Portuguese Taste at St Nicks Market

The other week Jamie had a Wednesday off work so we decided to meet up for lunch, originally we were going to check out Edna's Kitchen but as I had eaten falafel the previous day I steered Jamie round to her other favourite.  Portuguese Taste, in St Nicks market, hosts some of the country's most famous dishes and it's one of Jamie's most visited places to lunch on a weekend. The menu does vary from day to day but you will often see piri piri chicken, bacalhau and feijoada as well as the omni present Portuguese pastry, pastel de nata. I decided to opt for Brazil's national dish, feijoada and Jamie went for her favourite, bacalhau com natas or cod with cream as it is called at the stand. There was space at one of the little tables outside the stand so we waited for them to bring us our lunch.

bacalhau com nata

For £4.50 for mine and £5.50 for Jamie's, the portions were enormous. My feijoada, a hearty mixed pork and bean stew with a mass of rice was wonderfully comforting and extremely filling. Salted cod, whenever I have visited Portugal has never been my thing but Jamie's dish really turned round my opinion on bacalhau. This dish was creamy, not too salty basically the ultimate in luxury as far as fish pies go.  With all the cream the dish is quite heavy for one person to eat in one sitting but definitely good for a half and half sharer which is sort of what we did.

Despite being pretty full, Jamie had spied bolo de bolacha, basically a cake/cheese cake hybrid made from biscuits, so we decided to share a slice. It looked a little Sarah Lee but I can tell you it was far from it. Rich tea type biscuits with a light cream in amongst the layers and a chocolate topping, apparently there are many variations of this cake.

bola de bolacha

So if you haven't been to Portuguese Taste and are in need of a good feed, check it out you won't be disappointed.  Perfect comfort food for dipping temperatures. St Nicks triumphs once again, not that I ever doubted it for a moment.