Beyond the Barrel: From Decadent to Down-home in Porto

Join this full day food tour in Porto and get to know the city’s lesser-known food traditions, local institutions and its heroes in the kitchen. We’ll experience both sides of the city, from the decadent to the down-home.

• Culinary walking tour
• Market Visit - Mercado Bolhão
• Portuguese sheep and goat cheeses with 10 year old Port wine
• Visit to residential neighborhoods
• Taste and see how to make the iconic cachorrinhos

Porto is a postcard-perfect city, its beauty easily captured in a single frame. But that barely scratches the surface of the city. On this full-day food tour in Porto, with at least ten tasting stops, we’ll experience both sides of the city, from the decadent to the down-home. We’ll start with a Porto ritual of flaky, sweet pastries and a strong coffee before exploring the Mercado do Bolhāo, arguably Portugal’s finest food market, which was recently reopened after a full renovation. We’ll make our way through stalls selling fresh fish, smoked meats, fruit and vegetable stopping to greet the vendors and taste what’s in season. We’ll then set off into the city center to see some hidden spots from the belle époque of Porto on our way to a lunch counter where locals and visitors line up for a cachorrinho, a baton-shaped grilled cheese sandwich with smoked sausage, with a fanatical following. We’ll finish at a classic sweet shop, for an eggy cake that was created by nuns nearby, reminding us that Porto’s traditions are kept safe in the kitchen.

Dig a little deeper into the backstreets and we find the complexities and contrasts of city life and all of the culinary diversity that comes with it. Porto is a place where century-old opulent Parisian-style cafes, sometimes staffed by tuxedoed waiters, can be found not far from rustic cheese-and-sausage shops run by the descendants of poor migrants from Northern Portugal. More contrasts abound: Walk around Porto and you will encounter octogenarian Portuguese shoe cobblers sharing the street with Bangladeshi grocers, while hidden behind former palaces are neat and tidy shanties. And, while this is the city that gave the world the refinement of Port wine, it is also the home of the gutbuster Francesinha, a working-man’s sandwich we’d only eat to win a bet.
On our walk, we'll head out into a classic residential neighborhood for a close look at how this city lives, and eats. At the local neighborhood tasca, we’ll be among all levels of Porto society who crowd the dining room for Senhor Dionísio’s daily specials. His cod fritters know no boundaries. Along the way we’ll visit an historic grocery for a taste of the seminal cheeses of the north along with a tawny port. We’ll also visit a newly opened grocery, to crack open a few of the finest locally produced tinned fish, a local delicacy. 

• Miragaia, Rua de Miguel Bombarda, Porto, Portugal
• Praia matosinhos, Matosinhos, Portugal
• Clerigos Church and Tower, Rua de São Filipe de Nery, Porto, Portugal
• Mercado do Bolhão, Rua Formosa, Porto, Portugal
• Sao Bento station, Praça de Almeida Garrett, Porto, Portugal
• Capela das Almas, Rua de Santa Catarina, Porto, Portugal
• Mercado Bom Sucesso, Praça do Bom Sucesso, Porto, Portugal
• Church of Saint Ildefonso, Rua de Santo Ildefonso, Porto, Portugal
• Luís I Bridge, Ponte Luiz I, Porto, Portugal
• Miradouro da Vitória, Rua de São Bento da Vitória, Porto, Portugal
• Bolsa Palace, Rua de Ferreira Borges, Porto, Portugal
• Parque da Cidade do Porto, Estrada Interior da Circunvalação, Porto, Portugal
• Sé do Porto, Terreiro da Sé, Porto, Portugal
• Ribeira, Porto, Portugal, Porto, Portugal
• Livraria Lello, Rua das Carmelitas, Porto, Portugal

Liability Waiver

By completing the reservation you acknowledge the following:

If you have food allergies, you are ultimately responsible to ensure your own health and safety. If you share information about your allergies, we can provide you with some guidance about the food purveyors on your tour, but we are not responsible for any allergic reactions that you may have. We are not responsible for any damages or losses incurred as result of acts by entities beyond our control, including but not limited to restaurants, shops, market stalls, eateries and food carts. We are not responsible for acts beyond our control, including but not limited to acts of God, act of nature, acts of war, or other unrest caused by state or non-state actors. If you are disruptive, we have the right to ask you to leave the tour without refunding you or providing you with a credit for your tour. You are aware of and responsible for all damages or losses that may arise during the course of the tour resulting from:

Risks associated with food, water or other drinks, including alcoholic beverages; physical accidents during the tour or at any of the locations visited; transportation failures; forces of nature; criminal activity; damage, loss or misplaced property; or accident or illness without means of rapid evacuation or availability of medical supplies or services. You agree that any claims that may arise will first go to arbitration and only if not resolved in that manner shall be heard in court. In both cases, grievances shall be heard in the jurisdiction of Washington, DC. You further agree to be responsible for your own welfare and property and accept any and all risks of delay, unanticipated events, inconvenience, illness, injury, emotional trauma or death. You further acknowledge that participation in Culinary Backstreets tours is based upon execution of this Liability Waiver. By completing the reservation process you release and discharge forever Culinary Backstreets, its employees, owners, affiliates, officers, directors, successors, agents, and assigns, from and against any liability arising from participating in this tour. You further agree that this release shall be legally binding upon you personally, all members of your family, all minors traveling with you, your heirs, successors, assigns, and legal representatives, to the maximum extent of the law.

I am aware that while on or traveling to or from my activity with Culinary Backstreets, I might be exposed to COVID-19 from other people, animals or objects. I assume all risk of any such contacts, including sickness, incapacity or death and agree to hold harmless Culinary Backstreets from any such developments. In addition, I recognize that the World Health Organization, U.S. Department of State as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may have warnings concerning same and am choosing to travel and assume all risk myself.