Birthday Calories Don't Count (Especially in Porto)

Featuring 5 cheeses, one giant prawn, and and approximately 20,000 steps

One of the best birthday gifts is simply getting to spend it somewhere special.

My Porto birthday started at Story Brunch & Cocktails, a Ukrainian restaurant that serves great coffee and enough food to fuel what would become another “How did we walk that far?” kind of day.

Cottage cheese pancakes with Greek yogurt & sour cherries, and prosciutto toast with sun dried tomatoes

The wall mural outside the restaurant:

After breakfast we walked all the way home...

...only to turn around a little while later and walk all the way back downtown again.

It was beautiful weather, and we got to see some new areas we hadn’t seen before.

Our destination was Queijaria Amaral, the oldest cheese shop in Porto, where we signed up for a five-cheese tasting paired with a bottle of Portuguese wine.

Five cheeses doesn’t sound like much until you realize they’re served by people who believe cheese is a perfectly acceptable meal.

The owner proudly introduced us to each cheese, saving what he described as the “strong” cheese for last. When we both enthusiastically declared that it was our favorite, he absolutely lit up. I think we may have earned honorary Portuguese citizenship.

Or maybe he was just relieved that the Americans didn’t ask for cheddar.

Last photo of me before I was in a cheese coma

By the time we finished the wine and polished off enough cheese to feed a small family, we were somewhere between pleasantly tipsy and medically classified as dairy products.

Naturally, on the walk home, we made another stop.

Because apparently our stomachs hadn’t completely surrendered.

At Mariquinhas, we sampled Ginja, Portugal’s famous sour cherry liqueur, served in tiny dark chocolate cups. The idea is brilliant. The execution is... potent.

Let’s just say it’s one of those things you’re glad you tried only once.

After a strategic afternoon of recovery (otherwise known as lying around wondering if we would ever want to eat cheese again), we rallied for a birthday dinner at Tasco… back downtown.

It’s a beautiful restaurant with great ambiance and excellent service. Our light dinner featured a very tasty grilled prawn and a seafood rice that was delicious but salty enough to preserve itself for another hundred years. (Shawn only had one bite)

No complaints, though.

The birthday festivities officially ended with walking back through Porto’s beautiful streets before finally admitting that our feet had reached their daily quota.

The next day was housekeeping day, which meant we had to disappear for four hours while the cleaning lady worked her magic. So we headed to NorteShopping, the big mall here in Porto, where we somehow managed to add several thousand more steps just wandering through the stores.

Of course, all that shopping worked up an appetite. We joined the long line of locals waiting for the Brazilian steakhouse buffet in the mall's food court, figuring that if this many Portuguese people were willing to wait, they probably knew something we didn't. They definitely did. For about $10 each, we got plates piled with grilled meats, sides, salads, and even got a drink included. It was one of those meals that makes you question every overpriced sandwich you've ever bought. Delicious, ridiculously affordable, and another reminder that some of the best food isn't always found in the fanciest restaurants.

This is NOT the Fogo de Chao from back home, but good nonetheless

Grilled chicken, steak, sausage, and pork, served with rice and beans, cabbage salad, and tomato slices + a sangria.

Before heading home, we made one last stop at the big Continente, Portugal’s version of a supermarket on steroids.

We found enormous prawns that made last night’s dinner look perfectly reasonable, and, perhaps more exciting, we finally located the elusive coffee cream we’ve been unable to get at any other grocery store.

As always, we couldn't leave Continente without wandering through the bakery. Portuguese supermarkets don't just have a bakery, they have what feels like an entire pastry museum. Rows of beautiful tarts, cakes, breads, custard treats, and things we still can't identify but desperately want to eat. Best of all, they had our current obsession: Pão de Deus ("Bread of the Gods"). It's a soft, slightly sweet roll topped with coconut that's somehow both simple and irresistible. At this point, we're not saying we'd plan a trip around it... but we're also not not saying that.

So that’s my birthday in the books.

Good food. Great wine. So much excellent cheese. Thousands upon thousands of steps. And another reminder that our favorite birthdays aren’t about presents anymore.

Saúde!