O Pescador – A Restaurant Review in Flores, Azores

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“Food is our common ground, a universal experience.” – James Beard

After a hot and sweaty trek up the final leg of the West Coast trail in Flores, Azores all I could think about was my stomach. What else is new? Hiking tends to give me a two-track mind, where are we hiking next and what are we going to eat?

The guidebook stated that there was one restaurant in Ponta Delgada, where the trail ended, called O Pescador. And it didn’t sound promising. The author described the place as “unexceptional food in a basic dining room.”

To reach Ponta Delgada from the West Coast Trail you have to walk the tarmac for what feels like forever from the Albernez Lighthouse. The western most lighthouse in all of Europe. The road winds through pastures and hedgerows with the ocean glinting in the distance.

Finding the restaurant can be a challenge after hiking all morning, with the heat rising off the asphalt below your feet. Walking along the tarmac I was starting to think that I was never going to eat. The guidebook told us to continue straight on at the T-junction, wherever that was, directly uphill until we could see the Imperio. Trudging along, feeling like I had absolutely nothing left to give, wondering if we missed the T, the restaurant appeared on our left as if by magic.

Known by the locals as “The Fisherman’s Place” the small, unobtrusive O Pescador restaurant is owned and run by a fisherman and his family. In the early mornings father and son spend their time at sea catching fish and other tasty sea treats for the days meals. Then they come to the restaurant, where his wife does the cooking and father and son spend the remainder of their day serving the guests.

You can almost smell the salty sea air in the restaurant and hear the gulls crying out for the scraps. The restaurant itself is really nothing special, with tables in a side room sporting picnic table style table cloths. But it was cozy. And it felt oh so good to sit down.

Ordering the local beer, I slurped it down appreciating its coolness on my burning throat even though it tasted like you would expect cheap beer to taste like. Complete and utter crap. Then I ordered a second one because well, I was hot and tired, and nothing quenches your thirst better in that situation than a cold beer.

We took a leap and ordered the limpets. Limpets are a sea snail, for those of you who don’t know. They tend to be found along the rocky outcroppings along the Western European shores. The limpets came out sizzling in garlic butter, nestled into their decorative shells.

If you are brave you eat the entire thing whole, guts and all. It’s kind of like a muscle or a clam only with worse gut contents. I was brave and ate my first one whole, after that I carefully carved out the guts, making a beautiful mess of my place mat. It definitely improved the taste, however.

The main part of the limpet is a somewhat tough, slightly chewy muscle. Though when covered in garlic infused butter they were surprisingly tasty. They have a very mild flavor, where you get a hint of that saltwater freshness, enhanced by the buttery goodness.

The guidebook said to order the lamb, but how could I possibly order anything other than seafood in a place that had fish in its name? It was just ludicrous to me. So we got fish. The fish in Flores, no matter where you go, is so unbelievably fresh and always cooked to perfection with the meat just falling off your fork.

It can be a little alarming to some, when your fish comes out and its completely whole with its head still attached. But you quickly get over it as you dig in to some of the sweetest meat you will find nowhere else in the world.

I thought O Pescador deserved a much better review from my faithful guidebook than it gave. It was simple, yes, but what could one possibly expect on such a tiny island? The room was cozy, with many tables situated close together off the main entrance. The walls were painted a light blue with various fishing wares strewn up on the walls.

I felt like I was in someone’s home instead of a restaurant the way the room was arranged. Others have said that the service is faster if you are a local and that as a tourist you tend to be “shunned” a while before they decide to wait on you. This wasn’t the case at this place for us, though we did experience that in Santa Cruz.

After a long day of hiking, the freshness and quality of the seafood hit the spot and recharged our batteries for our next hiking adventure. Calling a cab we were whisked off to the look off over Lagoa Negra and Lagoa Comprida to the start of a completely different type of hike.