Many call it the lobster of the Mediterranean. This crustacean, with its spiny orangey or brown shell, exists on the Portuguese mainland coast and on Azores Island, preferring the rocky sea bottoms. This kind of lobster is captured in our waters, but also the Deep-sea Lobster. Many other species come to us from other latitudes, some fresh, and other already frozen: Cape Verde, South Africa or Caribbean, for instance. But eating a fresh spiny lobster, just out of the water, is something else! There is a special flavour and energy when that happens. The juices, the aroma and the textures are unique and unrepeatable.

Many say it tastes like the sea. More than that, they taste like the sea and Rias. In this case the Ria Formosa. Technically we would say that the oysters have a soft body, protected by a highly calcified shell. But more and more the oysters are the symbioses between the oyster and the oyster farmer. A beautiful shell, a well fed oyster (fat), has at its origin someone that knows and loves what he does. We know these people is whom we trust and we buy our oysters from people that were born and grew up with the Ria and spend all day taking care of this sensitive and special bivalve.

Captured by trawls in the deep waters of the Algarve coast and the south-west of Portugal, the capture of the shrimp of Algarve is quite significant, making its prices very nice, considering its incredible sea taste. It is unmissable in snacks among family and friends – cooked in water and salt, raw or fried. The bigger sizes, that are quite rare, are great for grilling.