Before departing on our coastal hike, we had a Saturday evening in Porto to do some light sightseeing and revisit some favorite sites. We had pretty thoroughly explored Porto in 2018, and one of the areas we liked visiting was the sister city of Vila Nova de Gaia on the other side of the Douro river, and after walking the waterfront and enjoying a Porto Tonico at one of the sidewalk cafés, it was time to consider dinner. Much of the time Porto is the quieter, more laid back city compared to Lisbon, but that doesn’t generally apply to weekends: Porto’s waterfront is absolutely hopping on the warmer weekends of the year, so it was important for us to find a place where we could get reservations, hopefully for some good Portuguese food to start to get us calibrated for our walk. After consulting The Fork (which seems to get more support in Europe than OpenTable), we booked a table at DeCastro Novo de Gaia.
DeCastro is quite easy to find, it’s basically the in-house restaurant for the port wine house Porto Cruz, the large, nearly cubic building on the central Nova de Gaia waterfront. DeCastro is located on the second floor from the top, below their rooftop terrace bar (so, on a weekend night, except the mild thumping of bass from the dance music). But it’s quite an inviting space, with large, spacious tables and couch-like chairs.
Starting with a couple of appetizers, the first to arrive was Peixinhos de Horta (deep-fried green beans). We’ve encountered these several times in our trips to Portugal, and these were a particularly well-executed: cooked to the point where the beans themselves were just al dente, and a light, crisp breading with a lightly tangy-citrusy mayo for dipping.
Next up: the Pimentos Padrón, grilled Padrón peppers. Much like their slightly sweeter Shishito cousin that you frequently see in the United States, these were nicely grilled and lightly blisters Padrón peppers, with a nicely bold but not overly spicy-hot flavor; more of a smokey, earthy flavor. We really enjoyed these as well.
Next up, a bowl of the obligatory Caldo Verde. The second of almost two dozen different Caldo Verde renditions I’d have on this trip, DeCastro’s was particularly well done: nice, rich kale and potato flavors, a good, bold chouriço, a soup body that’s been nicely siezed to be extra smooth, and a dab of paprika-laced oil to top it off. A great soup course.
For our main courses, Dan went for the bold choice: the roasted veal rib with chouriço rice. This dish really managed to hit a lot of good notes: nicely butchered veal ribs, a nice crispy roast on the outside, with the meat itself roasted just to the point where the bone is starting to loosen but not getting too much. A nice smoky rice with bits of chouriço, with the rice roasted a bit so it’s just starting to have a crunch. Overall, a great dish.
Myself, I opted for the Bisaro Pork (a Portuguese-specific breed of grass-fed pig well known for its flavorful meat and fat) served over mushroom rice, and this was quite good as well: several large, well-seared chunks of pork loin, with a nice tender and fat-banded interior and a nice overall sear. This was much like a perfectly-executed Mexican Carnitas, but with a very different herb profile, and a subtly different flavor for the pork fat. I rather enjoyed it.
Sophie got the Duck Confit, which was served with roasted chestnuts and a port wine sauce over a bed of vegetables. I didn’t sample the duck itself, which was reported quite good, but did same the chestnuts and the port wine sauce, where were quite flavorful, but the amount of chestnuts was pretty substantial: you’ve got to really like chestnuts, otherwise you might have found this excessive.
Overall, we enjoyed DeCastro. Despite the relatively rowdy downtown and the terrace upstairs, the dining room itself was pleasant and welcoming, the staff very friendly and efficient, and the food a nice cross-section of classic Portuguese dishes. I wouldn’t hesitate to come back.
