From Aveiro, I drove south to the town of Mealhada for a meal that had me squealing with piggy delight. Mealhada and its region of Bairrada (still within the greater region of Centro) seem to be the suckling pig capital of the world, where the main drag through town is lined with restaurant after restaurant boasting leitão à Bairrada (as suckling pig is called there). For my feast, I paid a visit to one of the most popular and best established eateries, the rather prosaically named Restaurante Típico da Bairrada.
The cavernous and family owned Restaurante Típico da Bairrada is a pleasant place to enjoy leitão. For around €25 per person, diners get a heaping plate of meat (with ace crackling), freshly made potato crisps, lots of green salad, local sparkling red wine (perfect with the roast), dessert and coffee. All in all, I thought my experience was exceptionally good value – especially considering how damn tasty everything was. That lunch was one of the best meals I had during my trip … and that suckling pig some of the juiciest, most succulent meat I’ve ever sunk my teeth into.
The restaurant slaughters and roasts its own pigs out back where it has its own abattoir and massive ovens. The dude there in charge of the roasting has been doing it for more than 30 years. I got a behind the scenes tour of where the animals are hung and how they’re roasted. Maybe not for the squeamish, I really appreciated the chance to see and applaud the folks at the restaurant for showing me around their impeccably clean facilities and to admire the simplicity of their roasting process. They just use pig fat, salt pepper and garlic to stuff the pigs before roasting them in wood fire ovens using clipping from locals vineyards. For details about the restaurant, go to restaurantetipicodabairrada.pt.
Although suckling pig seems to be the main claim to fame, Bairrada is also well known for its wines. After lunch I checked out Quinta do Encontro, just a short drive away from the restaurant is the Quinta do Encontro winery. Home to a smartly designed production centre with a restaurant and event space offering views across the rolling vineyards. Quinta do Encontro is part of the Global Wines/Dão Sul group. While at the quinta I enjoyed tasting a range of Dão Sul labels. Ones I particularly liked include two reds from this winery – the very affordable and easy drinking QdoE and the award winning Encontro 1 – as well as the elegant and well balanced Casa de Santar Reserva from the Dão region to the north. More info at daosul.com.
My delicious but far too brief excursion to Bairrada was part of an invited opportunity to try out some suggestions from bespoke tour provider, Sunvil. The Centro region of Portugal is the latest addition to the itineraries offered by Sunvil. I loved everything I experienced in Centro and did not get enough of this largely undiscovered area and am keen to return. If Centro sounds like the place for you, I recommend looking up Sunvil for expert assistance in planning your trip.
Be sure to check back soon for future instalments of my Portugal Please miniseries.
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