Olhinhos do polvo — Restaurant in Matosinhos

It was really great!!

As I came to Matoshinhos as a solo traveler, it was not easy to find a place where I could have a nice meal.. and some of the places I checked through tripadvisor was either having a rest time or have too many people.

Then, miraculously, I read someone writing about this place which happened to be near my hostel so I thought I would give a try.

And,, I loved it!!! It is only octapus place... which means,, you can have octapus menu only. But don't get disappointed. First, the price is really tempting. Having appetizer, a whole bottle of wine, the main meal which is octopus rice and roasted octopus, fried octopus (or.. I forgot..I love the roasted octopus so much that I just had that one twice) and... not only that.. a dessert and a cup of espresso.. it was only 12 euro (2017. September) ...

And.. the food was.. GREAT!! Even if I read some bloggers saying that it was great,,, I didn't expect much.. since I am not a real big fan of octapus or squid.. But it was GREAT.... it was one of the softest ... yet a full of flavor octapus I have ever had and the rice which was seasoned.. (I don't know how it was seasoned) tasted great.

The wine offered tasted quite good.. went well with the dish.. and the dessert as well as the coffee .. was great!!!!

And.. the owner... we couldn't communicate well verballysince he didn't speak English and I couldn't speak Portuguese but he checked while I was having food whether I can eat it well.. or properly.. and checked whether I enjoyed the food or not.

So,, if you are a single traveler.. like me who is introverted.. but want to have some decent food... with reasonable price... I strongly recommend...

Cozy and small restaurant style. Quiet street and easy access to park if you come by car. The majority of the menu is fish, octopus or cod fish, that portuguese are so well know to be good at cooking it in several ways. There is a special menu that includes, an appetizer, in our case was a crab pate with toasts, main dish, wine, an a dessert, for the total of €12,5. Our choice was for white wine and it was brought to us a interesting aromatic one from Setubal who definitely connected the rice with octopus, called fisherman's rice and octopus in oven, also with rice. The fishes had an awesome sea taste and were well done, there is traditional love in that kitchen as it looked like. For dessert we chose a creme brulee and a almonds pie, not bad but the brulee was in my opinion a better choice not too much sweet, a right spot on after a good meal. Afterwards there is always the option to go to walk to a nearby awsome sea side promenade. Great option for a...

Owner(?)/Server was really warm, friendly and welcoming, despite us not speaking much Portuguese and he English. I'm not sure if it was because of the day we visited, or if it was the norm, but each of us ordered a different wine. And instead of bringing us a glass each, he brought each of us a full, unopened bottle. I couldn't finish the bottle as I was driving. Other tables left theirs empty, so I hoped he didn't charge us for the bottle or expect us to bring the bottle home. We weren't charged for the bottle. It was my first time having the fishermen's stew and I loved it! So, I couldn't say if that was standard, or it was the best. But definitely very tasty! The dessert - almond tart - was good, too. It wasn't too sweet, it was just right. This would be a local favourite if I lived in...