A Taberna - Beja

Had the best lunch so far. We started with a pork chorizo and chickpea stew followed by Cod pie and salad And fried pork with chips. Finished off with a selection of homemade desserts and coffee. GREAT VALUE. A real treat.

A Taberna is a small restaurante near Beja. It isn't easy to find but it is a real gem. Expect less of a fancy restaurante and more like having a meal in a relative's home. I don't think the term comfort food can be used more accurately than to describe the meals D. Maria prepares in her restaurante. The perfect way to experience this restaurante is with a larger group. This way you can all order something diferente and everybody gets a taste of everything. Jantar de Grão, a stew with pork and chickpea, Octopuss Rice, Pork Cheeks, Duck Rice are my favourites but the Cod Fish with Cream is very popular as well. The desserts are one of the highlights of every meal at Taberna. There are no individual portions. They bring us the large bowls and we take what we want. I strongly recommend the Rice Pudding. This price is a huge surprise. It is very cheap and one of the best value restaurants around.

Five course menu plus drinks and desserts for 10 euros per person. And quantity doesn't mean sacrificing quality at all, very consistent good quality on all dishes I've tried, including desserts. It's located 5km away from Beja, but completely worth of the drive.

A simple restaurant, 10 kms outside Beja, that will surprise you. The olives are amazing. The bread is fantastic. What else do you need as a starter? Probably there is cheese and ham, but I am happy with the olives. Then the food... the octopus is amazing. Yes, it has a lot of olive oil... but that is how this recipe should be. This is not food for diets. It's the real stuff. The rice was perfect, the octopus probably one of the best I tried, ever. And then the deserts... the peanut mouse was really nice. The bill, only 8 euros. What??? For so much food? Only in Portugal. Be careful... you should book in advance.

We went to find the place the day before we wanted to eat and spoke to the waiter (who speaks English) and booked for 8pm the following day. Didn 't take any details, just ok 8pm tomorrow . Being mid week I thought it would be quiet, we arrived and were the first in the restaurant. We had a good chat with our waiter and then from the kitchen came the cook with a warm genuine welcome it was as though we were family and big hugs for the children. We started with olives and bread, then went on to Cod pie with salad. Then Octopus and rice and then finally pork, two dished with this, one of pig cheeks and the other of pork cubes in wine with fries. Any one of these would have done as a main but the food kept coming so make sure you bring your appetite because quantity does not give way to quality here this was all delicious. We then had pudding or should I say puddings we had one plate with the puddings taking up their own quarter of the plate, it was not a small plate and yes there were four and all superb (the waiter happily supplied us with the recipe for our surprise favourite). We finished off with a couple of freshly made coffees. I forgot to mention that while this was all taking place the restaurant had filled with local families, what better advert is possible than local people eating the local food in the local restaurant! We asked to pay and the waiter got the cook, who came out and appeared to make it up on the spot 32 euros for the four of us to dine, drink wine, water and coke!!!!! what value and people were still arriving. We paid and left only to be chased by the cook to give us a good by personally and to have another hug off the children and to give them a couple of sweets each. We really were made to feel special but this is how every one was treated. This place is 10/10 and we will be returning.