For lunch we stopped at Taverna do Tome, filled with old wine barrels brought by the Romans. Here farmers and old men gather in the bar for drinks. We dined on a selection of local red wine, olives, bread and fresh goat cheese. In the winter fried sardines are served. The locals spend many pleasurable hours here, often with the accompaniment of live music.
Dinner is served in the understated elegance of the dining room.
The bi-level dining room boasts domed ceilings quietly meeting the white washed walls, beautiful granite block floors all reflected in large mirrors framed with dark oak. Simplicity was accentuated with white table linens, huge urns of greenery, and green filled centerpieces of wrought iron and glass vases. As I sat enjoying watching the diners enter, I was afforded a view onto the patio with gleaming white walls in the sun light, a huge fig tree just in front. The patio was set for dining al fresco, the same patio from which the teaching kitchen is entered. Beginning with a fabulous 1993 Monte da Ferra red wine from the Alentejo, Victor served our dinner.