Good homey food and interesting stories!

This long overdue Adventure in Dining took us to the quaint Portuguese restaurant O Tacho after some trials and tribulations trying to book our group to another Portuguese restaurant called Chave d'Ouro.


Ironically, O'Tacho is located in the former location of Chave d'Ouro, at 714 Sargent Avenue, however, this restaurant will likely change location in the near future according to owner Tony Goncalves. He's thinking of moving his restaurant to a "better" area such as Academy or River Heights. Unless his local politician do something about the area.

This and many other colourful stories came with succulent food throughout the evening. Among these, we learned about some of the Portuguese traditions for stags as well as the difference between Port and Sherry.

The decor is sober, minimally and tastefully decorated with a few paintings depicting scenes from Portugal and a large flat screen television that was showing a promotional video highlighting the beautiful regions of Portugal.

The tasty bread basket and olives that came before the meal were free, as opposed to the way it is in Portugal where you pay for everything you consume. The food is all prepared fresh by Tony's mother-in-law to ensure a true homey taste. The chef, or rather the cook as Tony calls her, was busy preparing the main dishes while we were tasting some of the appetizers. I had the Portuguese sausage (Chourizo Assado) and Nat had the Calamari (Lulas Panadas). The sausage had just the right amount of spices for me but I found it rather chunky.



As we were waiting for our main dishes, we were sipping on some Portuguese wines and beers. The Sagres beer was quite popular among the diners. It comes in light, amber and dark. I had the amber version and found it quite tasty. Dave, who had the dark version said it had a smooth taste reminiscent of coffee.

Dave had the grilled pork tenderloin (Lombinhos de porco) and really enjoyed the flavour of the sauce. The large portion, however, prevented him from ordering dessert. Jay ordered the Pork and Clams (Carne Alentejana) and said it quite good. Matt, a new addition to the group, enjoyed the BBQ chicken (Frango no Churrasco.


Nathalie ordered the Portuguese shrimps (Camarao a Portuguesa) and Karen had the Tiger shrimps (Camarao gigante). Both portions were quite generous and as we learned later some are mostly meant for sharing. Even after Nat shared with the whole table, her bowl still seemed full of shrimps! Tim had the desalted salted cod (Bacalhau a Portuguesa) and apparently learned a thing or two on how to prepare the dish.


Dani and I opted for a classical Portuguese dish called Alcatra. It's a stewed beef dish that needs to cook for over 2 hours before being served (the only meal prepared ahead of time). It came with a side of tasty boiled potatoes. The neat fact about this dish is the fact that it comes in those cool little clay pots ordered directly from Portugal! The Alcatra came steaming hot, still boiling actually, into those little containers and once again in a very generous portion.

Since the food was rich, tasty and plentiful, none of us really had room for dessert. Our host quickly fixed that by offering a glass of Port (for the women) and a glass of aguardente (for the men) a strong wine spirit whose purpose is to burn a hole in your food and thus making room for more :)

Dani was the first one brave enough to order the Puddim Molotof, a Portuguese classic that looks like a soft puffy meringue swimming in caramel sauce. After hers arrived, we all quickly ordered one and indulge in this fabulous pastry.

I would definitely go back to this restaurant, as long as I'm not trying to follow a strict calorie-reduced diet, and try to sample a few more of the dishes. I guess I better hurry before it moves location.