Ivomar - Menu

People come to Setùbal for many things and surely chief among these is the seafood. Moreover, taking pride of place is the humble sardine done right, my favouri... read more People come to Setùbal for many things and surely chief among these is the seafood. Moreover, taking pride of place is the humble sardine done right, my favourite fish. And boy, do they do it right here! Anyone who has spent any length of time in this great town knows you can have sardines under 200 different roofs. Let me tell you why you should choose Ivomar.... They sell fresh fish daily, according to what is caught and bought and when it's gone, it's gone. You come here for lunch and if you're early you won't have to wait. 12 12:30 ought to do it. This is a small family place with maybe 20 covers. You will be served some lovely fresh bread and a home made tuna paté with some pats of butter. Take a few bites but save yourself for what is to come. The fresh red wine is very quaffable, tale some. There's no menu, just a chalkboard with the roll call of the fish. On our visit this was sardines, mackerel bream in that order. These are served with deliciously yellow steamed potatoes in a garlic, parsley and olive oil infusion. The accompanying salad of lettuce, smoked green peppers and tomatoes matches the occasion everything is simple, but considered. Incredibly tasty! The sardines have been perfectly chargrilled, the mackerel is juicy and the bream has a nice firmness. Our host kept bringing fish until we could eat no more. We dispatched 10 sardines, two mackerel and two bream between us. I am not ashamed to say I nearly cried with joy. Dessert was a wonderful slice of local honeydew melon with cinnamon and a pot of creamy Portuguese saffron rice pudding. Coffee was note perfect and the aguardiente appropriately rough! Now the punchline to this fantastic tale! The entirety of this was offered to us for €25 for two.... Overjoyed by the food and the friendly service we paid €40. Worth every penny.