4 Best Restaurants in Northern Portugal, Portugal

A local institution, Pastelaria Clarinha is the best place to sample regional cakes and pastries. It has a range of delicious sweets, including traditional tortas de Guimarães—pastry rolls with an eggy pumpkin filling—and the local take on toucinho do céu (egg-and-almond cake, here with gila, fig-leaf gourd).

On one of the city's most scenic squares, this handsome eatery across from the Museu de Alberto Sampaio has tables in a wood-paneled dining room and beneath the arches of a cobbled courtyard. Portuguese specialties include bacalhau roasted with a cornbread crust, posta à Trás-os-montes (steak, marinated with garlic and then grilled), and prime cuts of porco preto (from the Iberian black pig).

On the iconic square of Largo do Toural, this venerable eatery serves tasty regional dishes—the bacalhau baked with cheese and potato slices and the breaded octopus are fantastic—at prices that won't break the bank. Wash it down with some very drinkable house wine.

Tucked modestly behind a parking garage—follow the arrows to the two modern, air-conditioned dining rooms—this popular local staple prides itself on cooking bacalhau myriad ways, but according to locals the onion-rich house version is the best in the world. The changing menu invariably also features grilled fish and dishes such as filetes de polvo (octopus fritters), rojões com papas de sarrabulho (pork medallions with corn meal flavored with blood) or roast kid—most also available as a meia dose, for one person. For dessert, try the pavê, a Brazilian take on tiramisu, or coroas do rei, traditional pão de ló sponge cake but topped with meringue.