hello from Portugal! Well more specifically, Sintra! After staying a few days in Lisbon, we decided to spend our last day on a trip to Sintra to see the gorgeous palaces and castles in the area. But before we headed off to visit the palace, we decided to have lunch at Tasca Saloia, a cafe located in downtown Sintra.

Tasca Saloia menu

The menu at Tasca Saloia was pretty big for a small cafe and included a variety of Portuguese dishes. Even though we had been in Lisbon for a few days, we hadn’t seen many restaurants that offered the type of food we saw on this menu so we were excited to try some of the dishes out!

Peito de frango recheado com espinafres e farinhe

★★★★

Chicken breast stuffed with spinach and farinheira sausage

Although this was made with chicken breast, it wasn’t dry because the filling and tomato based sauce helped it stay juicy. We didn’t know that it would come with sauce but were glad that it did because it was soo flavourful! It also had a nice clump of steamed spinach to add more greenery. The fries it came with were interesting though because they were thin cut and quite pale in colour. We’ve never seen fries like this before but they tasted as you would expect.

Empadinhas de frango

★★★★

Chicken pie

We got these cute little chicken pies because Mother deer saw another table get them and wanted to try it too. These pies had nothing on the one we had at Harrod’s tea room because the pie crust was too thick which made the filling fade into the background.

Choquinhos de coentrada

★★★★

Cuttlefish in coriander sauce

I like cuttlefish but I’ve never had it prepared this way before! It was as though they were braised in a coriander oil which made them very tender and flavourful. I wish I knew how they made it because it was so delicious. You could taste the herbs in it but there was also lots of lemon flavour which added some much needed acidity and brightness.

Pica-pau de novilho com pickles

★★★★★

woodpecker beef with pickles

We got this dish because we had no idea what woodpecker beef was and thought it would be interesting to try out. I was so glad we got this because it was scrumptious!

The beef was sliced into thin pieces which I assume is why it was called woodpecker beef? Because of the sound the knife makes if you’re chopping something? It also came with diced carrots and pickles! Yes pickles! You would think this would be a strange combination but it was amazing! The dish was salty, sour and tangy. It reminded me of Chinese pickled cabbage and pork but better. It also had sauce on the bottom which made me wish the dish came with rice so it could soak up all the flavours! Someone please tell me how to make this at home because I’m practically drooling just thinking about it right now!

Read more about my Portugal food visits! Bonjardim, Pasteis de Belem, Flora and Fauna, Restaurante Uma Marisqueira, and Cafe Gelo.