Portuguese Food & Menu Guide for Travelers

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Traveling in Portugal and unsure what something on a restaurant menu means? This Portuguese food translation guide explains the dishes, ingredients, cooking methods, and dining terms travelers are most likely to encounter.

Portuguese cuisine remains deeply rooted in tradition, even in more contemporary restaurants. Use this practical Portuguese-to-English menu guide to decode seafood, meats, vegetables, drinks, desserts, regional dishes, and common restaurant terminology while traveling in Portugal.

Bom apetite!

How to Read a Portuguese Menu

• Acompanhamento – side dish or accompaniment
• Bebidas – drinks
• Conta – bill or check
• Couvert – bread, olives, butter, cheese, or other small items served at the start of a meal
• Dose – full serving or portion
• Ementa – restaurant menu or list of available dishes
• Entradas – starters or appetizers
• Meia dose – half portion
• Menu – menu; may also refer to a fixed-price meal or set combination
• Para partilhar – to share
• Petiscos – small dishes or snacks, often ordered for sharing
• Prato do dia – dish of the day
• Prato principal – main course or main dish
• Sobremesas – desserts
• Sopa – soup
• Vinho da casa – house wine

Portuguese Cooking Terms & Menu Essentials

• Açúcar – sugar
• Assado – roasted or baked
• Azeite – olive oil
• Bem passado / mal passado – well done / rare
• Caldo verde – traditional Portuguese soup made with potatoes and finely shredded leafy greens, usually kale or collard greens
• Caseiro – homemade
• Churrasco – barbecue or grilled meat
• Cozido – boiled or cooked
• Empada – savory pie or pastry
• Espetada – skewered grilled meat, particularly associated with Madeira
• Estufado – stewed
• Fresco – fresh
• Frito – fried
• Fumado – smoked
• Gaspacho – chilled vegetable soup
• Grelhado – grilled
• Manteiga – butter
• Molho – sauce
• Na brasa – grilled over charcoal or hot coals
• No forno – baked in the oven
• Pão – bread
• Pão integral – whole-wheat or whole-grain bread
• Piri-piri – hot chili sauce or seasoning
• Queijo – cheese
• Sal – salt
• Salada – salad
• Salteado – sautéed
• Sande – sandwich
• Sopa de feijão-verde – green bean soup
• Sopa de grão – chickpea soup
• Sopa de legumes – vegetable soup
• Vinagre – vinegar

Portuguese Drinks & Wine Terms

• adegas – wineries or wine cellars
• água – water
• água com gás – sparkling water
• aguardente – distilled spirit or brandy
• amêndoa amarga – bitter almond liqueur
• aperitivo – aperitif
• batido – milkshake or fruit shake
• cacau – cocoa
• Carioca – weak coffee, traditionally made with a lighter extraction or by diluting coffee
• cerveja – beer
• chá – tea
• com gelo – with ice
• ginjinha – sour cherry liqueur
• leite – milk
• sumo – juice
• vinho branco – white wine
• vinho tinto – red wine
• Vinho Verde – wine from Portugal’s Vinho Verde DO, best known for fresh, high-acid whites but also produced as rosé, red, and sparkling wine
• xarope – syrup

Portuguese Fish & Seafood Terms

• Amêijoas – clams
• Anchovas – anchovies
• Arroz de polvo – octopus rice
• Atum – tuna
• Atum grelhado – grilled tuna
• Bacalhau – salt cod
• Bacalhau à Brás – shredded salt cod with onions, matchstick potatoes, and eggs
• Berbigões – cockles
• Besugo – sea bream
• Caldeirada de peixe – Portuguese fish stew
• Camarões – shrimp or prawns
• Caranguejo – crab
• Cataplana – traditional hinged metal cooking vessel; also a dish cooked in it, often with seafood
• Cavala – mackerel; often Atlantic chub mackerel
• Cherne – wreckfish
• Choco – cuttlefish
• Congro – conger eel
• Creme de marisco – creamy shellfish soup
• Dourada – gilthead sea bream
• Enguias – eels
• Ensopado de enguias – eel stew, often served over bread
• Gambas – shrimp or prawns
• Lagosta – spiny lobster
• Lampreia – lamprey
• Lapas – limpets
• Lavagante – European or clawed lobster
• Linguado – sole
• Lulas – squid
• Marisco – shellfish, especially crustaceans and mollusks
• Mexilhões – mussels
• Ostras – oysters
• Pargo – red porgy or sea bream
• Peixe – fish
• Pescada – hake
• Polvo – octopus
• Raia – skate or ray
• Rissóis de camarão – shrimp-filled fried pastries
• Robalo – sea bass
• Rodovalho – brill
• Salmão – salmon
• Salmonete – red mullet
• Sapateira – edible crab or brown crab
• Sarda – Atlantic mackerel
• Sardinhas – sardines
• Sopa de marisco – shellfish soup
• Sopa de peixe – fish soup
• Truta – trout
• Vieiras – scallops

