Bonjardim

Hello hello! Portugal has given me an opportunity to try so many different types of food but this time we wanted to try something we were familiar with….chicken! Yes, we couldn’t leave Portugal without having Portuguese chicken and comparing it to Nando’s.

Bonjardim is what popped up when we searched up Portuguese chicken online and it was quite the hidden spot. Bonjardim was located in between a bunch of seafood restaurants where the servers chase you down and try to get you to go to their restaurants. Apparently this is common in the area.

Bonjardim menu

The menu at Bonjardim is simple. They have a page full of options and then have the translated version in the page that follows so you can always look for the page you can read which I found to be very helpful.

Cod cakes

★★★★

The first thing we decided to get were the cod fishcakes. These are actually quite popular in Portugal and you can find them at quite a few spots. It’s made with mashed fish, seasonings, potatoes and sometimes cheese. The little cakes are then dropped into the fryer until golden brown and crispy. Even though they were fried, they were surprisingly light and springy in texture. I’m’ not a fan of fried foods but these were actually quite delightful to eat.

Grilled fish

★★★★

Next we got a grilled fish. I’ve never had grilled fish before so I was excited to try it out. I was surprised to find that the fish actually had smokiness to it and was saltier than I thought it would be. To help counteract some of the salt, we added a squeeze of lemon on the fish and it balanced everything out perfectly. The boiled potatoes to the side made us think that this was a deconstructed version of the fish cakes. I would definitely have this again! It was so flaky and flavorful!

Portuguese chicken

★★★★

Don’t worry we didn’t forget to actually order chicken while we were here. The Portuguese chicken wasn’t as flavourful as we expected. However, it was quite juicy and delicious. The outside had light browning which made the skin slightly crisp. It could have gone with a bit more seasoning and we were surprised that the chickens in Portugal were a different size than the ones we had back home. Overall, we had a great meal!