A Foodie’s Guide to Faro Restaurants, Faro, Portugal

Portugal is one of those countries I’m steadily falling in love with. I’d not been at all until I was 33 (the same age I also experienced my first waterpark – go figure) but I’ve been three times since. On that first, waterpark-fuelled holiday, I drove around the Algarve, eating along the way. Then a year or two later, I ate my way through Lisbon and Sintra. This time, the Honey Badger needed to be in Faro for work, so I tagged along and edited an annual report from the beach – because why not? It was Easter the following weekend, so we stuck around to soak up some sun and sangria. Faro may be small, but its Old Town is photogenic, the food cheap and generous, and the people immensely friendly. I’d highly recommend staying a day or two in Faro before heading off to the Algarve’s stunning coastline and rural orange groves. And for when you do, I bring you my Foodie Guide to Faro Restaurants.

Last time I was in the Faro, I was thwarted in my attempts to eat cataplana at my (then) first choice of restaurant, Tasca do Ricky. This time, I had the benefit of local knowledge – all of which pointed me in one direction: Chefe Branco. In case you’re wondering, cataplana is a kind of fish stew with a tomato base served in large, steaming copper pots – it’s comforting and impressive at the same time. We sat outside local’s favourite Chefe Branco, made the most of that Mediterranean climate, ordered the monkfish cataplana, and drank a bottle of Portuguese red wine. A perfect evening. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).