You eat well in this region, for very little money. The cooking is Alentejo without concessions: bread, olive oil, coriander, black pork, lamb, strong cheeses.
Before the suggestions, three practical things that prevent disappointment.
What to know first
Almost everywhere closes one day a week. It isn't the same day everywhere, and in small villages that can mean very little is open on a Monday or a Thursday.
Out of season, many only serve lunch. From October to May, dinner in a small village mid-week may need a phone call first.
In Monsaraz in summer, book. The tables with a lake view fill up.
In Mourão
Adega Velha — Regional cooking in a cellar with clay amphorae on show. It's the most characteristic place in the village, and at weekends there's sometimes live Alentejo singing.
O Pátio da Oliveira — A simple restaurant in the centre, with dishes of the day. Home cooking, the sort you eat at lunchtime on a weekday.
There's also the beach club by the river beach, open in summer, for lighter meals — toasted sandwiches, salads, things you can eat in a swimsuit.
In Monsaraz
Inside the walls there are several restaurants, some with terraces facing the lake — Sabores de Monsaraz, Sem Fim, Xarez, Templários, among others. The line-up changes fairly often, but the pattern holds: careful Alentejo cooking, first-rate views, higher prices than the surrounding villages.
Down by the lake, the nautical centre's bar-restaurant is the relaxed option, for after a boat trip.
In Reguengos de Monsaraz
The largest town in the area, 25 minutes from Mourão. It has the most choice, and it's where the wineries of the sub-region are. Several offer tastings and some serve meals — book ahead.
What to order
- Migas — bread or potato, with pork. The house dish almost everywhere.
- Ensopado de borrego — lamb stew, served over slices of bread.
- Black pork — secretos, plumas, presa. Simply grilled.
- Açorda alentejana — bread, garlic, coriander, olive oil and a poached egg.
- Serpa and Nisa cheeses — to start, with good bread.
- Sericaia with Elvas plums — the regional dessert.
To drink, Alentejo wine. Reguengos de Monsaraz is one of the sub-regions, and the reds from here are generous and cheap.
Cooking at home
It's worth keeping at least one dinner for home. Mourão has a grocer, a butcher and a bakery, and dinner in the courtyard with local bread, cheese, cured ham and wine is often the best meal of the stay.
Casa de Santa Margarida has a full kitchen and a big table in the courtyard, for exactly that.
