A Torre Restaurant

Have been going here on and off for the last 6 years and it’s recently changed hands. The food is still mostly excellent, but prices have been creeping up and up.
The starters are very small for what you pay, and desserts are particularly overpriced as well. £4.50 for a couple of scoops of supermarket-​brand ice cream. Hmm.
This place used to be a no brainer but I go only rarely now because you won’t get out of there without spending at least £50 on a meal for two and feeling a bit ripped off.

Fish, Fish, Fishy Fish.
Since falling off the vegetarian cart back on to the pescetarian way of life (yes those pesky-​tarians) I have begun to enjoy the wonderful world of sea dwellers — on my plate.
And oh sweetness of everything that likes to be beside the seaside A Torre has soo much to offer a fish lover.
The amount of times we’ve walked past this restaurant and never gave it a second glance, we finally took a look at the menu and there was just soo much there that left us ‘Oooooh-​ing’ and ‘aaaahh-​ing’ we knew we’d have to come back and check it out.
Today was the day and we were not disappointed.
The restaurant was lovely. Very simple inside, but included some lovely touches that really make a difference to your standard casual restaurant. Table cloths, cloth napkins, branded glasses, hand painted terracotta plates… Even when we asked for some ice we were brought a small sliver bucket and tongs.
The Specials menu was written by hand and inserted into the standard menu. And there was soo much choice (if you like fish),
We started with Sardines (well you have to when pretending your in Lisbon and not zone 3). 3 lovely big, fresh sardines and salad garnish. We both picked off the specials menu, swordfish steak and potatoes for the Mrs and Monkfish and rice for me.
Delicious. Subtle flavors, soft fish and perfectly cooked rice. Very generous portions.
While this is not the cheapest restaurant in the area, the average starter at £7 and main at £13 — in terms of value for money it is really reasonable.
There was no room for desert today — but we’ll be back.

Friendly home style matriarchal made Portuguese food. As much as I think of my own mother, a wonder, a multi talented dynamo, even she cuts corners sometimes. Occasionally burning things, throwing in the occasional bit of frozen veg. She’s not superwoman, but I grew up loving her Latin Eastern cooking.
So when A Torre served up rustic pretty painted terracotta plates with traditional looking fare, I could forgive the possibility that my Portuguese pickles, may have been picked off a shelf and plunged from a jar, possibly from Sainsbury’s over the road.
What I couldn’t forgive was the hurry on which the pork was plonked on my plate. Too, quickly cut, no doubt this poor sow could of soaked in the hot pot a few hours more? It might have been a midweek treat dinner but at least my day so far hadn’t been as tough as the pork on my plate. Tasty though.

It was a little bit of a trek to find, but the journey was well worth it. We received a very warm welcome and the staff were delightful throughout the evening. The portion sizes were massive and every morsel delicious. I’d definitely return some day.

