Every country and each region has their own culinary delicacies. Also on Sao Miguel connoisseurs get one’s moneys worth.
Cheese
When you drive around on the island or are hiking you might notice a lot of cows. Those cows deliver much milk. And from that many different excellent cheeses are made.
Directly besides the market hall in Ponta Delgada we discovered a cheese shop which was not only stacked up to the ceiling with shelves full of cheese but also offered more than 40 different varieties. We choose ten, e.g. we asked the sales person to pick ten for us. All of them very really yummy. A nice regional bread to go with it. Fantastic!
Fresh fish
For the main course we searched for fresh fish and found it everywhere. At the Azores there is a wide fishing area and nearly all fish offered was caught fresh and near the islands. Among them quite exotic sorts. But they are worth a try.
Most of the restaurants have daily caught fish as a part of the menu. Quite common is a showcase where you can choose a fish.
When looking for a restaurant we recommend to go to where the natives eat. We had the best fish of our lifes in a restaurant which looked from the outside rather unimpressive. Without recommendation we would have never gone there. Though we are open for the extraordinary things.
In the restaurant there have been no table cloths and three different glasses but there were paper cloths, simple wooden tables and a plate. That’s all. People watched a football match on the tv and many native families came during the evening to eat there.
For a start we had roasted bread with garlic butter. It tastes soooooooo good.
That day the restaurant has got a delivery of fresh tuna from an outstanding quality. We got a hot stone put on the table. Each of us got one tuna steak and some excellent salt. There was also some sauce if you wished. Vegetables cooked in aluminium foil were served and some small potatoes.
We cut the tuna in pieces and could grill it on the very hot stone with some grains of salt. A feast! When the stone cooled down we could get a new very hot one.
After the meals on the island people enjoy a very short tiny coffee. Some call it ‚bica‘ others ‚caffe‘ or ‚espresso‘. It is really small and black and comes with crema. Like in italy. But here it is even cheaper. 60 or 70 cents.
Sweet bread – bolo levedo
For dessert you can eat a „bolo levedo“. That is a sweet yeast dough bread which is offered everywhere and is prepared on the islands several times daily.
The dough has to rise for more than four hours. After that it is formed in small balls. These have to prove again for one hour. Then the balls are flattened and shortly baked on an iron plate that is heated with gas. And they are ready. They taste slightly sweet and melt in your mouth. They contain huge air bubbles. The natives eat them all day and together with other things like fruit or even with salty things or cheese and ham… You have to try them!
With the meals you can have a wine from the mainland. There are also wines from the islands. And if you don’t like coffee you might enjoy a black or green tea from Sao Miguel. There is still a tea plantation. The only one that exists in Europe. But that is a different story.
