Restaurante Presuntaria Transmontana

Horrible customer service! Tricked us and made us double order. Please don’t spoil your Porto experience! Do not go here! Waste of time and money!

This was just about my favorite restaurant on my visit to the Porto area. I was hanging with my friend Andrea, who is a food and wine guide, so she scoped out the perfect restaurant for lunch. This place is all about the seafood, and I am certainly all about that ‘under the sea’ treasure.
We opted for the sampler, which included a selection of eight appetizers. Now, I’ve been to TGIF Fridays before, so I know what a sampler should look like, a selection of small dishes on a single plate. Oh, you silly American, this is Portugal, and just as the king of Sparta took pride in a Spartan’s ability to make war, the Portuguese seem to take pride in their ability to make food… a lot of food.
When the mega-​sampler came to our table, I nearly fainted, doe it was served on nothing less than a Lazy Susan! Those little sampler plates were in fact full scale appetizer plates, and with just two of us to tackle Paul Bunyan’s sampler, I was beginning to panic. However, the eight plates of various appetizers were so tempting that I soon forgot my fear, for this is Portugal after all, a foodie paradise that takes no prisoners. I manned up on the delicious sampler, devouring such scrumptious selections as: sauteed shrimp and clams both in a buttery garlic sauce, sauteed mushrooms, cuttlefish cooked in its own ink, fava beans and ham, two types of octopus. I immediately found myself drawn to the marinated octopus, and I had a hard time pulling myself away from it until Andrea reminded me that that this medley of seafood was not too be missed. Oh, and let’s not forget the for chunks of chorizo [laced in the center of the whole massive affair, because there just wasn’t enough food.
When it was all said and done, we were unable to finish this beast, so we lost the battle of the sampler, However, this is a battle that I would gladly undertake again… just give me a few weeks to recover.

For many, including the Portuguese, Portugal is synonymous with eating fish. In many regions, that is the case, including the Douro, where Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia are the bigger cities.
In this restaurant, they pride themselves on the regional cuisine of Tras Os Montes, in inland northern Portugal. Thus, the cuisine tilts more toward meat dishes.
I had an excellent steak in here, along with accompanying garnishments on the platter. I recall being very satisfied with both the food and the service. The exterior is on the cais, or riverside promenade, on the Vila Nova de Gaia side of the Rio Douro which is a little less hyped than the historical Ribeira zone on the Porto side, but is also worth visiting and has some good restaurant choices. The interior has a tasteful rustic feel. It is popular, but not ridiculously crowded. It is a quality restaurant and is priced accordingly, meaning it is not an economy restaurant. And, unbeknownst to me, I stumbled into this place on a June 24, which is the Festa de Sao Joao, a big patron saint feast day in the area! However, the residents of the area were keeping their rambunctious but tame enough behavior to the sidewalks and streets of the cais.
I had no complaints about the length of time to get the food delivered to the table, but the lady waiting on me was very gracious and presented me with a small bottle of port wine, which is what the Porto area is famous for and Vila Nova de Gaia is where most of the port wine lodges are located, not far from this restaurant. The port wine was tasty and sweet, as it is reputed to be.
And, if you are staying in one of the hotels in Vila Nova de Gaia, walk DOWN to this restaurant. The walk back UP the hills will ensure lots of gluteal involvement, and maybe even some panting, such that the calories ingested from a tasty meal at Restaurante Transmontana will be a non-​issue.
If looking for a very satisfying meal, and are seeking a change from 365 presentations of bacalhau, Transmontana is indeed recommended.