Cheese, Sardines, and Naughty Tomato Rice
Featuring Porto's Mercado do Bolhão
For the past couple of days, we’ve been wandering Porto’s streets, admiring one beautiful building after another... with frequent breaks to catch our breath. Porto has a way of rewarding your cardio. Every time you crest another hill thinking, Surely that’s the last one, you’re greeted by another stunning church, ornately tiled façade, or grand old building that makes you forget your tired legs for at least thirty seconds. It’s an exhausting but highly effective sightseeing strategy.
One of the buildings we’d been looking forward to visiting was Mercado do Bolhão, and today we finally made it there. I’m pretty sure this place was designed specifically to test a person’s self-control.
The market has been the heart of Porto since 1914, though its history goes back even further. It’s named after a natural spring (”bolha” means “big bubble”) that once bubbled up here, and it was originally built to give Porto’s working-class families a clean, organized place to buy the essentials - fresh fish, meat, produce, and everything else needed to feed a household.
More than a century later, after an extensive restoration, it's managed to pull off something that's surprisingly difficult: it still feels like a real neighborhood market while also being an incredible place for visitors. The ground floor is packed with vendors selling beautiful local ingredients, while restaurants and cafés line the upper level. It's historic without feeling stuffy.
Naturally, our first stop was... wine.
One of the vendors poured us each a glass, then casually told us we could wander around and bring the glasses back whenever we were finished.
Can you imagine that conversation back home?
Portugal has an almost alarming amount of faith in humanity.
With wine in hand, we wandered through aisles overflowing with gorgeous produce. Everything looked so fresh that even vegetables I normally ignore suddenly seemed exciting. The tomatoes practically glowed, the fruit smelled incredible, and the herbs perfumed the entire building.
We were, unfortunately, a pretty good hike from our apartment, so hauling home bags of groceries wasn’t exactly practical.
We’ll definitely be back when we are more prepared to shop.
Then we reached the cheese section.
I don’t know how else to describe it except to say I briefly considered whether it would be socially acceptable to move in. Just put a little twin bed between the wheels of aged cheese and call it a day. I don’t need much.
The flower stalls were equally beautiful, with buckets overflowing with colorful bouquets, individual stems, and lush green plants that somehow made the whole market feel even more alive.
But the most fun section?
The tinned fish.
I knew Portugal loved canned seafood. I was not prepared for this.
There were shelves upon shelves of sardines, mackerel, octopus, tuna, squid, mussels - you name it - in every flavor combination imaginable. Garlic. Lemon. Olive oil. Spicy. Tomato sauce. And the tins themselves were little works of art. I suddenly understood why people collect them. They’re almost too pretty to open.
Almost.
After all that browsing, we had worked up an appetite, so we walked a few blocks over to Oficina dos Rissóis for a snack.
Rissóis are Portugal’s answer to the question, “How tasty can a hand pie be?” They’re crispy, baked pastries filled with a rich, creamy meat or seafood filling.
We shared one ham and one shrimp. They conveniently have the filling stamped into the dough on top so you know which is which. Delightful!
We also ordered Arroz Malandro de Tomate, which translates to “naughty tomato rice.” And it absolutely did taste naughty - like the best risotto you’ve ever eaten naughty.
It was rich, creamy, intensely tomatoey, and made us consider ordering a second bowl immediately. I will be thinking about that dish for a very, very long time.
Totally unrelated...
Our apartment has a bathroom scale.
Purely in the interest of science, we stepped on it.
Despite all the delicious wine and food we have been gobbling up, neither of us has gained a pound.
Apparently climbing hills works.
We’ll continue conducting this important research.
Saúde! 🍷