Portuguese Style
Sometimes you discover a website that makes you happy. One that looks great and simply makes you crave things. Crave eating, drinking and going on holiday. Preferably all at the same time. In this case, I want to toast, snack and stroll around Portugal.
If you’ve ever been there, you’ve undoubtedly seen them: Portuguese little shops crammed full of tinned fish. Tins that you want to buy all at once because they’re so cheerful.
This goes beyond our herring in tomato sauce. No, we’re talking about sustainably caught fish
Soldier food
Where tins are often seen as soldier food in the Netherlands, in Portugal they have instead been elevated to true art. Every tin looks like a unique and special painting. And inside there’s no pathetic lump smelling of cat food, but beautiful fish that are slowly cooked and then covered by hand in their tin. This goes beyond our herring in tomato sauce. No, we’re talking about sustainably caught fish, presented as tuna fillets with a little seaweed, salmon fillet on a bed of savory, or swordfish preserved in refined – Portuguese – oil.
Maria Gomes’s gems
And suddenly I discovered those tins on the website that made me crave them so much. Maria Gomes specialises in authentic products from Portugal and Spain. Tinned fish, olive oil and wine.
The latter is also so appealing, because Portugal offers much more than just port. Besides powerful reds, fresh whites and sultry rosés, they also make lively sparkling wines and even pleasantly sweet wines. But because of the – often unfamiliar – native grape varieties, they’re not yet very popular here. With names like touriga nacional, aragonez, tinta cão, trajadura, loureiro or Maria Gomes, you don’t immediately think of a good glass of wine either. But they’re more than worth trying.
Apparently, the country and its products are booming in the Netherlands anyway
The Maria Gomes website – indeed named after one of those native grapes – offers a diverse and carefully selected range: from fresh Alvarinhos and spicy Douro reds to aromatic, sweet Moscatel. And of course you immediately choose some of those delicious little fish to go with it.
Portuguese super lunch at A Loja
Apparently, the country and its products are booming in the Netherlands anyway. Because at A Loja – a Portuguese delicatessen shop right around the corner from me – it’s also already packed with those tins and lovely wines. With some bread, a little lemon zest, oil and one of those tins from the shelf, they effortlessly serve a Portuguese super lunch. Add a glass of Vinho Verde and enjoy. Bom apetite!
Want to buy Portuguese delicacies yourself?
–Maria Gomes
–A Loja – Portuguese delicatessen
Hendrik Jacobszstraat 14
Amsterdam
