If you were in Monchique recently – and saw a film crew, camera crew and a cute little black dog sampling the local culinary delights .. that was probably us entertaining the delightful crew from the German magazine sisterMAG

We were contacted by the Berlin-based magazine and asked if we could help them with an upcoming feature they have on Global Gourmet food they are going to be covering in a future edition in conjunction with TUI travel. They were travelling round Portugal – coming to the Algarve – and could we recommend anywhere?!

So we offered to show them Monchique and treat them to our favourite piri-piri chicken restaurant. Well it seemed rude not to show them round ….!

We started off in the fabulous Medronho and Honey shop located in the main square in Monchique. This is a great co-operative project combining the talents of the APAGARBE producers of Medronho; the APILGARBE beekeepers; and the Muncipality of Monchique, the Caixa Agricola do Algarve (the farmers’ credit bank), the parish council, and the local radio station Radio Fóia – all combining together to promote local regional products and farmers.

The crew quickly got stuck in to photographing and filming, interviewing the owner – and sampling the Medronho:

They even left with a bottle of Medronho tucked under their arms .. for later!

Next up was the local butcher’s shop – the Talho: Loja de Porco Preto, situated just round the corner. Another local store full of locally cured hams, presunto, cheeses, sausages, and porco preto, which fitted the brief for the magazine rather nicely:

We were impressed again by the staff in this local store, they were so welcoming, sharing free titbits of the meat and cheese with the crew, and chatting happily away about their products:

Our little dog was sat patiently outside, and was delighted when one of the crew came outside and gave her some presunto to try … the equivalent of doggy heaven!

Thank you to the staff at both shops for being so welcoming and rightly proud of their local produce – it was all delicious.

The crew from the magazine were certainly happy with their filming so far:

And then it was off up to Foia – to our favourite restaurant A Rampa – to ensure that the team enjoyed a proper local Portuguese delight – piri-piri chicken and chips!

Our friends Paula and Helder did us proud – thank you guys! A table full of succulent and tasty food, followed by a range of desserts and coffee .. and all with that fabulous Foia view to enjoy too. The crew were most vocal about how much they enjoyed their lunch .. although the hard part was having it all sat on the table and having to wait until they had finished photographing and filming it all before we could all tuck in!

Dave and I were both filmed and interviewed as well at one point .. we’re not sure what the locals made of it all .. but some of them were very happy to have their photograph taken:

We had a fab time with the crew, and we hope they got everything they needed from our trip out with them .. and we will let you know when the feature is published too so that you can enjoy it with us.

And thank you again to everyone that helped to make our trip a success.

You can find out more about sisterMAG – including reading their latest issue online – in English or German – by clicking on this logo below: