EAT | Taberna Belga, Braga

Francesinha -- or little french girl, in English.The very traditional Portuguese sandwich, meat packed, cheese covered and doused in a hot rich sauce. They say it's an adaption of the french croque-monsieur to the Portuguese taste, hence it's name. Although it has spread  all over the country, Porto -- and it's close surroundings -- is the traditional area of the Francesinha, however the best one I've ever had is little further north, in Braga.

Taberna Belga serves the best Francesinha I've ever tried in my life. You have to go there and try it for yourself. It's the best one ever. But be prepared to wait, because Taberna Belga always has a line at the door. ALWAYS, even though this restaurant is huge, and it has a LOT of tables it is always completely full. For lunch, or dinner. And unless you go super early or really late -- as we did -- you are going to wait. But trust me, it will be completely worth it.

This Francesinha is slightly different form the ones you eat in Porto -- and astonishingly different form the kind you can find here in Lisbon -- because the sauce is different. It's much richer, and ticker and intense. You can tell from the picture that even has a brighter red shade. It is very velvety and extremely of flavorful. I've been told that not everybody likes it because it has a stronger tomato base, and therefor it tastes more like tomato --  It reminded me of a lighter pizza sauce.The sauce was not spicy at all, contrarily to the Francsinha you eat in Porto who's sauce is always always hotter than hell. 

Usually I'm not able to eat one whole franchise on my own. It's just too much food -- but I ate the whole thing. And it was a very hot summer day! To help the Francesinha go down -- and to tone down the heat -- we order a really cold La Trappe Quadrupel, a Dutch dark strong beer. Oh yeah, Taberna Belga serves a variety of unusual beers. I'm usually not very fond of this type of beers but this one, because it has a nuttier flavor complements really well the richness of the Francesinha sauce.