Thursday, October 26, Viva Portugal! It's funny isn't it, when you know of a shop's existence for years and years and for some reason you don't go and when you finally get there, you wonder why you never went in the first place. I wasn't paying too much attention to the outside, though I do recall it was painted quite gaudily; it's not a shop front that you could easily miss, an important consideration as you drive down busy Johnston Street in Melbourne's Latin quarter.
Be warned, parking is rather scarce. The first thing you notice upon entering is the salty aroma from all the dried hams, chorizos and salchichons hanging over the deli counter. There are shelves all around packed to the gunwales with all manner of exotic goods, not only from Portugal but from Spain, Mexico and the USA.
The first shelf I perused was full with a variety of canned seafood, very popular on the Iberian Peninsula. I felt for my glasses so I could read the labels, but had left them behind, no matter everything was in Portuguese or Spanish. There were sardinas sardines , pulpo preserved octopus , berberechos cockles , atun tuna , caballas mackerel , zamburinas scallops , anchoas anchovies, no Ortiz though , mejillones mussels and many more things besides.
Down another aisle were all the spices, paprika, cumin, Spanish oregano, achiote, dried chiles - guajillo, chipotle and ancho - as well as all the hot sauces you would ever need, with nary a bottle of Mcllhenny Tabasco sauce in sight. It was down this aisle that I started to make some wonderful discoveries, like a tin of hominy that I needed to make this.
On another shelf was a tin of chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, I'm all ready swooning and then there was some masa harina, stone ground corn flour for my very own tortillas and tamales! Plus the full range of Portuguese and Spanish rices. All this before I've even got to the deli counter.
