A Torre

Last Saturday night found us heading into the deep south to celebrate our old pal Esther's birthday at A Torre. We were 7 strong and had taken the precaution of booking a table which was wise as this is a very popular local restaurant.

We arrived at around 7.30pm and the simply furnished room was already full of happy punters knocking back the wine and ordering with gay abandon. With a friendly welcome and a nice laid back atmosphere this is just my kind of place.

We were quickly seated at a large, long table in the middle of the room and after a quick look at the drinks menu we were soon toasting Esther with Sagres and an excellent bottle of very reasonably priced Planalto which was perfectly chilled, dry and aromatic. The wines on offer art A Torre are one of its high points, with a really good but short selection from all of the major wine regions of Portugal; an excellent choice of producers at keen prices ensures that you are going to drink well with your meal.

B and I opted to share a starter of the clams with the house special sauce which was fine although the clams themselves were a bit disappointing, a little tired and not packing much flavour. However, the accompanying sauce was excellent and we spooned every last bit up from the plate. Even by this early stage in the evening it was turning out to be a fairly raucous affair and I struggle to remember what our companions were eating although I do seem to recall a flaming plate of chorizo being brought to the table which caused much oohing and aaahing.

For my main course I had one of my favourite Portuguese dishes, the Cataplana which came in its traditional copper “clam”. This version was fine but nothing special. However, it was a huge portion and would I guess defeat all but the biggest appetites. B had the monkfish rice, which was also a massive portion, served in the traditional terracotta dish it was a bit lacking in flavour. Perhaps we have just been spoiled by the quality of the food we get served up on our annual pilgrimage to Tavira. On the plus side our Carmen, our Spanish foodie friend, was very pleased with her Bacalhau Grelhado which she compared favourably to her mother’s version – praise indeed. Tory Boy had the steak on stone which you cook according to your taste on the very hot stone, it looked great and was a nice piece of foodie theatre, and he gave it a big thumbs up.

Towards the end of the meal I tried some of the Borba Reserva which had been ordered to compliment the steaks. It was a lovely deep red colour with a long finish and plenty of fruity, spicy flavours; another very good wine at a pretty decent price.

We finished with coffee and there was a nice touch of a little traditional custard tart for Esther with a birthday candle which rounded the evening off nicely. We had been treated extremely well all evening by the helpful and friendly staff and when the bill finally arrived it was no wallet buster and it was a pleasure to leave a decent tip. We had a lovely evening at A Torre and it’s somewhere I would definitely go again; having said that it makes me long for the real taste of Portugal which is probably no bad thing.
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NunheadNeil
7 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Saturday, August 20, 2011

Enjoyed a wonderful Saturday lunch special dish of sardines with salad and rice. My partner had the fish special and with a glass of wine and tea it came to a very reasonable price of £14 in total (only available during lunch time between 12pm-14:30pm. Friendly staff with a very relaxing atmosphere. Would recommend booking if you want to go in the evening as it gets quite full.
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Mark - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Saturday, January 29, 2011

If you want to be in Portugal for a couple of hours visit A Torre. The food and atmosphere are genuine.
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Maria Fernandes
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, November 16, 2010

A warm and friendly atmosphere with a good wine selection. I just wasn't blown away by the food. We had what looked like frozen fried calamari and for main, whilst it wasn't bad there wasn't much character to the food. All OK but not amazing. Make your own mind up
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Lamby
7 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Excelent, a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Great food, friendly staff and good prices. A little gem in Crystal Palace.
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Shorty - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Saturday, May 09, 2009