Portugal is one of those places that keeps calling me back… I’ve spent the last three winters/early springs in Madeira, Ericeira, the Algarve and the Douro Valley, and I’m already plotting my return to the Lisboa wine region for this year’s grape harvest. But
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5 Portuguese Restaurants in Amsterdam
Restaurante DONA
Housed in what’s designed to look like your long-lost Portuguese grandma’s dining room, Restaurante DONA offers a four-course chef’s menu plus a few additional petiscos (small shareable dishes). The evening we visited in summer 2024, the focus was on fish and seafood – and the food certainly transported us straight to the Atlantic coast. We started with pastéis de bacalhau, little salt cod and potato fritters that will be familiar to anyone who’s visited Portugal, followed by sardines on toast with oregano, raw veg and a red pepper purée. The latter went particularly well with the bottle of Encruzado from the Dão region that we drank – the apple and saline notes were brought out by the crunch of radish and the salty sardines. Next up were mussels, prepared with Vinho Verde, chillies and coriander, followed by more of that quintessentially Portuguese bacalhau topped with a crust of corn bread and served with a pea purée (pictured below). Dessert involved mandarin sorbet, caramel cream and a glass of fantastic Moscatel de Setúbal. It was all delicious, but still I missed the generous portion sizes (not to mention the prices) of similar dishes I’d eaten in Portugal. It felt like a very Amsterdam interpretation of Portuguese food: delicate and pricy. We spent €200 on dinner for two, which is becoming more and more standard in Amsterdam, and for that reason is not really a criticism of Dona – more an observation on the issue of restaurant prices here in general.
ARCA Amsterdam
Located in the rather swanky, boutique art’otel where 5&33 used to be, you’ll find all the Portuguese classics with a modern twist at ARCA Amsterdam. (You can also opt for a tasting menu, to try smaller portions of seven different dishes.) The evening I visited, we enjoyed several different dishes, some of which were more traditional than others. Up first, bacalhau a bras is an authentic Portuguese salt cod dish with potatoes and egg – in ARCA’s case, it was prepared at the table, seasoned with diced olives and chopped parsley. Not much to look at, but the flavour was pure Portugal. Meanwhile, duck rice was deconstructed into a perfectly cooked magret (duck breast) with a hearty rice dish laced with vegetables and more duck. On the modern-fusion end of the spectrum, we tried the tuna tataki with an escabeche of julienned carrots, peppers and tomatoes with coriander oil and a mild chilli oil. The wine list also leans heavily Portuguese, which is nice to see.
Editor’s note: I was invited to eat at ARCA as a journalist, and I didn’t pay for my meal. Obviously I try to be as objective as possible, but I always disclose when I’ve had a freebie.
Franggo
Franggo means chicken in Portuguese, so it’s no surprise that this joint – with two locations in Amsterdam – is all about piri-piri chicken. The chicken itself was very good: moist meat, just-charred skin, good flavour and the right amount of spice. But the sides were not up to the same standards. The baked jacket potato was the opposite of what it should be: flabby skin and unfluffy inside, while the tomatoes in the tomato salad were unripe despite it being the height of summer. We went to Franggo’s location in de Pijp, where we sat inside (there was no outdoor seating) and it was boiling hot and the bathroom was dirty. So all in all, if you do fancy piri-piri chicken, I’d suggest getting a half or a whole chicken to take away and turning it into a picnic with your own sides at nearby Sarphatipark.
Portugália Tasca
I had high hopes for Portugália Tasca, with its wide pavement terrace and menu of petiscos (small dishes to share). And indeed, if you’re craving a white port tonic cocktail and some bacalhau croquettes to snack on, it’ll certainly scratch that itch. But the other dishes we tried were a little hit and miss. I enjoyed the fava bean puree with chorizo, but the rissóis de camarão reminded me of Findus crispy pancakes in the 90s. The piri-piri chicken was well prepared and came with a properly spicy sauce on the side, but the duck rice was dry and a little lacking in flavour. And everything we ate seemed quite small for the price. But stop by for a port-tonic and a snack and you’ll be happy!
Mister Nata
And finally, if you’re fiending for real-deal Portuguese custard tarts – pastéis de nata – stop by Mister Nata’s café on Van Woustraat for a cortado and a pastel de nata or order them online from Mister Nata’s webshop and get a box to share with friends or colleagues. I don’t even have a sweet tooth and I’m addicted to these creamy, wobbly, flaky parcels of joy!
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