The golden rule of eating seafood in the Algarve is simple: follow the fishermen. The best meals are rarely more than a few hundred metres from where the boats land, and often cost half the price of marina dining.
Read the fish display
Good tascas display the day's catch on crushed ice by the door. Look for clear-eyed whole fish, bright red gills and a chalkboard listing 'pesca do dia'. If the menu lists everything, year-round, be suspicious.
Order like you mean it
Fish is sold by weight (per kilo), grilled over charcoal ('na brasa') with nothing but coarse salt and olive oil. Pair it with a bottle of vinho verde, tomato rice for two and a salada mista. Finish with dom Rodrigo if you see it — a sticky, foil-wrapped Algarvian classic.
Our current favourites
Maré Alta in Tavira for cataplana, O Cais in Faro for shellfish small plates, and any harbour-side grill in Sagres for percebes and prego rolls after a day on the west-coast waves.
