lunch at Taberna Lusitania

Yesterday we wandered over to Praia de Matosinhos, though wander is not quite accurate because it ended up being several hours of walking before we found the fish market, which was our intended destination. There were several restaurants within the market and we chose Taberna Lusitania. Our host told us there were several ways we could order our meal and the one we decided on was to accompany him out to the long bins of fish on ice, every kind of fish: turbot, monkfish, a large salmon from Norway, clams, lagoustine, so many others I couldn’t identify–red ones, little silver ones, big speckled green ones. What do you recommend, I asked the young man. And sea bass was his answer. So we chose a nice one, absolutely fresh, enough for the 7 of us, and the little boys wanted squid too, so 6 of them were scooped onto a plate. I paid, and we returned to our table in the restaurant. We had bread and olives and because it was International Women’s Day, the 3 women in our party were provided with long stemmed African daisies and glasses of sparkling wine. We ordered sides–rice with greens, little potatoes, vegetables sauteed in olive oil, something else that turned out to be a melange of fish eggs, an egg yolk, bread, and flour (and spoiler: it was delicious). A bottle of beautiful crisp wine. And then our fish arrived. Oh, it was extraordinary. Moist, fresh, tender. Our host brought the cheeks to me and I remembered how we savoured halibut cheeks when we cut up the annual fish, 25 or 30 pounds from waters near Haida Gwaii. (Forrest said, This is a version of a harbour supper–the special meal we’ve always loved of fresh steamed spot prawns, homemade bread, and salad.) The squid was cut into small rounds and cooked in butter and olive oil, maybe a little garlic. We ate every morsel of that elegant fish, and then our host brought a large jar of something to the table, pouring a little into 4 glasses. Moonshine, flavoured with orange peels and cinnamon. The little boys were back at the fish stalls where a vendor let them hold an octopus, gave them each a conch shell to bring home to Gatineau where they will hear the sea and remember the most wonderful meal.