The earliest dependable accounts of fado place it in 1820s Lisbon, in the capital's bohemian quarters. A single voice carries lyrics that often turn on the sea, hard lives and longing, a mood Portuguese sums up in the word saudade. In 2011 UNESCO gave fado a place among humanity's intangible heritage.
The short answer
Is the Porto fado dinner worth it, and what do you actually eat and hear?
Yes, if you want dinner and fado in one sitting
For a first evening of fado in Porto, yes. You get three courses in a restaurant founded in 1894 inside the city's UNESCO-listed historic centre: a starter for the table, a main you choose from fish, meat or a vegetarian dish, and a dessert. Singers and guitarists perform fado and other traditional Portuguese songs through the meal rather than in a separate show. Drinks are not included, and the evening lasts one and a half to two hours.
What it is
A sit-down dinner with live music in the same room. You eat while the musicians work through fado and folk songs, so talk drops away when a song asks for quiet and picks up again in the gaps. The setting is a dining room rather than an auditorium, and that is the point: the songs reach you across the tables.
What it is not
Not a concert seat with dinner bolted on, and not a drinks-included package: wine, port and water are bought separately from the restaurant. Nor is it a tasting menu. The plates follow the restaurant's current menu and can change; the three-course shape, with a choice of main and dessert, is what stays the same.
Four lines on the evening
- Length
- Ninety minutes to two hours.
- On the plate
- Starter, main and dessert.
- In the room
- Fado and folk songs through dinner.
- Not included
- Drinks, ordered at the table.
From first plate to last song
The shape of the evening
Your confirmation gives the start time; below is the usual order of the night, not a timetable.
- Arrive
Into the old town
The restaurant is in Porto's historic centre near the river, at the address on your ticket. Arrive a little early so you are seated and settled before the first song.
- Order
Drinks first, then your main
Drinks are not in the price, so the first choice at the table is what to drink. Then you pick a main from fish, meat or a vegetarian dish, and later a dessert.
- Starter
Plates for the table
The first course arrives to share. From here the songs and the courses run alongside each other instead of taking turns.
- Fado
A voice over two guitars
A solo singer, the pear-shaped Portuguese guitar and a six-string guitar. Fado likes a held note at the end of a phrase, so keep conversation for the gaps.
- Main
The main course, with music
Your main comes while the musicians carry on, so the evening never splits into a meal and then a show. Slow fados and livelier traditional songs alternate as the performers choose.
- Dessert
The last songs
Dessert closes the meal, and one and a half to two hours after you sat down the evening ends in the historic centre near the river.
The northern table
Seven classics of the Porto table
This is not the restaurant's menu, which is its own and changes. It is a short field guide to the dishes Porto and the north are known for, so any menu in the city reads more easily.
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The city's own dish
Tripas à moda do PortoPorto
Tripe cooked with white beans, carrots and rice, and the dish Porto treats as its own. Legend ties it to 1415, when the city is said to have sent its best meat with the fleet bound for Ceuta and kept the tripe, which is why people from Porto are still nicknamed tripeiros.
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The loyal friend
BacalhauAll Portugal
Dried, salted cod, the iconic ingredient of Portuguese cooking, with a recipe said to exist for every day of the year. By the 1700s it was a staple at every level of society, and its nickname is fiel amigo, the loyal friend. In parts of the country it is still the Christmas Eve dinner.
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A Ribeira recipe
Bacalhau à Gomes de SáPorto
Porto's own salt-cod dish, named after José Luís Gomes de Sá Júnior, a cod merchant with a warehouse in the Ribeira district. The cod is flaked, softened in milk and cooked with olive oil, garlic and onion, then finished with black olives, parsley and boiled egg.
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Before the meal
Bolinhos de bacalhauAll Portugal
Cod cakes of potato, salt cod, egg, parsley and onion, shaped between two spoons and deep-fried. They are eaten hot or cold as an appetiser, or as a meal with rice and salad, and a good one is lightly crisp outside and soft within.
