I don't always take photos of breakfast, but when I do, I'm sure to post them in the #CinnamonCupCoffee community.
Here are two breakfasts that we had in Portugal.
The first one was in the city of Coimbra. We stopped to get something to eat right away upon our arrival and found this nice little Cafe called "O Croisant." It was located in a nice little plaza right near the Monastery of Santa Cruz. While we were eating, there was a woman walking around taking professional looking photos of everything, presumably for the shops social media pages. She stopped at several tables to ask patrons, including ours, if she could take pictures of their food. We allowed her to and she showed us the photo afterwards to demonstrate that she was only focusing on the food and not the people. I looked at the Café's Facebook page today and saw that our breakfast did in fact make it online. The picture is basically a combined shot of the one above and below.
This was the first meal that we had in the country and we were both pretty impressed by it. My wife's pancakes and smoothie were fresh and delicious and my, I'll call it an English style breakfast, was very tasty as well. I ordered it because the waiter recommended it and it turned out to be a good choice in the end.
I also ordered a cappuccino which was quite good as well. I think the cocoa powder was put on half the cup for aesthetics reasons but it's actually better when places don't cover the entire surface of the coffee with powder in my opinion. When Cocoa powder is across the entire surface, especially if its on the rim of the mug, it has a tendency to end up on the drinkers lips without them knowing. If no one tells you that you have chocolate on your face you can end up walking around for some time like that without knowing it. It's nice to have a clear space on the mug and in the foam to sip your coffee.
Anyhoo, it was a great first meal in Coimbra.
The next stop was at Café Saudade at the end of our trip in the small town of Sintra. They had a nice terrace out front but this time we opted to eat indoors out of the sun.
When the waitress took our order she didn't have a notepad and attempted to do it all by memory.
Me: I'll have a cappuccino and she'll have a Cafe Latte...
Waitress nods head: Mmm-hmm.
Me: We'll have one scone with butter and jam and one yogurt parfait...
Waitress: Okay.
Me: ...and a ham and cheese croissant... and...
Waitress: Okay just one moment please. Walks away and comes back with note pad and pen, Okay, can you say that again please.
Me: repeats all the above ...and two pastel de natas.
I guess we ordered more than the typical customer. But in our defense:
One: we are North American so naturally we consume more than the average European.
Two: you have to order Pastel de Natas everywhere you go in Portugal since they are the official pastry of the country and you really have to see who does them best.
Three: we thought that the scone was going to be the size of a small muffin, like we are used to, and not an entire meal in itself. It was the size of an entire plate!
And four: we were on vacation and everyone always eats more on vacation.
Anyway, the food and service were great there so I would recommend the Cafe to anyone planning to visit Sintra.
To end the post I'll leave you with a photo of me staring deeply into an empty mug wishing that there was more coffee in it.