Matosinhos · Leça da Palmeira · Angeiras
Every October, Matosinhos runs its own tapas trail as part of the "World's Best Fish" campaign — a paper passport, a string of participating restaurants, and a small reward for finishing. This is the trail we followed.
How it works
Each participating restaurant runs one signature tasting — anything from sushi to cod roe, shellfish, fried peixinhos or octopus salad.
Every stop hands over one numbered sticker for your passport.
The event marks its tenth-plus year running alongside Matosinhos's "World's Best Fish" campaign, and it keeps growing — more restaurants, more petiscos, an online vote for the best three appetisers of the season. Matosinhos alone has something like 600 restaurants leaning on grilled sardines, seafood rice and grilled cod, so the passport is really just an excuse to be pointed at the good ones.
Twelve stops in
No menu, no plan — just whatever the next stamped restaurant put in front of us. This is the honest record.
Stop 1 — grilled fish roll
Croquettes and greens
Prawn and mash
Tom, mid-tasting
Nortada and a croquette stop
Bread, and something delicious
Plated and ready
Another shrimp stop
Two down
A lighter stop
Wine, mid-crawl
Dave, mid-tasting