Euro Café - Claremont

First of all, this unfair coffee house doesn't call too much attention in a shopping center. The windows offer coffee, expresso, sandwiches, pannini, continental cuisine and Portuguese cuisine. But if you have any Portuguese blood in you or just enjoy Portuguese food - then you have found a treasure in this small café. If you first have the counter where you order, and a menu of sandwiches, smoothies, panninis, expresso drinks and a large board with the Portuguese specials of the day. It changes daily, with Caldo Verde kale soup and Bife a Portuguese steak Portuguese style also offered daily. There is also a bakery case of cookies, muffins and Portuguese bakery on weekend masa sevada sweet bread, malassadas doughnuts and the very addictive delicate Custard cups called Quejadas de Natas or as the owner aptly described them, "Eat one and then beg for more of them". After I ordered my meal from Steak and some muffins for the children, I tried to explain to my children why I was here and why Portuguese food meant so much to me. I had no idea that the older gentleman sat the next table to enjoy his lunch, the owner was. He went to me, shook my hand and asked if I were Portuguese. I said I was and he started talking to me in Portuguese! Oh, Joy, it's a shame that I forgot about 90% of what I used to know and asked him to say English again. So I found out that Joe was the owner. I told him how I was looking for Portuguese food, and we ended chatting while I was there, and he personally brought me my meal and always wondered if I would like a wine, every Portuguese meal must have wine and if I liked the food. Boy, it was GOOD. What a sweet man. When I told him how I had no Linguica Portuguse sausage for years, he surprised me by screaming a few and bringing me a few plates to go with my meal. Remember, it brings tears to my eyes. May you seem silly, but this simple meal was so strongly associated with memories of the family in which I grew up, and his kindness in this little gift made the food one of the best and most remembered meals ever in my life. Sometimes the soul can be hungry after something, and food can also feed souls, not just body. I've been looking for a restaurant serving Portuguese food for years, I grew up eating my grandmother's cooking and listening to my father, all describe his favorite dishes. My mother often cooked it. I even bought some Portuguese cookbooks, but I was never sure I had the spices right. It is difficult to explain, but sometimes when you long a kitchen, stretch it all the way in your soul, cooking it is itself the same, I could not find some of the authentic ingredients without a ton in shipping costs. Well, this café is not only a café, the owner, a friendly older gentleman named Joe Medeiros, is Portuguese and can order Portuguese linguica sausages, Bacalau salted Kodfish and a number of Portuguese wines, cheese and other specialties. Just ask him and he has a list of things you can order. All in all, GREAT food, ingenious service, a friendly owner, authentic Portuguese food desserts and a link to the Portuguese community. What can be better?