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FijiFlavors · Porto
Sandwich made with sliced sandwich bread and meats, topped with melted cheese and bathed in a hot tomato-and-beer sauce. It originated in Porto in the 20th century and is a common sight in the city's cafés.
Traditional dish from Porto, Porto
Also known as: francesinha do Porto
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Francesinha — Porto, Portugal
The francesinha is a tall sandwich made with slices of sandwich bread filled with meats such as steak, linguiça, sausage and ham. On top it gets slices of cheese that melt in the oven and a hot, thick, orange sauce. It is served on a plate, to be eaten with fork and knife.
The most commonly told story credits Daniel David Silva, a Portuguese man who had lived in France and Belgium, with its creation. Back in Porto, he supposedly adapted the French croque-monsieur to local tastes and introduced the new dish at a restaurant on Rua do Bonjardim around 1953. The name, a diminutive of francesa, recalls that origin. Sources differ on the exact decade.
Each place’s secret is the sauce. There is no single recipe: each kitchen keeps its own, but beer and tomato appear in almost all of them, often with a touch of Vinho do Porto, piri‑piri and spices. For that reason the francesinha’s flavor changes from one address to another.
The Câmara do Porto calls the francesinha an iconic dish of the city and has even promoted a festival dedicated to it in the center, with artisanal recipes and cooking demonstrations. In the region there are variants, such as the francesinha poveira from Póvoa de Varzim, made to eat with the hands.
It is a hearty meal. It usually comes with french fries, and many people order a fried egg on top. The most common drink alongside it is beer.
Porto , Porto
Created in the city of Porto; the Câmara treats it as an iconic dish of the city.
Sliced sandwich bread, beef steak, linguiça, fresh sausage and ham; slices of cheese on top; tomato, beer and spice sauce, which varies from place to place.
Hot, eaten with fork and knife, covered by the sauce. It usually comes with french fries; the fried egg on top is optional. It pairs well with a beer.
All year round, at lunch, at dinner or as a quick meal.
Your questions
The most commonly told story credits Daniel David Silva, who returned from France and Belgium and adapted the croque‑monsieur in Porto around 1953. Sources differ on the exact decade.
There is no single recipe: each place has its own. The base usually includes tomato and beer, and many recipes add Vinho do Porto, piri‑piri and spices.
With fork and knife, hot, covered by the sauce. It generally comes with french fries, and it is common to order a fried egg on top.
Flavors of Portugal
Stew of meats, sausages and vegetables cooked for hours in a pot buried next to the Furnas hot springs, using only the volcanic heat of the ground. A tradition from the island of São Miguel in the Azores.
Very moist sponge cake with an almost liquid center, eaten with a spoon. Made in Alfeizerão, in the municipality of Alcobaça, it is the region's best-known sweet according to Turismo de Portugal.
Suckling pig of one to one-and-a-half months, seasoned with garlic and pepper and roasted whole in a wood-fired oven until the skin becomes thin and crispy. Specialty of the Bairrada, centered in Mealhada, in the district of Aveiro.
Sweet of egg yolks and sugar syrup, served in painted wooden barrels or inside wafers shaped like sea motifs. It was the first Portuguese sweet with a protected geographical indication under European law.
Pudding of egg yolks, sugar and Port wine, with an unexpected ingredient: bacon. It was created in the 19th century by the abbot of Priscos, a parish of Braga, who was a banquet cook for the court.
Thick cut of Mirandesa-breed beef grilled over charcoal with only coarse salt. Turismo de Portugal identifies it as typical of the Miranda do Douro region, in the district of Bragança.
Meat from an old goat marinated in red wine with garlic and bay leaf and cooked for hours in a clay pot in a wood-fired oven. A dish from the mountain ranges of the Coimbra district, where Miranda do Corvo and Vila Nova de Poiares compete for the title of capital.
