Flor do Campo is a recently founded restaurant, which opened its doors to the public on 21 June this year, with the aim of bringing high quality food to the Algarve. With a passion for serving well, and attention to the smallest of details, Dona Luisa, one of the owners, is only fully satisfied with the best.

Before Luisa Idier-humbert decided to open the restaurant with her French husband, Laurent Idier-humbert, she was a hairdresser living in France for several years. Then they decided to come to Portugal, settle in the lovely Algarve and set up a new restaurant to offer something different to their customers.

"My husband is French, so we didn't want to open an all-Portuguese restaurant, but one with a bit of a mix between Portuguese and French food", she said. In addition, as Luisa was born in the north of Portugal, she also brings some dishes from the north of the country, such as the well-known francesinha.


A taste of the countryside

Upon arrival, you will find a huge car park which is very comfortable as you can park right next to the restaurant. It is very easy to get there when driving on the N125 to Alcantarilha because of the flags on the right side of the road - Portuguese, French and EU flags. The flags made me feel that I was entering an international place where everyone is very welcome (I wasn't wrong).

Flor do Campo has a venue with a capacity of over a hundred people in a place that can be really good for birthday parties, business dinners, etc. You can decide to sit outside or inside, both very nice options, but if you decide to sit inside, you will be eating while looking at a great countryside landscape through the big windows they have, which especially at lunchtime is just perfect!


Speaking of lunch, if you go during weekdays for lunch (not on Tuesdays because that's their day off) you can get the dish of the day for just €10. This is very surprising because, unlike many restaurants that serve dishes of the day with little or no quality at all, Dona Luisa, even with a great effort to do so at a very affordable price, will not deliver anything less than the best even for 10€.

The co-owner and cook told me that the dish of the day includes the couvert, a main course, a drink and a dessert. Every day they have at least six options normally balanced between three dishes of meat and three of fish.

A restaurant you can trust

The day we went was a sunny Sunday. For such a beautiful day, all we needed was a top five star meal and that's exactly what we got.

To begin, we were kindly served a couvert with two types of bread, one traditionally from the Algarve and the other one from the north (just to remind that Luisa has northern roots) with carrots "Algarve style", marinated olives and homemade tuna paté. We liked it because it was all very homely.

I normally like Portuguese food, so we ordered a fish of the day, which was a grilled golden bream served with new potatoes in olive oil and garlic and sautéed vegetables. At Flor do Campo everything is super fresh and it's no different with the fish. It's that kind of restaurant where you know you can order everything you like - everything is super fresh!

Then we had a French dish that many Portuguese, according to Luisa, find very strange to be served as a main course. The name is "mussels with mushrooms". She told me that people think it's a starter, but it's not and I can assure you it will not let you down. For those who love seafood these mussels cooked French style are absolutely perfect. It is important to note that you can choose the sauce you want. We've had mushrooms, but they have more options like sailor, provencal and Roquefort.

As for the beverages, they have a fantastic wine list with a great selection of Portuguese and French wines.

A sweet ending

Although we were fully satisfied, we were still pleased with two very good desserts: a chocolate mousse and a coconut pudding. Dona Luísa, the cook, is very good on the sweet side too. It was a great way to end our meals. After this wonderful experience, I can only say that will return to this gem and take the rest of the family with me.


Flor do Campo is open from Wednesday to Monday for lunch and dinner. For more information or to book a table, please contact 282 314 972.

Author

Paula Martins is a fully qualified journalist, who finds writing a means of self-expression. She studied Journalism and Communication at University of Coimbra and recently Law in the Algarve. Press card: 8252

Paula Martins