O tino
Traditional Portuguese Angolan Restaurant
1 Plender Street, Camden Town, London NW1 0JS
£-££
O Tino is a family owned and operated Portuguese restaurant located in the heart of Camden Town. It is the neighborhood diner you need in your life. The kind of place you stumble across and never want to leave. It’s a mom and pop restaurant that deserves to be showcased. And you better believe we’re doing just that! On Episode 13, we sit down with brother and sister, Pedro and Denise, and meet the rest of the family making things happen behind the scenes. Pedro and Denise share the joys and challenges that come with family business and introduce us to some BANGIN Portuguese 🇵🇹 AND Angolan 🇦🇴 dishes along the way.
With roots in both Portugal and Angola, Denise and Pedro began our visit with some context by laying out their family history. It is their parents who are the heart and soul of the restaurant. Elizabeth, their sweet mother, who originally hails from Angola, is the Head Chef, and their father, Tino, the restaurant’s namesake, is from Portugal. Their love story weathered the Angolan Civil War, refugee resettlement in South Africa, and then life in Almada, Portugal, before these two immigrated to London and made Camden home. Since its opening in 2009, O tino has been delivering traditional Portuguese and Angolan food to Londoners. Pedro and Denise spoke fondly of growing up in the restaurant and with admiration and respect for their parents who built the business.
On our first visit to O Tino, we had three typical Portuguese dishes. To start off, we had to try the chourico grelhado, flaming charizo. It was divine. Then, we opted for a bacalhau dish. Anyone who has visited Portugal knows that bacalhau (aka cod fish) is the country’s national fish. Walk the streets of Lisbon and you’ll find shops specializing in dried cod on every other street! And there are only a million and one ways the Portuguese prepare bacalhau: stewed, fried, steamed, grilled, stuffed in potatoes…the list goes on! We enjoyed the simplicity of bacalhau a lagareiro cam batatas a murro e vegetais, grilled salt-cod, grilled potatoes, and vegetables. It was flaky, buttery, with just a hint of sea salt and garlic. It went perfectly with steamed potatoes and cabbage.
Lastly, we indulged ourselves with espetada a Tino, a skewer of tender beef fillet cuts served with chips and a salad. YUM. This was my personal favorite. Mama Liz told us this dish comes from the Madeira region of Portugal, where Papa Tino’s family traces their roots! I loved it. I can confirm, it BANGZ!
We tried two Angolan dishes on our second visit to O Tino. Mama Liz makes traditional Angolan dishes to order and offers Angolan specials every weekend. She served us muamba de galinha, stewed chicken flavored with garlic, chili, okra, and palm oil and served with funje, a starchy porridge made from cassava flour. By now, you might have picked up on Eli’s hatred for one of my favorite vegetables, okra! He lapped this one up if that tells you anything. THIS FOOD BANGZ!
Visit O Tino’s you won’t be disappointed. Stop in for food or just an espresso and some dessert!