Last Saturday night found us heading into the deep south to celebrate our old pal Esther’s birthday at A Torre. We were 7 strong and had taken the precaution of booking a table which was wise as this is a very popular local restaurant.
We arrived at around 7.30pm and the simply furnished room was already full of happy punters knocking back the wine and ordering with gay abandon. With a friendly welcome and a nice laid back atmosphere this is just my kind of place.
We were quickly seated at a large, long table in the middle of the room and after a quick look at the drinks menu we were soon toasting Esther with Sagres and an excellent bottle of very reasonably priced Planalto which was perfectly chilled, dry and aromatic. The wines on offer art A Torre are one of its high points, with a really good but short selection from all of the major wine regions of Portugal; an excellent choice of producers at keen prices ensures that you are going to drink well with your meal.
B and I opted to share a starter of the clams with the house special sauce which was fine although the clams themselves were a bit disappointin, a little tired and not packing much flavour. However, the accompanying sauce was excellent and we spooned every last bit up from the plate. Even by this early stage in the evening it was turning out to be a fairly raucous affair and I struggle to remember what our companions were eating although I do seem to recall a flaming plate of chorizo being brought to the table which caused much oohing and aaahing.
For my main course I had one of my favourite Portuguese dishes, the Cataplana which came in its traditional copper clam. This version was fine but nothing special. However, it was a huge portion and would I guess defeat all but the biggest appetites. B had the monkfish rice, which was also a massive portion, served in the traditional terracotta dish it was a bit lacking in flavour. Perhaps we have just been spoiled by the quality of the food we get served up on our annual pilgrimage to Tavira. On the plus side our Carmen, our Spanish foodie friend, was very pleased with her Bacalhau Grelhado which she compared favourably to her mother’s version praise indeed. Tory Boy had the steak on stone which you cook according to your taste on the very hot stone, it looked great and was a nice piece of foodie theatre, and he gave it a big thumbs up.
Towards the end of the meal I tried some of the Borba Reserva which had been ordered to compliment the steaks. It was a lovely deep red colour with a long finish and plenty of fruity, spicy flavours; another very good wine at a pretty decent price.
We finished with coffee and there was a nice touch of a little traditional custard tart for Esther with a birthday candle which rounded the evening off nicely. We had been treated extremely well all evening by the helpful and friendly staff and when the bill finally arrived it was no wallet buster and it was a pleasure to leave a decent tip. We had a lovely evening at A Torre and it’s somewhere I would definitely go again; having said that it makes me long for the real taste of Portugal which is probably no bad thing.

Third time in A torre yesterday evening. What has happened?! On the two previous trips the place was jam packed, yesterday evening, just a smattering. On previous visits we were blown away by the flavours in our food, real care taken, yesterday evening it was very poor. The gambas piri piri for starter was bland and the sauce uncomplicated and disappointing. The cod fishcakes were dull and tasteless, the mussels were over cooked and shrunken, too few for the price and the tomato sauce seemingly tinned chopped tomatoes with a bit of garlic chucked in. The two guys had steak on a stone, you can’t spoil that and the steak was good quality. One of us ladies had caterplana, the cod was boring and tasteless, rustic looking, nothing special except for the vast portion. My Tuna was just OK but the lemon and garlic sauce was minimal in quantity and sad in quality. Waiters friendly as always but I felt they knew we were disappointed as we were offered a free drink. It was too pricey for its ordinariness. Could have been an off night. Not really tempted to try to find out be making a return visit.

Awesome dinner last night! We enjoyed a nice jovial atmosphere and really friendly service. Whitebait and clams to start– probably the best whitebait we’ve ever had! Bottle of house white was pretty nice and for mains a lovely swordfish steak and massive monkfish stew which was cooked in a copper pot. I’m guessing it’s pretty authentic from other reviews on here as I’ve never been to Portugal! We’ll be back soon

A Torre is a great place for authentic portugese food. The grilled sardines are a must!

An excellent, friendly, respectful, welcoming, consistent Portuguese family restaurant. Beautiful food — try the fish stews — and excellent vinho verde all at exceptionally reasonable prices. Meet real Portuguese customers! Much cheaper than flying your family to Lisbon… I havn’t been for a couple of weeks but will be back there soon!

I haven’t been to many Portuguese restaurants but this place has definetly whet my appetite for the others that are out there!
The staff are friendly, and you don’t wait too long for your food which is plenty.
Luckily it’s just up my street!

The best portugese place in the south east. Great with families and well priced. A special place run by special people.

If you’re in South East London you cannot get more authentic Portuguese food than at A Torre.
Run by a friendly Portuguese family the food here is delightful. There are an excellent choice of seafood and meat dishes on the menu, with a majority of main course accompanied by your choice of steamed vegetables or salad and either chips or sautéed potatoes included.
My favourite is the sea bass with steamed vegetables and sautéed potatoes for the reasonable price of £10.50. They also have a specials board, so look out for the roasted pork belly as that is delicious!
Simply cooked food at its best — I just wish it was nearer to me!