Alicantina•Porto

Portuguese•€€€

Founded in 1991 on Rua Campo Alegre, 814. Over time, its owners opened two more stores: one on Rua Bessa Leite, 1412. And the last one in the Arrábida Shopping Center. It was precisely in Arrábida where we discovered these Alicantina restaurants. And there we spoke with his manager. Very kindly, this woman from Porto told us that the name of the franchise is related to our city through the owners, who came to Portugal from Venezuela, but with parents with Alicante origins. The Alicantina Restaurant in the Arrábida Center does not aim for a sophistication that would be out of context. The restaurant's menu focuses on Portuguese cuisine, not Alicante. However, some nods are made to our city through tweaks to Portuguese dishes. For example, in the francesinha, without a doubt the most typical of Porto's gastronomy. Thus we see that they offer a “Francesinha Alicantina”. The variation consists of crowning the sandwich with a shrimp. The people of Porto adore this sandwich, about whose origin there are several legends. Some believe they inherited it from Napoleon's soldiers. It is said that the French who quartered themselves in the city at the beginning of the 19th century fought hunger by eating meat between two pieces of bread and adding a lot of cheese. Over time, the city's inhabitants imitated these sandwiches, filling them with cold cuts, chorizo, meat, and giving them the final touch: seasoning them with a slightly spicy sauce.