Category: Portuguese

Gloria’s Cafe Review:

Gloria’s Cafe is said to be the oldest Portuguese restaurant in Petersham, or even Sydney. We were pretty curious about the restaurant because that’s the only one we haven’t been to.

Their menu is pretty old fashioned and offering either tapas-style or main-sized dishes.

Plain bread w/ butter – $2

Before you even start ordering, order the bread. They are so warm and good!

Cogumelos com natas a casa – $14 – Creamy mushrooms

Rissois de Camarao – $3.5 each – Savoury shrimp Portuguese empanadas

The mushroom seems to be on the high end of the scale for a tapas. It was pretty good tho. The empanadas was pretty crunchy and savoury.

Rojoes – $17.5 – Pork chunks cooked in red wine, topped with cooked onions

I did not get the chance to taste this but the portion was pretty small.

Bowl of hand-cut fried round potatoes – $6

This potato is a must order. We had to order an extra bowl because it was so worth it!

Espetada a Casa – $27 – Large chargrill rump skewer served with chips and salad

Given that this is supposed to be the main attraction, the beef was pretty decent but it was pretty thin.

They do come with chips and a bowl of salad.

Guisado de Carneiro – $27 – Lamb stew cooked in red wine with potatoes, mushrooms, beans and carrots.

I liked the lamb stew more than the espetada. This one had a lot more flavour and could fill you up pretty quickly.

Desserts at Gloria’s Cafe

Apologies I didn’t get the names of these desserts, but the middle one was super light and airy with the sweet yellow sauce.

Judging from his expression, the chocolate mousse seemed to be decent as well.

The final verdict for Gloria’s Cafe

Gloria’s Cafe has a very good bread and chips. However, the espetada fell short compared to restaurants in the area. They have a bit more variety compared to the others.

Do you think I should go?

If you are tired of Portuguese chickens and want to try something else from the region, you might want to visit Gloria’s Cafe.

Rating:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $14 – $30 per dish

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

82 Audley St, Petersham 2049

+61 2 9568 3966

http://gloriascafe.com.au/

Costa do Sol Review:

Everyone should know by now that you are visiting Petersham in Sydney primarily for their Portuguese Charcoal Chicken joint or Portuguese cuisine in general.

Costa do sol is one of the many Portuguese restaurants in Petersham. They offer a more sit down approach to dining. They have a slightly more diverse menu than the charcoal chicken joint.

Misto de Carne A Moda da Casa – $55 – Meat Platter Char-grilled served with salad, rice and fried potatoes (serves 2)

One thing that caught our eyes was the meat platter. I am imagining a massive platter of meat with a few side dishes. The plate came with a few cuts of beef, chicken, lamb, and quail.

I know it said serves 2 in the menu… but that’s if you are ONLY ordering that. The dish was more geared towards four people. It was probably one of the more satisfying meat platters I have ever ordered.

Bacalhau A Minhota – $30 – Salt-preserved Cod Fish Minhota style served with fried potato scallops

Bacalhau is a traditional Portuguese dish that is mainly made from a dried and salted codfish. Bacalhau a Minhota is a variant of the dish from the Northern part of Portugal.

Bacalhau is probably more of an acquired taste as the base taste is quite salty. Funny enough when we reheated the dish (after having it for takeaway), the salty taste, sort of, diminished.

Caramel Pudding

I can’t quite recall my experience eating the caramel pudding/flan. It was just an okay one.

The final verdict for Costa do Sol

Costa do Sol is a pretty decent Portuguese restaurant with a very nice Meat Platter.

Do you think I should go?
There is no denying that you usually go to Petersham for the charcoal chicken. But, if you want a good Portuguese alternative that’s not too busy, then Costa do Sol might be the one for you.

Rating for Costa do Sol:

 

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $25 – $30 per person

Place: 7.0 / 10

 

Details:

102 New Canterbury Road, Petersham 2049

+61 2 9569 2319

http://www.costasol.com.au/

 

Frango’s Review:

There is a restaurant in Petersham, Inner West Sydney, that (I think) have achieved the ‘legendary’ status. Frango’s or ‘that Portuguese Chicken place in Petersham’ is probably well-known to most of Sydneysiders. One of the ‘legendary’ issues was that service was pretty horrible in the restaurant. While we have experienced this in the past, their service is quite good now.

Their Petersham restaurant is always packed around dinner time and during the weekend, I would strongly suggest you book in advance. Just like other Portuguese charcoal chicken in Sydney, they also have chilli and mayo sauces. The difference was that their chilli sauce stood out above the rest. You might know that I am not a big fan of hot sauces, but I just can’t get enough off their sauce.

