Tapas in Olhao? Who does not love tapas? Well, we do! A lot! And we found a true gem in Olhao that we fell in love with and that is worth writing a post about. This place is not in the city center and I think that it is easily missed. But if you get here – we can guarantee that you will get the best tapas the town has to offer. 

Tapas e Lendas serve some amazing food

We were spending the night in Olhao when Minis parents came to visit us. We had been walking around this beautiful town all day and wanted to find a really good restaurant during our last night in Olhao. Since Mini and I love tapas, we felt that we wanted to share some tapas with the family.

When we arrived to the restaurant I was not that impressed. When looking at it from the outside, it looks like a rundown shack and not a restaurant. But don’t be freaked out by the exterior. Once inside you will see that this is a nice and clean place.

How many tapas should you order?

There were four of us and we were all hungry. What I loved about this place is that the waiter told us to start with five to six dishes and then if we wanted, we could order more. And when we started placing our order, he stopped us and said that we could order more if we still were hungry. I love that kind of honesty… when they don’t try to sell you loads of s*hit but rather stop you from ordering more. I truly believe that it will be a gain for them in the end!

But like I said – I was hungry and we ended up with ten different dishes and boy were they good! We also shared a bottle of the house wine and Mini got a beer. At the end of the night, we ended up spending 72 euros. Yes, that is more than we usually spend on food but at the same time – there was four of us and we ate like crazy. But enough of the information… share our experience with us through this photos.

Bread and an “arctic sallad”

In Swedish we call it “ishavssallad” and it is so good (if you like shellfish). It is a creamy mix of different shellfish and caviar = the best that ocean has to offer. I love to have that kind of mix in my baked potatoes. Here it was served with bred. So good! I’m not sure if this is a Portuguese thing but I don’t think so. Well the shellfish of course, but not the mix. If you want to try it and can’t find it in your hometown – here is a super easy recipe on how you can make this at home!

Disclaimer: This is our recipe and not the restaurants. And I’m not sure if the restaurant would say that they are serving “ishavssallad” but that was really what it tasted like so here you go…

Recipe Swedish Ishavssallad = arctic sallad

• • 1 pack of crab-fish sticks.
  • Some peeled shrimps.
  • Half a deciliter of mayonnaise.
  • dill
  • Half a teaspoon of salt.
  • 1,5 deciliters of Creme fraiche.
  • One teaspoon of spawn of a fish. (I prefer the black version).
  • A pinch of chili.

This is how you do it:

1. Shop the crab-fish sticks and the shrimps into smaller pieces.
2. Blend it all together (with a spoon). Serve it with bread, baked potato, avocado or whatever you prefer!

Mozzarella cheese with lavender

Oh, how I love lavender in food. If you have never tried it – do so. Don’t worry, it will not taste like perfume. The chefs are professionals and know just the amount that you should have to make it taste just perfect! And apparently mozzarella cheese and lavender work amazingly together!

Creamy cheese with honey and pinions

The cheese that we figured out was some kind of really creamy cheese was served with honey and Pinons. For all you cheese lovers out there – this is a must! Mini is a huge fan of honey and even if I’m not, it worked fine in this dish.

Spanish Cured Ham

Since my father-in-law is not a fan of cheese (and because we had already ordered two cheese dishes) we got the ham for him. But let’s be honest… we all ate it! Yes, we were in Portugal and we were eating Spanish ham. But that is one of the best hams in the world so we didn’t mind.

Clams with garlic and butter

Now this was my absolute favorit dish. I love clams and these were made to perfection. I wanted to order more of the same dish but the rest of the group thought that we should try something new so we did. These are the clams that I’m dreaming about and hoping to achieve while making clams at home! I’m not sure what it was that made them so incredible. Was it the garlic? The butter that they were covered in? Who knows but they were the best!

Peppered steak

Even if we were in a Tapas restaurant where the whole point is to share, Minis dad wanted to try the peppered steak and that was a “whole dish”. We ended up ordering that and sharing it. If you are a meat-lover than this is for you. The only downside is that I’m not sure if the dish would be enough if you ordered just that. Kind of small portion if you ask me!

Warm bread soaked with olive oil and ham

The Portuguese olive oil is incredible. We have stocked up on olive oil even if we live in a motorhome and can’t have that much stuff with us. Imagine that olive oil that is soaked in the freshly baked warm bread. The perfect combination of freshly cut grass and the taste of bread. To that, we got olives and some more cured ham.

Sauteed potatoes

Another perfect tapas in Olhao that worked perfectly with the peppered steak. I can’t but wonder why I never make these at home. No, I’m not a professional chef and mine will not taste as good. But I do believe that I can make sautéed potatoes. I will get back to you once I made it! And this was really the perfect tapas in Olhao.

Shrimps with garlic

I make shrimps fried in garlic pretty often at home. But they never taste as good as they did at the restaurant. Can it be that I use peeled shrimps and here they were unpeeled? Shrimps are the perfect food with white wine and it is food that makes you feel luxurious. They were really good!

Mussels

Unlike clams, mussels are often more easy to come by. These were served with a sauce that was the perfect tasting combination. A lot of people miss out on this kind of food. They think that it looks gross and they won’t try it. But please do because it is really good!

Best tapas in Olhao by far – Tapas e Lendas

There are several places that serve tapas in Olhao. Make sure to bump this place to the top of the list. And there are several places around Portugal that serve some amazing tapas. to eat tapas in Olhao is a great idea but there are other great places to!

Information about Taoas e Lendas – tapas in Olhao

Address: 18, R. Dr. Manuel Arriaga, Olhão.
Opening hours: Open daily except for Sundays when it is closed.

Check out our post on tapas in Lisbon here.