Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Casas da Quinta de Cima Francisco Nogueira Portugal’s Algarve is famous for beautiful beaches and excellent seafood, but it’s also become known for a certain sort of tourism. It has its share of big resorts, all-inclusives, golf clubs, snooty enclaves and indifferent restaurants, but even amid all the development, it has pockets of soul. Thoughtful boutique hotels are tucked into various corners, and they’re joined by a growing number of understated villas, creative new restaurants and a few classic outposts of hospitality that keep getting better with time.
Where to Eat Austa, Almancil Austa Daniel_Schäfer British couple Emma and David Campus opened this minimalist restaurant last year with the idea of promoting honest eating. They chose the name Austa as a tweak to the Latin word auster —“south wind personified”—to emphasize their commitment to change and new ideas. It also fits the restaurant’s emphasis on ingredients from the southern coast of Portugal and Spain.
The malleable menu of sharable plates is fashionably spare. It highlights specific regional products: scarlet shrimp from Vila Real Santo Antonio, line-caught pargo from Sagres, dry-aged entrecôte from Asturias. The restaurateur’s training in permaculture shows in zero-waste initiatives like the butter flavored with marmite made from leftover bread and the T-bone of retired dairy cow.
The wine list favors small producers, especially from t.