Sometimes at the start of dinner service (I think if you go with four or more people), they gave out a plate of bread with lurpak butter – our favourite non-artisan butter.

Portuguese Charcoal Chicken – $11 half / $21 whole – The famous marinated chicken

So, this is what most people come to Frango’s for. The sit-down version of the charcoal chicken doesn’t get slathered in chilli nor lemon. It’s in the original recipe. You can apply as much chilli sauce as you want from the bottle they provided. The chicken is so flavoursome.

Home-style chips – $9 S / $14 L – Sliced Cut Potatoes

I usually don’t talk about rice and chips. However, their sliced cut potatoes deserve a mention here because they are awesome! Very addictive! Unfortunately, they are only available for dine-in customers.

Espetada de Bife – $30 – Tender Beef Skewers Marinated served with rice or chips

Espetada de bife, Portuguese for beef steak skewer, is something that I always love to order in a Portuguese restaurant. They always look awesome… Well, in this case, they looked awesome and tasted nice!

The final verdict for Frango’s

The queue for takeaway Portuguese Charcoal Chicken at Frango’s doesn’t lie. They are probably one of the best charcoal chicken restaurants in Sydney.

Do you think I should go?
If you want to taste what many believe to be the closest thing to authentic Portuguese Charcoal Chicken in Sydney, then you must visit Frango’s in Petersham.

Rating for Frango’s:

 

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.5 / 10

Price: $20 – $30 per person

Place: 6.5 / 10

 

Details:

98 New Canterbury Road, Petersham 2049

+61 2 9560 2369

http://frangos.com.au/

 

Review:

The dish on the picture above seriously turned every head in the restaurant (ours as well when we first visited the restaurant). However, this Petersham restaurant, Silvas Portuguese, is actually famous for its traditional Portuguese charcoal chicken.

We were a bit confused when we first came to the restaurant. We joined a line which eventually turned out to be the line for takeaways. If you want to dine in, you should proceed straight away to the sit down area where it was full-serviced.

Entrée – Polenta ($1.50 per slice), Garlic Bread ($4.50), Garden Salad ($5.00), Olives, Bread ($3.00), Rissoles ($3.00)

They give you free bread and olives for the entrée. However, you should also try their polenta… it was really good!

They also gave out some elements of the entrée for free for the dishes that you ordered. So, make sure you don’t order too much of them!

Goat Casserole – Special menu

The goat casserole is not always available and it was the Special item on the blackboard. The portion was quite gigantic and you also received vegetable rice and a slice of polenta. The casserole was full of flavour and very rich.

Chicken Roll meal – $12.50 – Silva’s traditional charcoal chicken in a roll with homemade mayonnaise, served with chips

If you want a simple and quick bite, Silvas Portuguese also served the charcoal chicken in a roll. It is a handy option to have if you don’t want to get your hands dirty.

Steak Sandwich meal – $13.50 – Grilled veal fillet on a Portuguese roll with a light spread of butter, served with chips

The steak sandwich was sub-par when compared to the rest of the dishes we enjoyed that night.

Espetada a Madeirense – $26.90 – Traditional Madeira-style diced aged rump on a skewer cooked over charcoal with rock salt and served with home-style garden salad and garlic bread

So, this was the dish that we went back for! The way it made an entrance to the table is a spectacle on its own. It was brought out on a very long skewer and hanged in the middle of the table with fat still dripping down!

The aged rump steak was very salty, courtesy of generous amount of rock salt. However, it actually worked beautifully for steak that was cooked medium rare.

Whole Chicken – $26.50 – Whole charcoal chicken served with chips and vegetable rice

This dish is what the majority of customers came to Silvas Portuguese for. We have tried four famous charcoal restaurants around the area and agreed that Silvas was the best of the four.

The final verdict for Silvas Portuguese

If you have a dish that turned heads and made people think “I should have ordered that one”, then you are in a good place! Silvas Portuguese restaurant did just that with their Espetada a Madeirense. Their Portuguese Chicken also deserved a mention!

Did you know?

My Brazilian friends always go to Petersham to buy Brazilian Rump Cap. The place is called Portuguese Spanish Butchery.

Rating for Silvas Portuguese:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $11 – $36 per main dish

Place: 7.0 / 10

 

Details:

82 New Canterbury Road, Petersham 2049

+61 2 9572 9911

http://www.silvas.com.au/