My meal was a full Portuguese chicken dish and I have this every time as this is the house specialty. All the meals tonight were less than what we paid for burgers eating out in the UK which is kind of nuts.
Tonight we went out as a family for a birthday celebration and is about the only time we ever go out to eat. The restaurant is a local favorite known for it's Portuguese food and 5 minutes up the road is the original Fernando's restaurant which everyone knows as Nando's. The entire area South Of Johannesburg has a Portuguese/Lebanese influence mainly from those relocating whilst fleeing Mozambique during the civil war. I do think my family has got so used to my cooking there is no need any more. They have even started to complain over the weekends if I have not done my customary steak rolls or rare roast beef dunk dips.
My son had the steak Espetada in a Madeira sauce.
Tonight's meal was not expensive according to what everyone else experiences in Europe or the States as the mains were roughly $10 each and the total bill including a generous tip for 5 adults and 2 kids with starters ,mains and drinks was $100.
Granny had prawns which I am never tempted by and have just never been a fan of them
Sometime in February I will be in the Algarve and I am keen to try the local dishes to see if our local Portuguese restaurant meets up to the expectations. In the past I have been disappointed because I think when you travel you somehow expect a certain standard mainly because in my case you are often paying three times more. Unfortunately price does not mean the food is any better and in most cases it is not.
My dad was a chef and was raised around a kitchen whether it was an upmarket hotel or a restaurant. Having an interest in food is something I have lived with all my life and continue to seek out new flavors. Only in the last few years have I taken over the daily cooking at home and have progressed rapidly expanding the menu offerings. Prawns however is an ingredient that will not be on the menu as you tend to generally cook what you feel like and then everyone else just kind of fits in.
I do find it quite alarming though how the prices of food varies around the world as even though you shouldn't you are going to compare against prices you know. There ae many steak houses here I just refuse to visit as I cannot justify paying $20 for a steak when I know full well I can feed the entire family kings sized steaks of the same quality meat for the same price at home. This is why we literally only eat out a handful of times per year and have stopped trying out new restaurants as that normally leads to further disappointment.
Next month in The Algarve I am looking forward to see what is on offer and looking for anything I may have not tried before. There are certain countries you cannot be too adventurous as I have ordered horse before in error whilst travelling France. Another time I ordered Charcuterie thinking charcoal cooked meat and received a plate of cold meats. I have since learned to ask the waiter what each dish is just in case as these can be expensive errors. This is all part of the fun exploring the different dishes even if you do not like what you are tasting.
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the food looks amazing! I've never tried Portuguese food before but seems a bit similar to brazilian food. At least the meat on the stick? Is that steak on the stick? Kind of reminds me of brazilian bbqs where they come around with the meat and you ask them to hit you up if you want it.
Happy birthday to you if it's you :). I know it can be expensive but eat out more! We only live once haha
Thanks for sharing in this community
Lol eat out more. Today to give you an idea in comparison I went to the butchers and purchased enough to feed the family for 4 days lamb chops (3 each), steak 450g each ,chickens x 2 and kebabs (2 each) with the total coming out under half of what I paid last night eating out. You can eat like a king at home and why going out is rare.
haha :P. omg then outside is really ripping you off damn :(. well go outside to try new food from different cultures then? Or do you know how to cook every type of food O.O. didn't know you were a master chef if that's the case then ya probably better eat at home :P
I am still learning to cook and already better than most restaurants lol. I pick up flavors from different cultures and I do like Portuguese food so yes I do make it at home. If you buy decent ingredients then it is hard to mess things up.
learning to cook is still on my to-do list~. That's awesome. Pick up some chinese food too and japanese haha. I at least need to learn all the food I like when I g et started
Despite what you see on my blog, my wife and I really don't eat out that much. My wife is a great cook and I am a pretty decent griller, so we tend to do a lot of our own stuff at home.
I noticed you do grill a lot at home which I think is considered normal lol. We used to go out roughly once a month, but the standards varied so much it was hit and miss and definitely not worth the cost.
That's too bad. We have some pretty good stuff where I live, but even more down where my sister and brother in law live.
The only place we go out to eat that is usually under $100 USD for my wife and I and our eleven year old daughter is a sushi place. Normally we spend between $150 and $200 for the three of us, with some instances us going out to nice restaurants where it could reach up to $350 USD.
Those are crazy numbers and I could not justify eating out even if I was very wealthy. Restaurants are making 500% profit at those types of prices and it is utter madness. A rule of thumb used to be a 200% mark up.
You have to remember that minimum wage in Washington state is $16.66 and in Seattle it is $20 an hour... So restaurants are quite pricy here...
That minimum wage is madness and no wonder prices are so expensive. Our minimum wage is around $1.30 and that is considered expensive for no skills and uneducated labor.
The chicken looks delicious and so do all the meals, a birthday is a good reason to go out to eat with the family. Congratulations.
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STOPAlways nice to eat out every now and then...but I think as a family we're probably topping a decade now...nobody seems to have the time apparently.
I also don't like trying out new things when it comes to my taste buds, so I'll probably never be caught accidentally eating horse...lol
I'll be happy to see the menu you eat, various variations of food, of course it tastes delicious. Yes, it's true, it's a rare opportunity. Thank you. Happy day.
I like being close to chefs because I learn a lot of cooking skills