Can you imagine that a place with a name that means “dirty woman” could be so popular in Porto? How it is possible? I know that all types of businesses have their own history, but the success of Badalhoca is curious and unique. This typical Porto chophouse opened in Ramalde a long time ago. The building is black and white like the colours of the Boavista Football Club jerseys, because the owners are Boavista Football Club supporters and they’ve decorated the establishment with a lot of pictures related to Boavista football players.
It’s common to see a lot of people together in the evening in front of Badalhoca eating sandwiches with smoked ham and drinking a glass of fresh wine. The environment is very friendly and familiar; there I’ve found a lot of different types of people, such as lawyers, construction workers, painters, engineers etc and it seemed like they were enjoying the end of the workday together.
But here you can also find other types of traditional Portuguese food. The sandwiches extend to all varieties of usual snacks, like “rojões”. Despite that, the ham sandwiches continue to be the greatest attraction, mostly because of the quality of the bread, which is always fresh and crunchy and improves the flavor a lot.
Besides being clean and modern, Badalhoca it is an inviting place.