Portuguese Fruit & Vegetable Terms

• Abacate – avocado
• Abóbora – pumpkin or squash
• Alcachofra – artichoke
• Alface – lettuce
• Alho – garlic
• Alho-francês – leek
• Alperces – apricots
• Ameixas – plums
• Ananás – pineapple
• Azeitonas – olives
• Batatas – potatoes
• Batatas fritas – French fries or fried potatoes
• Beringela – eggplant
• Cebola – onion
• Cenoura – carrot
• Cerejas – cherries
• Cogumelos – mushrooms
• Couve – cabbage, kale, or collard greens
• Ervilhas – peas
• Espargos – asparagus
• Favas – broad beans or fava beans
• Feijoa – feijoa fruit
• Figos – figs
• Framboesas – raspberries
• Grão – chickpeas
• Laranja – orange
• Limão – lemon
• Maçã – apple
• Manga – mango
• Melão – melon
• Meloa – cantaloupe or small melon
• Morangos – strawberries
• Nabo – turnip
• Pepino – cucumber
• Pera – pear
• Pimenta – pepper
• Uvas – grapes

Portuguese Meat & Poultry Terms

• alheira – traditional Portuguese sausage, often made with poultry and bread
• almôndegas – meatballs
• arroz à moda de Valência – Valencian-style rice dish
• arroz de pato – duck rice
• bife – steak
• borrego – lamb
• cabrito – kid goat
• cabrito assado – roast kid goat
• canja – chicken soup or broth
• caracóis – snails
• carne – meat
• carne assada – roast meat
• chanfana – goat or mutton slowly braised in red wine
• chouriço – cured Portuguese sausage
• churrasco – barbecue or grilled meat
• coelho – rabbit
• coelho à caçadora – hunter-style rabbit
• costeletas – chops
• cozido à portuguesa – traditional boiled meat, sausages and vegetables
• dobrada – tripe, often served as a stew
• entrecosto – pork ribs or spare ribs
• Espetada – skewered grilled meat, particularly associated with Madeira
• febras – thin pork steaks
• feijoada – bean and meat stew
• fiambre – cooked ham
• fígado – liver
• francesinha – Porto-style meat and cheese sandwich covered in a rich beer-based sauce
• frango – chicken
• frango de caril – chicken curry
• frango na púcara – chicken cooked in a clay pot
• iscas – sliced liver, often fried or sautéed
• leitão – suckling pig
• língua – tongue
• lombo – loin
• moela – gizzard
• morcela – blood sausage or black pudding
• paio – cured pork sausage
• pastéis de carne – meat-filled pastries
• pato – duck
• peru – turkey
• pomba – pigeon
• porco – pork
• prego no pão – steak sandwich
• presunto – cured ham
• rim – kidney
• salsichas – sausages
• vaca – beef
• vitela – veal

Portuguese Desserts & Sweets Terms

• Arroz doce – rice pudding
• Biscoito – cookie or biscuit
• Bolo – cake
• Doces – sweets or desserts
• Gelado – ice cream
• Leite-creme – Portuguese custard dessert, often topped with caramelized sugar
• Papos de anjo – egg-yolk sweets soaked in sugar syrup
• Pastéis – pastries
• Pastéis de nata – Portuguese custard tarts
• Pudim flan – crème caramel or flan