Eating in Portugal: Dinner at the Goat Corral, Sintra

We were uncertain, it was dark, nothing much around and the name of the restaurant did not inspire confidence.  But dinner at the Curral dos Caprinos turned out to be great.  Cozy, delicious, interesting.  Being Americans we eat early, we can't help ourselves. So when we got there at the 7 PM opening time, it was not full but filled up fast with people probably from the area.  Anyway, all speaking Portuguese.

The decor charmed immediately.  The walls were lined with goat paraphernalia and goat heads.  I was sitting facing the one on top of the blog and grew fond of him as I ate.  The horns in front of the little white goat--I can't figure them out and they were beyond the English of our waiter. Many kinds of goat bells and goat harnesses. Seems as though the area is called Curral dos Caprinos because this mountainy area, out in the country is where the goats were rounded up for market. Some cattle too but goats were the feature. Now it looks like a suburb--all houses, no goats.

We had such a substantial lunch of seafood stew in cream sauce that we came in with light appetites. There were many choices of main dishes, including kid, other meats and various fish. We were pleased to find soup of kinds we had not tried before.

The smaller bowl in the back of the photo is garlic soup that Nancy ordered.  It was creamy, seemed to be pureed vegetables, maybe squash.  Onions and garlic were still in pieces.  Cilantro, much cilantro. It seems like a very simple soup but was very good.

I ordered Alentejo soup.  The explanation ahead was "bread and egg" but I decided to try it anyway. It is a traditional and much loved soup; the waiter was really happy to serve it and tell about his food to a foreigner. Alentejo is a region of Portugal, south of center and inland to the mountains bordering Spain. Famous for its wine and, now I find, for its soup. The soup is a soup of hard times--the waiter said it was eaten during WWII.

Bread and egg turned out to be an accurate description.  It is a light herb broth with a lot of cilantro.  I could not identify other flavors specifically except garlic.  Slices of stale bread had been soaked in the soup but it is a kind of bread which keeps its shape. Then an egg is poached in the broth.  It is served in a tureen and the waiter made much of scooping it into my dish.  There was more than enough for two if we had realized ahead.

I enjoyed it very much--delicious.  I was able to find a recipe in the NY Times, in case any one wants to try it out. I will give it a try when home.

Meals here always start with a basket of bread.  Here we also had "fresh" cheese, a bit like cream cheese.  Olives, little fried meatballs which reminded me of Kibbeh from the middle east.

After the soup, if we were following the pattern, we would order a main dish and end with desert and port wine. Tonight, our meal was complete with a glass of wine.

We have been so delighted with the great quality of the local wines here in Portugal and previously in Spain.

In Portugal, we have become familiar with "green" wines which are a white wine that is just a bit sparkling.  The ones we have tried are from the north.  More research is needed to determine if it is a regional specialty of if other regions produce vinho verde.  I'll report back in a few weeks.

Text & photos by Julianne. Tasting by all.