Half-moon of very thin pastry, baked in the oven, filled with a sweet made from egg yolks and almond. A convent sweet associated with the Mosteiro de Santa Clara, on the banks of the Mondego, in Coimbra.
Sweet made from egg yolks, milk, flour and cinnamon, baked in a clay dish until it cracks, served with Elvas plums in syrup. Eating sericaia with Elvas plums is one of Turismo de Portugal's recommendations for the city.
Almond paste sweet shaped like a loaf of bread, filled with egg sweet, chila and egg threads, served with marzipan olives. Created by the nuns of the Convento de Santa Helena do Calvário, in Évora.
Shellfish, fish or meat cooked in the copper two‑shell vessel that closes. Turismo de Portugal highlights clams in the cataplana among the traditional dishes of the Algarve.
Half-moon of puff pastry filled with egg sweet, almond and chila, brushed with sugar syrup. A legacy of the nuns of the former Convento de Santa Clara, now the seat of the Câmara de Guimarães.
Sweet made of egg threads, egg sweet, almond and cinnamon, wrapped in colored metallic paper. Tradition links its creation to the old Carmelite convent of Lagos, in the Algarve.
Leavened bread dough filled with ham, salpicón, meat in vinha-d'alhos or cod, baked in a wood-fired oven. It is the specialty that Turismo de Portugal recommends trying in Lamego.
Small sweet made of eggs, sugar and almond, cooked in a bain-marie, soft and glossy. Emblematic of Leiria’s confectionery, listed in the official catalogue of traditional products.
Pastry made with puff pastry filled with an egg-yolk, milk and sugar custard, eaten hot with cinnamon. Lisbon's official tourism presents it as the city's most emblematic sweet.
Pieces of beef seasoned with garlic, coarse salt and bay leaf, skewered on laurel sticks and grilled over embers. It is one of the most emblematic dishes of Madeira’s traditional cuisine, present at festivals and gatherings.
Fortified wine from the Madeira designation of origin, made from grapes grown on terraced vineyards on volcanic soil and aged with heat, either by estufagem or in casks. It has been exported for centuries.
Ginja liqueur, an acidic cherry from the region, served in small chocolate cups that are eaten afterwards. Tasting ginjinha in a chocolate cup is one of the things Turismo de Portugal recommends in Óbidos.
Veal tripe stew with cured meats, white beans and carrot, served with rice. It is a historic Porto dish and the reason people from Porto are called tripeiros.
Hearty bean soup with pork and beef cuts, sausages and vegetables, served with a stone at the bottom of the pot. It is a traditional specialty guaranteed by the European Union and associated with Almeirim, in the district of Santarém.
Strips of choco coated in flour and fried until golden, served with lemon and french fries. It is one of the dishes most associated with the city of Setúbal, where the City Council holds a gastronomic week dedicated to choco.
Fortified (liqueur) wine from Moscatel grapes, from the Setúbal designation of origin, with a demarcated region since 1907 in the municipalities of Setúbal, Palmela and Montijo and part of Sesimbra.
Small tart with a thin, crisp pastry filled with fresh cheese, egg yolks, sugar and cinnamon. The Câmara de Sintra presents it as the oldest sweet in the town's gastronomy.
Slices of egg yolks beaten for a long time, cooked in a bain-marie in a special pan and soaked in sugar syrup. A convent sweet from Tomar, traditionally linked to the Convento de Cristo.
Rice cooked with pork, beef and chicken, pork blood and spices, served with rojões and sausages. The Municipality of Ponte de Lima, in the district of Viana do Castelo, calls it the hallmark of its gastronomy.
Fortified wine from the Porto denomination of origin, made with grapes from the Douro and linked to the cellars (caves) of Vila Nova de Gaia, where law concentrated the trade of this wine in 1926.
Crescent of crisp puff pastry filled with minced veal. It has a protected geographical indication from the European Union, with production restricted to the municipality of Chaves, in the district of Vila Real.
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