Zé Manél dos Ossos

Portugal cuisine is very traditional and you'll find many family restaurants, also known as tascas, in every city you go. Those are the best restaurants, with homemade and fresh food, really tasty.

In Coimbra the best tasca is Zé Manél dos Ossos, a little restaurant that has more than 60 years of tradition. It is the most reccomended restaurant if you look online, and it indeed is great.

It is located in the downtown Coimbra in a really small street that can get crowded with people waiting to eat in the restaurant. Zé Manél dos Ossos has only 7 tables (for 4 people each), so you must get to the place early to get a table. I reccomend to get there at least half an hour before the opening. It will be worth the wait!

What to order

The tasca serves typical portuguese food, but their most famous dish are pig bones. The restaurant would serve this to students who didn't have much money for a really small price a few years ago. It is still a cheap restaurant. You can eat and drink really well for less than 12 euros (having a first and main dish, wine and dessert).

Other great dishes there are the pig's belly, served with beans rice, and the grilled fish, with potatoes and spinach. I had them both (sharing with friends because it is too much food), but when I come back I want to eat the house's octopus and lamb.

For dessert, you can't miss the vomito (or puke, if translated), a not very beautiful dish, but certainly delicious. It is a cream made of eggs and almonds.

To drink, ask for the house's wine. It is wonderful!

Scenery

Although it is really small, Zé Manel dos Ossos has a charm. Its walls are all covered in messages and posts of people who went there. You can see scraps from the 90's and even older (if you can still read them). I left a note there too and you should too, when you go (and you must eat there someday).