Guimaraes is Portugal in pure state. In fact, the country was born here in the 12th century, when Afonso Henriques defeated his mother in a battle that would lead to Portugal's independence from the kingdom of Lion.
However, I was not referring to this, but to the fact that he continues to maintain that Portuguese small town atmosphere, a certain rhythm that perhaps we have already lost around here and that is especially striking just 45 minutes from the cosmopolitan bustle of Port.
There are many reasons why it is worth visiting Guimarães, whose charming historic center is declared a World Heritage Site and it is crossed by the Camino Torres, the variant of the Camino de Santiago that starts from Salamanca following the itinerary that Diego Torres de Villarroel made at the time.
Walking through Guimarães.
But in case the monumental complex, the surroundings and hiking were not enough, the city also has a whole series of gastronomic attractions that make it the ideal base camp for a getaway that will make you question all the clichés and preconceived ideas you may have about Portugal and its cuisine.
COZINHA MINHOTA
It is possible that the cuisine of the Minho region (Miño in Spanish) seems, at first, Galician cuisine with a different accent. And it makes perfect sense, because the border is there, just 80 kilometers away.
However, as soon as you explore you will come across completely different dishes made from ingredients that will be familiar to you such as pica no chão rice , chicken rice cooked with red wine and the animal's blood; turnip soup; the feijão of spark , bean stew with ear, bacon and pig's trotters; the bacalhau com broa , baked cod with a cornbread crust or the famous powder to lagareiro, Grilled octopus with garlic oil and roasted potatoes.
TRADITIONAL PASTRIES
The one from Portugal and sweets of conventual origin is a serious thing. Every few kilometers, sometimes just by changing towns, you will find new specialties that the old pastry shops preserve as the treasure they are.
Lagareiro powder.
In the case of Guimarães, the best known example is the graze or Guimarães cakes, a kind of sweet pastry with a very complex filling surrounded by a mass of thin sheets that can remind a Neapolitan sfogilatella. try them on Confeitaria Clarinha , in the Plaza del Toural.
Don't let go either the toucinhos do ceu from the city, a sweet that has little to do with the bacon from heaven on this side of the border, or The jesuits, a sweet that will sound familiar to you if you are from Bilbao because it has a very curious story: a century ago a pastry chef from Santo Tirso, halfway between Guimarães and Porto, hired a Spanish assistant who came to the confectionery with a formula called to become in one of the most popular sweets in the country.
Yes, the Bilbao Jesuits have a Portuguese first cousin. And if you want to try them you can choose to do it in Confeitaria Moura (Santo Tirso), the house founded in 1892 where the sweet was born for the Portuguese, in any of the two branches that this patisserie has in the center of Porto or, without leaving Guimarães, in the Pastelaria Nova Camir or in the small Confeitaria Ribela.
AMARANTE: MORE PASTRIES
Amarante, 20 minutes from Guimarães, may seem like little more than a small town built around a convent and a bridge. But, although these are its main monuments, it hides a few more attractions than one would expect for its size.
The legendary Jesuits.
In the same square of the convent has been for decades the Bar Sao Goncalo , the perfect place to get one of the tables on the terrace and let the hours pass between coffee and local sweets. I would almost tell you to order blindly, because you will not be able to try them all and any of them is a temptation.
If you want to go for the most characteristic don't stop asking about them twelves of São Gonçalo (the sweets of San Gonzalo), also known in a less chaste version as colhões do santo or caralhotes. In case its shape doesn't make it clear enough, don't forget that the 'lh' in Portuguese is read like the 'll' in Spanish. And, no, don't ask me to translate it for you.
After that you can continue exploring the two small historic neighborhoods on either side of the bridge or treat yourself and book a table in the restaurant Largo do Paço , recognized with a Michelin star since 2004 and which is located inside the Calcada House , one of the most spectacular hotels in the north of the country.
GREEN WINE
You are in the middle of the Vinho Verde production area, surely one of the most popular in Portugal.
Although it is possible that if you have come across it before you have the wrong idea, since not always the one that is exported or the one found in tourist restaurants is the highest quality, don't forget to give it a try.
Wines have been made here for four generations.
A great place to do it is cello house (visits by reservation only) , an old mansion half an hour from Guimarães in which the same family has been making wine for four generations. The current results are quite a surprise and testing them here, among vines over 4 meters high, is quite an experience.
LE BABACHRIS
Back in the city, a very good option is to reserve a table at Le Babachris, hidden in a very charming street just 200 meters from the historic center.
Why? For its excellent value for money (at noon they work only menu of the day, for 12 euros. At night they offer two tasting menus, 28 and 35 euros, drinks not included).
And not only that: the familiar treatment that Bárbara and Pedro give to the clients will make you feel comfortable from the first moment and Christian's kitchen , a Majorcan who after passing through France and being a private chef for some of the great Spanish fortunes, he met Bárbara and ended up coming with her to her city, he will offer you a unique journey through local products from the perspective of a Mediterranean trained at the prestigious Lenôtre de Paris.
Babachris, you will not find anything like it even if you look for it.
You won't find anything like it even if you look for it. This curious mix translates into dishes such as Shirumono, a Japanese-influenced soup that Christian makes with local cabbage and turnips; the Soupy rice with tripe and turnip greens wave veal with creamy polenta, endive and meat sauce.
MORE SIGNATURE CUISINE
If you are based in the city and you are interested in haute cuisine, you will surely have the name of To Cozinha , the place in the historic center that this year received its first Michelin star.
You shouldn't miss the restaurant either Ferrugem , in the middle of a small village halfway between Guimarães and Braga, which some describe as “the little village elBulli”. Perhaps this is an exaggeration, but what is certain is that Renato Cunha offers here a particular renewed vision of the classic flavors of the area.
PANTY
The capital of the district is less than 20 km from Guimarães and deserves at least one getaway to get to know its pleasant old town, its lively cultural life and, yes, you guessed it, its sweets too.
Haute cuisine also has its place in this getaway.
The lukewarm are one of the most popular specialties. They even have a patisserie, Tibias from Braga , dedicated to them next to the Porta Nova arch. here the pastry chef Joao Araujo offers the classic version of this sweet, filled with cream; but also alternative fillings, such as hazelnut praline, the classic with raspberries or banana and caramel.
And if you still want more, ask for the biscainhos (egg and almond), rolls of night (crunchy dough and nut filling) or the lemon and raspberry semifreddo.
THE OLD CAFES
Ah, the old Portuguese cafes. Most towns have at least one of these locations. where time seems to have stopped more than half a century ago.
Decor can sometimes be a bit old-fashioned but never left the service is classic and courteous, the offer simple: perhaps some local sweet, always a coffee that is usually more than worthy (and for which you will pay between 60 and 75 cents, surely), maybe a soup at noon.
In these places one has the feeling that time slows down when you walk through the door and that urban and cosmopolitan Portugal stays on the street to leave, inside, space to endless gatherings, quiet coffees and the noble art of looking at the world through the window.
The ones filled with cream, a classic.
In Guimarães you cannot miss visiting the millennial coffee ; in Amarante, the aforementioned São Gonçalo; in Braga, the Vianna or A Brasileira… Perhaps one day I will have to make a list of my favorites throughout the country.
And if all this is not enough, Porto is there, just a stone's throw away, as is the Douro wine region, Vila Real and its sweets (of course), and the meats and sausages of the Trás-Os-Montes region. .
If you don't go to Guimarães and the north of Portugal, don't let it be because there are no more than enough gastronomic attractions.
To Brasileira.