Eat & Drink
Where to taste traditional food in Santa Clara-a-Nova, and the authentic flavours of Baixo Alentejo: açorda and migas, honey and goat cheese, medronho fruit brandy and a sweet almost nobody has heard of.
Where to Eat
Check opening hours and availability before visiting
Café Snack-Bar Duarte
Café and snack bar
The village meeting point. Coffee, petiscos (traditional snacks), light meals and local conviviality. There are no traditional restaurants in the village: Duarte is the right place to grab a bite and meet the people who live here. It is best to call ahead to confirm opening hours and availability.
- •Coffee and hot drinks
- •Traditional petiscos (snacks)
- •Light meals
- •Beers
- •Aguardente de medronho (fruit brandy)
Minimercado Piedade
Grocery shop
A small grocery shop with food, everyday essentials and some regional products. The right place to pick up honey and other local flavours.
- •Bread, fruit and vegetables
- •Dairy, meat and cured sausages
- •Hygiene and cleaning products
- •Honey and regional products
Traditional Dishes
The traditional cooking of Baixo Alentejo
| Açorda alentejana | Bread soup with coriander, garlic and a poached egg |
| Gaspacho | Cold soup of tomato, cucumber and pepper |
| Migas | Crumbled bread cooked with pork |
| Ensopado de borrego | Lamb stew served over slices of bread |
| Carne de porco à alentejana | Pork with clams |
| Secretos de porco preto | A prized cut of Iberian black pork |
| Cozido de grão | Chickpea stew, a speciality of the Almodôvar municipality |
Bolo Chibo
Bolo chibo is described by the Almodôvar municipal tourism site as a typical local sweet. There is almost no trace of it online, which makes it one of those specialities you can only discover in the territory itself. If you come across it at a village feast or in a local kitchen, try it.
Regional Products
Flavours to take home
Aguardente de Medronho (fruit brandy)
The traditional drink of the Almodôvar municipality, as promoted by the municipal tourism site. Distilled by hand in copper stills from the fruit of the strawberry tree (medronheiro).
40-50% ABV. Fruity aroma with notes of wild berries. Harvest and distilling: October and November.
Mel (honey)
Artisanal honey from clean, unpolluted wild flora, with a beekeeping tradition going back centuries.
Varieties: rosmaninho (wild lavender, aromatic and mild), urze (heather, dark and intense), multifloral (from the hills).
Queijo de cabra (goat cheese)
Traditional cheese made from the milk of free-grazing goats.
Types: fresh (mild, creamy), cured (intense flavour, firm texture), amanteigado (buttery, creamy inside).
Enchidos (cured sausages)
Artisanal sausages from the municipality: chouriço, morcela (blood sausage), farinheira (flour sausage) and paio, all traditionally made.
Cortiça (cork)
The main wealth of the Almodôvar municipality. Cork oak woodlands shape the landscape and sustain a traditional industry.
Products: stoppers, crafts, wall and floor coverings, fashion accessories.
Azeite (olive oil)
Locally produced olive oil.
Tips
- •Confirm opening hours and availability before visiting
- •Taste the local products: medronho, honey, goat cheese
- •For fuller meals, Almodôvar (about 15 km away) has several restaurants
- •Finish your meal with a local medronho