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A northern soup
Caldo verdeMinho
A green broth of finely cut cabbage, potato, olive oil and garlic, often with slices of chouriço and broa, a corn or rye bread, for dipping. It began in the Minho, up near the Spanish border, and won its place among the Seven Wonders of Portuguese gastronomy in a 2011 public vote.
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The city's favourite snack
FrancesinhaPorto, 1953
Layers of toasted bread and hot meats under melted cheese, soaked in a beer-and-tomato sauce and usually served with fries. It is credited to Daniel David de Silva, who adapted the croque monsieur after time in France and Belgium and introduced it in a Porto restaurant in 1953.
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To finish
Pastel de nataLisbon
An egg-custard tart in crisp pastry, sometimes dusted with cinnamon. It descends from a recipe made before the 18th century by monks of the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon, who used up egg yolks left from starching habits. The same 2011 vote put it on the Seven Wonders list beside caldo verde.
Sources: Wikipedia's articles on tripas à moda do Porto, bacalhau, bacalhau à Gomes de Sá, bolinhos de bacalhau, caldo verde, the francesinha and the pastel de nata, and on Porto.
The music at the table
Fado in a few lines
The pear-shaped guitar
Listen for the Portuguese guitar: pear-bodied, with twelve steel strings doubled into six courses. In the Lisbon style it plays the introduction and then answers the singer phrase by phrase, while a six-string guitar keeps the harmony underneath. UNESCO describes this pairing as the traditional accompaniment for a solo fado voice.
Fado, and the music around it
Fado has two recognised schools: Lisbon's, the more famous, and Coimbra's, rooted in that university town and sung only by men in the dark robe and cape of its students. This dinner pairs fado with other traditional Portuguese music. In the north, folk tradition includes dances such as the vira, a turning dance in a quick three-step rhythm most popular in the Minho. What is sung on your night is up to the performers.
In the price, and not
What the price covers
The booking in plain terms, so the bill at the end holds no surprises.
- Included
- A three-course dinner and the live fado and traditional Portuguese music performed through it.
- Not included
- Drinks of any kind, ordered and paid for at the table.
- The courses
- A starter for the table, then a main chosen from fish, meat or a vegetarian dish and a dessert chosen from a short list. The dishes follow the restaurant's current menu.
- The venue
- Restaurante RC, founded in 1894, in a building within Porto's UNESCO-listed historic centre near the river. The exact address is on your ticket.
- Length
- Between ninety minutes and two hours at the table. The calendar lists a start time for every date.
- Access
- The restaurant is wheelchair accessible.
- Dietary needs
- There is a vegetarian main. For allergies or other needs, message the restaurant through your booking before the day.
- If plans change
- Cancelling 24 hours or more ahead costs nothing, and reserving now lets you pay later.
Two Porto evenings
A fado dinner in the old town, or a yacht under the six bridges
Fado dinner
Six-bridge yacht
What it is
Three courses with live fado
A small-yacht river cruise
How long
One and a half to two hours
About two hours
Food
Three-course dinner
None included
Drinks
Paid at the table
One welcome drink
Company
A restaurant room
Up to twelve guests
If plans change
Free cancellation, 24 hours
Free cancellation, 24 hours
Book the dinner, or plan around it
The fado dinner, a sunset yacht, a wine day and a football museum
The fado dinner is the evening this site is about. The yacht is the other way to spend a Porto evening, the wine day fills a whole day inland, and the football museum fits into an afternoon.
Dinner with fado and traditional Portuguese music
Ninety minutes to two hours in a restaurant in the historic centre: a starter for the table, then a main and a dessert you choose, with fado and folk songs through the meal. Drinks are extra.
Six-bridge yacht cruise on the Douro, by day or at sunset
Two hours on a small yacht with at most twelve guests and a welcome drink, under the six bridges between Porto and Gaia and out through the estuary when the river allows. The sunset option gives the evening light.
Two wine regions in a day, with lunch and a boat
Nine to ten hours from Porto to family wineries in the Vinho Verde and Douro regions, with tastings, a farm-to-table meal and an hour on the river in the valley. Not for children under ten or wheelchair users.
