Triplex (bar / restaurant) February 23
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Triplex (TREE-plex) is a bar / restaurant combo. The bar is one of the best in town. The restaurant, if not one of the best, is pretty good too, and has a hip ambiance for dinner. Owner Jose Carlos Tinoco (also of Labirintho, a close-by bar catering to an older crowd) did an excellent job of converting this townhouse into one of the best bars in town, with rooms for different moods and a great garden.
Triplex is located in the heart of the Boavista neighborhood, just one block from Casa da Musica. It occupies an early twentieth century townhouse, with the restaurant on the second floor, and the bar (with a stand-up section and a lounge with sofas) on the first floor. There is also a porch on each level and a relatively large garden that fills up in the summer. The bar is popular after 10:00pm and stays open at least until 2:00am. On the weekends, you can count on a crowded house till at least 4:00am. The stand-up section sometimes bursts spontaneously into a dance floor. They have guest DJs almost every day, playing consistenly good lounge and club music. The crowd consists in sophisticated college students, young professionals, and a lively mix of out-of-towners and insiders. Plenty of opportunities to meet new people.
The restaurant is decorated in simple, clear tones and serves good food in a lively ambiance — many patrons go downstairs to the bar once they finish dinner around midnight or so. Dinner entrees are between 12 and 20 euros. There are also less pricey options for lunch. We wouldn’t say Triplex is one of the ten best restaurants in Porto. But it is certainly good enough to deserve a visit if you’re going to an early concert at Casa da Musica or if you feel like sliding to the bar afterwards. The food is enjoyable and so is the environment.
Appetizers include skewered prawns with mushrooms and herb butter, clams with garlic and herbs, several quiches, and salads. There also a good curry fish soup and a traditional Southern Portuguese soup (sopa alentejana), which features bread slices, olive oil, garlic, coriander, and a poached egg. Fish plates include a good bread soup (acorda) with shrimp, several grilled fishes, monkfish and smoked salmon in puffed pastry with mango, and two staples of Portuguese cuisine — baked codfish with bread and olive oil; and cod fritters with a runny rice with tomato. The meat section features several steaks (au poivre, with cheese, etc.); grilled wild boar loin with mustard ice cream, asparagus, spinach, and gratin potato; and partridge in puff pastry. The chef prepares all of these competently. There are also a few good vegetarian options, such as omelets and pastas. Dessert selection changes daily and is consistently good. The wine list includes many solid values among Portuguese wines. Service is OK.
Price point: drinks at the bar 3 euros and up; lunch around 10 euros; dinner around 25 euros plus drinks.
Address: Avenida da Boavista 911, Porto.
Website: http://www.triplex.com.pt/
Opening hours: restaurant open Monday through Saturday for lunch (12:00-3:00pm) and dinner (8:00-11:30pm); bar open Monday through Thursday 9:00pm-2:00am; Friday and Saturday 9:00pm-4:00am.
Reservations: recommended for dinner; call (+351) 91.494.3039.
Getting there: if you’re driving from downtown, follow the directions to Boavista. Once you get to the Boavista roundabout (known informally as Rotunda da Boavista and formally as Praca Mouzinho de Albuquerque — you can’t miss it; there is a tall column on the center, with a lion crushing an eagle at the top), take Av. da Boavista heading down to the sea (Casa da Musica, an unmistakable building shaped like a quartz crystal, is on the corner). Triplex is right after the first traffic lights, on your left. It is a townhouse next to the Goethe Institute. Street-side parking relatively easy at night, impossible during the day. Several paid parking lots in the vicinity. If you’re not driving, a taxi should take 20-30 minutes from downtown.