Text José Silva

Colares traditional vineyards resist in their sandy soil, with twisted stems near the ground to protect themselves from the strong wind that normaly blows from the nearby sea. This wind will provide some saltiness, carried in its humidity, to the grapes and the wines that will grow from them.

To protect them even more, winegrowers set up reed palisades that made these vineyards so typical.

This north wind that swepts the Colares coast almost the entire year, gave name to a restaurant that lies exactly over one of the most charismatic beaches of that region, Praia Grande beach, located a few hundred meters away from some of those vineyards.

It is a wide beach, with some cliffs and a large sandy area, punished by that rough, strong sea, with some perfect waves that delight the extreme sports lovers. It’s also from this sea that comes the fish and seafood served in the restaurant “Nortada”, in Praia Grande.

Up in the cliff, in a perfect location, presents us a superb view over the beach and that enormous sea.

The dining room is divided in some nooks and has large windows allowing the light in and providing a perfect view of the landscape. In the middle, a showcase of fresh fish and seafood that we may choose for our meal.

The restaurant also has an highly sought out esplanade, protected from the strong winds and facing south.

The tables are very nicely set, with good taste and a professional service, careful and polite, well leaded.

Over there, fish and seafood are kings, and come to the table in assorted cookings, from the most simple ones, where the fish is simply grilled only with salt, and seafood is boiled, giving all its richness, to more complex ones, as lobster crepe, sea bass pie, shrimp risotto, spaghetti with clams or rice with shrimp grouper.

To begin our meal we had tasty bread, two kinds of butter, olives and laminated cheese.

And then came a Seven Seas fresh sea bass, prepared with butter and shrimp sauce, with big shrimp and tasty sautéed vegetables, in a very well done set, in the company of a very good garlic and coriander rice.

The meal was completed with a delicious “bolo de bolacha” (biscuit cake).

We drank some wines we took with us and among them there was even a ramisco from Colares.
Had we not had to go on working, we would for sure stay there during the afternoon, relishing that amazing landscape…

Contacts
Restaurante Nortada
Avenida Alfredo Coelho 8 – Praia Grande
Sintra
2705-329 COLARES
Tel: (+351) 21 929 15 16
Email: geral@restauranteNortada.com
Site: www.restaurantenortada.com