One thing can not be missed when a portuguese Person goes out for dinner: the soup. As a starter, is the soup more or less obligatory. Made with a variety of rich ingredients, portuguese soups are tasty, nourishing and many of them so filling that they often constitute a meal in themselves. There are several soups, Canja de Galinha, sopa da pedra, sopa alentejana...but one soup you can always ask for, is: Caldo Verde, the thin green soup is made of potatoes and strips from cabbage. Mostly you never have to pay more than 1,50 Euros for this dish. But attention for all the vegetarian people under us, because there is coryza cooked in it which is removed after the process.
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After dinner you could for example eat one of the delicious Pastéis de Natal, these custard tarts can be find in every pasteleria around the corner or even in the local supermarkets. But keep in mind: they will never taste as good as they do in the birthplace of Pasteís, in Belém. The famous “pastelaria” in Belém is baking every day about 20.000 pastéis. But after almost 180 years of pastéis, the recipe is still a secret. Since 1834 are the pastéis made out of the main ingredients flour, eggs, sugar, milk and butter. Tasting even more special, adding cinnamon on top. Thanks to the monks at this time, who invented the recipe and sold it after the closing of their monastery to the local sugar refinery.
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