The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
Old Friends Re-Met
When we were first in the Algarve six years ago, we stayed with ATC members Roy and Carol Carpenter, British expats and
genial hosts. Carol was in Dubai this time, visiting her newest grandson so it was just Roy and the Marvins. Many retirees
I know tell me they have been busier in retirement than they were in their working lives and Roy seems to be in that mold.
Roy is an optometrist who still sees two patients a day but the rest of his social calendar seems pretty active. There are so
many expats in the Algarve, particularly the British, that English is the primary working language on this end of the
country. I suppose there's good news and bad news in that fact, but it does make it easier for folks like us to conduct our
day to day activities.
As is normally the case when we're on the road, the day seems to center on a meal. Today it was dinner with Roy.
Of course we invited Roy to be our guest for dinner and of course we asked him to choose the
restaurant. The result was a delightful dinner at Chrissy's, buried deep in the town of Lagoa and well off the tourist
path. Roy seems to be tight with most everyone in the area, so when he asked the owner for a table an hour before the
restaurant normally opened, the request was granted with a smile. Gotta love that attitude.
I won't go into detail on all the dishes because, frankly, I don't remember the details, but it started with an interesting
amuse bouche. The starter was crab three ways. I had guinea fowl for my main course and ended with a wild berry panna cotta.
The preparations and presentations were superb ... and an excellent house wine was included in the very reasonable price.
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