Since opening in Parklands in 2006, Petiscos in Parklands has become a famed institution. It built its reputation the old-fashioned way: generous plates of Portuguese food, dangerously good sauces and stellar service.
The menu wanders cheerfully through the Luso-Mozambican canon, where prawns aren’t decorative, sauces aren’t rationed and cream is treated with the respect it deserves.
Start with the house speciality: Rissois de Camarão. These little golden parcels are oh-so crisp, surrendering to a rich, creamy prawn filling within. They’re dangerous things to put on a table when you’re supposed to be sharing.
Another favourite is the Sardinhas Assadas: three sardines grilled with coarse salt, topped with green peppers and onions roasted in olive oil, with olives alongside. No architectural intervention—just sardines behaving well.
For the main event, the Amêijoas with six prawns in their shells comes swimming in a tomato-and-onion sauce, while the Bife à Princessa, a 200-gm rump, gets smothered in creamy mozzarella with a sly dash of English mustard. Bacalhau com Natas takes another route to excess: layers of salt cod, fried onion and potato buried beneath a decadent cream sauce and baked until gloriously unrepentant.
Ah, now for dessert. Molotof, the impossibly light Portuguese egg-white pudding, arrives with caramel, vanilla custard and shaved almonds.
Petiscos doesn’t need to shout. Its customers have been doing that for 20 years.
Book: Cavalier Centre, Parklands Main Rd. Ph 021 5573311/ 072 4154456.
