Dinner at O Gaveto is the real deal. Not exactly spit and sawdust but if you want absolute authenticity, you’ve got it. A review of the Porto fine dining scene would not be complete without this place, yet it hardly appears in any of them. You won’t find it in the hallowed Michelin Guide, but don’t be fooled, Portugal is here.
Goosehead barnacles (Percebes in Portuguese, which means ‘understands’) are a strange delicacy. They are not cheap because of the process of retrieving them. Divers have to pick them from slippery rocks which are continuously bombarded by extremely strong waves. So they have to time their dive to co-incide with the break between waves. I had to be told how to open them as it was not remotely obvious. A twist here, a pull there, and a little digging with the nails reveals a shiny tooth of flesh that looks, somewhat distractingly, like a dog’s penis. But they were abundantly tasty. All thirty of them.
The Goosehead barnacle sheathed and unsheathed! Plus added Clams. Jez Fielder
I’m mad about clams, and they come very simply in garlic and olive oil. I start making overtures with a fork.
“Don’t be shy,” says one of the blue-shirted team. “Pick it up and suck it out.” I do as I’m told. A lady along the bar laughs and I’m not quite sure what it is I’ve done but I smile and take whatever it is on the chin, which is itself soon covered in garlic oil.
This is fun, I think.
I’m gulping down oil, parsley and huge chunks of almost raw garlic and I’m like a pig in the proverbial with my nice minerally alvarinho.
Let’s face it, no meal that looks to tradition and history is going to ignore the Scarlet Shrimp. “There he is,” I say to myself.
Carabinero (Scarlet Shrimp)Jez Fielder
Simply served in olive oil and with a wedge of lemon. The team let the Carabineiro can speak for itself. And now I know how to attack it. Or at least I thought I had it down. My shirt can testify that I still have some way to go.
O Gaveto Signature Blue Lobster Rice. Jez Fielder
Celebrating 40 years of operation in 2024, O Gaveto’s signature dish is their blue lobster rice and it immediately obvious why. It has a fireplace-in-winter warmth and a depth of flavour that holds the lobster in its cradle. Fishermen deliver blue lobster in high season here three times a week.
I am aware the word succulent has been rather comedically associated with Chinese food in recent years but it’s a word I don’t feel I can avoid when I attempt to describe the lobster in this dish. The sauce made from lobster shell jus which is then added to a stew with onions and olive oil.
To pair, I’m given another field blend white but it tastes like a Burgundy. It’s made for them by the team at Niepoort.
