It better be good, you tell yourself as you climb the hill to the Taylor Port Cellars. It is, trust me.
You're seated at a table with a view of Porto spread out below you, seconds before the waiter brings out a glass of chilled white port and a gaggle of appetizers: pate, mushrooms, cheeses of the region. It's all part of the cover charge, a paltry 3.10 Euros.
For starters, we selected a lobster salad and a traditional clam soup. Both were delicious. The chef's specialty is salt cod, baccalao, but we'd had enough of that one, so we selected a black grouper broiled with onion and tomato, and a grilled sea bass with lemon sauce. Both were excellent. A discussion with the waiter produced an excellent and dry white wine to our liking.
We were so full we did little more than gloss over the dessert cart. Port is, of course, available.
The price of all this, including tax and tip? 51.35 Euros, probably about a third of what food of this quality would cost in San Francisco. You could get by spending much less, as the waiter informed us that the cod dish would serve two, and the lobster appetizer was a splurge for sure!
Restaurante Barao Fladgate
In the Taylor Port Cellars
Rua Do Choupelo 250
Vila Nova do Gaia (across the bridge from Porto, Portugal)
Telephone: 351 22 371 9999
Closed Sunday
