Sueste

Owner Amadeu Henriques created this restaurant and his personal stamp of perfection has made Sueste what it is today: a prestige location where the pleasures of eating and drinking, excellent service and select ambient jazz combine beautifully with the quiet landscape at the mouth of the Arade, its stunning golden sunsets and the comings and goings of the fishing boats. Henriques also offers his clients the luxury of being picked up in the restaurant’s private boat from the other side of the river.

The food here is typically Portuguese/ Algarvian – with special emphasis on grilled fresh fish. There are also all sorts of delicacies from the sea: xarém (a dish of shellfish with cornmeal), percebes (goose barnacles), prawns... pearls of flavour cooked by experts dedicated to keeping some culinary secrets just that. The cooks hand-pick all the ingredients, and even have special ways of grilling fish.

We start with the xarém – a local dish that’s particularly well-liked and which opens up the appetite. To follow, we can’t resist some goose barnacles, and then try the flaked roasted cod, which is delicious – as well as cuttle-fish cooked in their own ink – absolutely perfect and very fresh. We washed it all down happily with a bottle of the house Costa Candeias wine, served in a jug – and for dessert, a traditional sweet with almond and sweet pumpkin, which was divine. After that, coffee and the rest. Night had now fallen on the evening’s entertainment. A new moon shone high in the sky and the lights of Portimão glittered on the water, as the south-westerly wind slept.