We have previously blogged about the delights of Faro in our posts Don’t rush away from Faro and Faro Old Town and today we wanted to share a quick review with you of a delightful café and restaurant that we enjoyed dining at last week.

Tertúlia Algarvia is situated just behind the Cathedral in the Old Town in a quaint little courtyard with plenty of outdoor seating and a further well-designed inside area, complete with a deli counter and a rather lovely selection of cakes – but they will have to wait for another day!

We popped in initially for a quick coffee late one afternoon last week and had a quick look at the evening menu – which was tempting enough for us to change our plans and book a table, wander round for an hour (the kitchen doesn’t open until 7pm in the evenings, although you can arrive about 6.30pm for starters while you wait) and then return to enjoy a meal in the late evening sunshine. 

Unusually for us, we both plumped for exactly the same choices for all three courses – so we are sorry that we don’t have more pictures of the different menu choices for you – but you can be sure we will be back to try some more another night! (or perhaps even a lunchtime as they do a very reasonably priced set menu choice at lunchtime too)

Our starters were beautifully presented and very pleasing – we ordered Requeijão com compota de abóbora at 5,90€ – which is Requeijão cheese with pumpkin jam – it was a very light cheese and the jam conserve was a lovely complement.

It was beautifully presented on the plate:

The waiting staff were lovely – attentive and polite and they knew the menu and the food really well. A nice touch for us was that we had our Kat the dog with us, and we asked for a bowl of water for her when we had a coffee – when we returned for the evening meal the waiter returned with fresh water for her again without us asking – thank you!

(One little whinge though – there was a lot of broken glass around the table on the floor – not good when you have a dog to settle down … a quick dustpan and brush around the tables guys would give you an even better review … thanks!)

Our main course was Franguinho com laranja, mel e amêndoas for 10,50€ – baby chicken with orange, honey and almonds:

It was a nice sized portion, and the almonds really made it.

We were pretty full after the main course – but the main reason for coming back was the fabulous dessert menu, and we were determined to try one particular dessert – which the waiter had already advised us was amazing – and had warned us that it took 15 minutes to prepare .. well it would have been rude not to order the Fofo de chocolate e alfarroba, molho de frutos vermelhos e sorvete de citrinos for 4,60€ with a recommendation like that!

Chocolate and carob cake with a citrus sorbet and red fruits sauce – it sounded amazing – looked fantastic … and certainly did not disappoint! It was gorgeous!!

We didn’t have any alcohol, just fizzy water and coffee, our total bill came to 46,10€ which for the standard of the food and the location seemed very reasonable.

We had a nice gentle stroll back to the car park and then drove home feeling full and happy!

The restaurant has a Tertulia Algarvia website and a Tertulia Algarvia Facebook Page if you would like to look them up or book a table – their website is particularly good, showing their entire menu and pricing, along with specials and events.