by Janet Sandford

Created on: September 09, 2010

The Adega Velha in Mourao is my type of restaurant. It is a very typical small, friendly Portuguese restaurant where 40 or so customers are tightly squeezed in next to each other. On entering you will be hit by a wall of sound (Portuguese meal time chatter). The atmosphere is always lively, refreshing, if a  little jarring at times.

Walls are painted plain old white with lots of Alentejano arches. At the top end of the restaurant stands a dresser tall and proud full to the brim with plates and bowls of a decorative nature. Memorabilia is everywhere and spot the massive clay wine amphorae.

Waiters are always kept busy with the locals and always seem to have a smile and time for a chat. As for the food served it is always reliable, nourishing and cheap. I forgot to mention helpings are enormous.

Let’s take a look at the starters. Not everyone’s cup of tea but certainly mine – grilled liver sausage – I recommend you try some. Home-made, I might add – a totally different taste than anything you will buy in a supermarket.  How about the  rabbit in coriander sauce? Beautifully cooked pieces of lean rabbit meat in a sauce incorporating coriander, green tomatoes, a touch of ginger, olive oil and garlic. People say rabbit is a rich and heavy meat – definitely not the way it is cooked in the Adega. Each mouthful  was light, tender and the mixed flavours of the creamy sauce made the dish delightful. Other starters to try are the sheep’s cheese, marinated in olive oil or just a plateful of ordinary scrambled eggs. But here in the Adega the eggs aren’t ordinary they are scrambled oh so lightly and have tender asparagus tips added to the mixture. Delicious. From the main menu the lamb stew is always a top reliable dish cooked in the oven very slowly until the lamb falls off the bone and so is the roast pork with its crispy crackling served with small roasted potatoes with a sprinkling of rock salt and garlic, and huge amounts of local home-grown vegetables. My favourite of all the meat dishes is hare with bean stew ( feijoada). Usually, I order bean stew on its own so it is always a bonus to eat it with hare. Hare has a much stronger taste than rabbit and in this particular dish I could really pick out the rich gamey taste. I loved the bits of smoked ham also in the bean stew.

Desserts are very basic here – usually fresh fruit, ice cream or a couple of the local puds like sericaia ( a cinnamon flavoured eggy flan served with fresh greengages (Elvas plums).

Now, there is something special about this restaurant and it isn’t anything to do with food. This restaurant is where a group of Alentejano singers get together and often start singing so most evenings you will see them singing their hearts out and you know what – they are very good! Very loud but always on key and the songs are usually referring to times gone by, the wine industry and the old town of Mourao. You can join in if you wish but you will have to have a good pair of lungs to out do any of these guys! Still, it’s always worth having a song or two tucked  away up your sleeve so you can join in between courses.

A three course meal for two people including  a couple of beers, a jug of house wine which is cheap and cheerul and a bottle of mineral water will knock you back in the region of 20 Euros. 

You can find this old winery (Adega Velha) located in the centre of Mourao on Rua Dr Joaquim Jose de Vasconcelos Gusmao 13. The establishment does not take credit cards so remember to bring cash and the restaurant is closed Sunday evening and Monday.  

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