FC Porto museum and Dragão Stadium
Roughly ninety minutes at the club's museum and stadium, with audio guides in six languages to rent. On match days and some event days only the museum is open.
More of Porto to book
Plates, strings and the river
Plates, strings and the river
The dishes the north is known for, the guitar that fado is sung over, and the riverside of Porto's old town.
Finding the table
Getting to dinner and back
- Where it is
- In Porto's historic centre near the river. The street is printed on your ticket rather than on the booking page, so save it to your map before you set out.
- From São Bento
- São Bento station is a short walk away. Its entrance hall, lined with blue-and-white azulejo panels, is worth a few minutes on the way.
- Shoes
- The old town is built on the hills above the mouth of the Douro, so wear shoes you can climb in after a long dinner.
- Wheelchair users
- The restaurant is wheelchair accessible. The streets around it are hilly, so a taxi to the door may be easier than the walk.
- Dietary needs
- A vegetarian main is on the menu. Message the restaurant through your booking about allergies before the day.
- Afterwards
- The evening ends late. Taxis are the simple way back to the newer parts of the city or across the river to Vila Nova de Gaia.
Read before dinner
Six guides for a fado dinner in Porto
- Start here
Porto fado dinner: worth it?
What the three courses look like, how the fado runs through the meal, what you pay for at the table, and who should pick a different Porto evening. Read it before dinner → - Compare
Fado dinner or Douro sunset yacht?
Two ways to spend a Porto evening: three courses with live fado in the old town, or two hours on a small yacht under the six bridges. How to choose. Read it before dinner → - The table
Porto's classic dishes, explained
Tripe, salt cod, green broth, the francesinha and the custard tart: what Porto and the north are known for, and the stories behind each dish. Read it before dinner → - The music
Fado explained before dinner
Where fado comes from, what saudade means, the two guitars you will see, and how Lisbon and Coimbra each sing it, before you sit down to listen. Read it before dinner → - Getting there
Walking to dinner from São Bento
Reaching the fado dinner on foot: start at São Bento station and its tiled hall, cross Porto's UNESCO-listed old town, and plan the way back after a late meal. Read it before dinner → - Plan the day
A Porto day before fado
Ways to spend the hours before a late fado dinner in Porto: a football museum, a day in the wine country, the river at sunset, and when to eat lunch. Read it before dinner →
FAQ
Questions before you book the table
Is the Porto fado dinner worth it?
Yes, if you want fado and a full dinner in one evening. Three courses in a restaurant founded in 1894 in the historic centre come with live fado and traditional Portuguese music throughout. Drinks are extra, and the evening takes up to two hours.
What do you eat?
Three courses: a starter for the table, a main you choose from fish, meat or a vegetarian dish, and a dessert from a short list. The dishes follow the restaurant's current menu, so the exact plates can change.
Are drinks included?
No. The price covers the food and the music; wine, port, water and soft drinks go on the restaurant's bill.
Is it a concert or a dinner?
A dinner, with the musicians in the same room. Fado and traditional songs carry on while the courses come, so listening and eating happen together.
How long is the dinner, and what time does it begin?
Plan on ninety minutes to two hours at the table. It is a late meal, and the calendar gives the start time for each date before you pay.
Is there a vegetarian option, and what about allergies?
Yes, one of the main-course choices is vegetarian. For allergies or other dietary needs, message the restaurant through your booking well before the day.
Is the restaurant wheelchair accessible?
Yes. The streets of the historic centre are hilly, so plan the route to the door as well.
Can I cancel?
Yes, as late as 24 hours ahead, with the whole amount returned. Paying can wait too: reserve now and settle closer to the date.
How do I get there?
The restaurant is in the historic centre near the river, and its address is on your ticket. São Bento station is a short walk away.
Is this the restaurant's website?
No. Porto Fado Dinner Guide works on its own: neither the restaurant nor the organiser runs it, and it has no affiliation with them. Bookings happen on GetYourGuide, and one made through a link here can earn this site a commission without changing your price.