Francesinha – Cafe Santiago Porto, Portugal
Francesinha pronounced Fran-ze-zin-ya (little Frenchie) is a local speciality in Porto. Made from bread, ham, sausages, pork and steak. If that wasn’t enough, this protein layered monstrosity is stacked into a sandwich and then topped with a pan fried egg, cheese, fries and a spicy beer sauce. Phew… that’s enough to make you sweat.
Locals in Porto love and I mean LOVE their francesinha. The people of Porto even get together with friends to have francesinha night outs at their favourite spot but this will often end up with arguments on where they should actually go to get it. On a good day, you can expect a heated debate over the best francesinha and don’t expect any two opinions to be alike. Locals will often argue and argue on who does it best. Your favourite may not necessarily be their favourite. In fact, they probably despise where you get your francesinha. Often the difference lies in the quality of meat but it really boils down to that special beer sauce and that finicky thing called personal opinion. The common ingredient in the sauce is beer and each restaurant will have their own special spices that they add to give it their own unique flavour.
As consensus goes, Cafe Santiago seems to be the most popular place to taste this. I would recommend sticking to Cafe Santiago or to go somewhere recommended by a local. Locals will often eat this speciality on average once a week to once a month, or even once a year. It can be pretty heavy going. But all in all, when everyone gets that craving, they just have to have it.
Delicious and dirty. I suggest doing what I did and eating this when you’re completely hungover. It is the perfect hangover cure, the ultimate dude food and fat bomb ever created. Think about that gooey egg dribbling over the soggy fries, bread and meat, all drenched in that delicious beer gravy. It really helps that hangover, especially with that can of coke.
Note: there are two Cafe Santiago restaurants offering francesinha on the same street, make sure you go to the one at the below address.
Cafe Santiago
Rua Passos Manuel 226 4000-382 PORTO
http://caferestaurantesantiago.com.pt
Food Porn Nation 
Wow the francesinha looks amazing! I love how the Portuguese adore steak, chips and eggs together.
It was pretty out of this world! The Portuguese are fanatical about food!! Especially when it comes to their francesinha.
Oooh wow! Was here probably two weeks ago 🙂 Are you still travelling around?
Did u get a chance to check it out? No I’ve stopped travelling 😦 and I have just move to London. Where are u now?
Oooh how fab! I did visit this cafe by chance and was so glad to have split a sandwich between two. So filling. I’m back in Australia now, just had a little vacay 🙂
LOL I ate the whole thing. Well I might as well have. 🙂