|
The San Lorenzo Golf Club where links come right down to the cliff edge, is considered on of the best in Europe. The club and the hotel share space with a sprawling private gated community that is meticulously maintained and has its own beach and beach community.
Most of the year, the Dona Filipa is patronized by golfers from Great Britain and Scotland who are up at dawn, don T-shirts and shorts and are out on the links early regardless of the weather. Because of this, the three restaurants of the Dona Filipa cater to international tastes offering an eclectic variety of recipes with a trend toward the Italian approach rather than pure Portuguese cooking. Frankly, while lacking in character, this came as a welcome blessing.
We had suffered through too many meals saturated with salt, fatty lamb and other less than appetizing choices. The Dona Filipa hosts a gigantic breakfast buffet with dishes ranging from scrambled eggs to pancakes. Fresh fruit is in abundance like many of the Portuguese hotels. It is a serve yourself affair and allows family members to come and go to their different activities independently with opening hours starting at 6:00 am.
|
|
|
 |
The "Cataplana" cooks like a pressure cooker and produces marvelous seafood dishes. It is the copper "clam shell" top left.
|
|
A sparkling pool lies just outside both restaurants. At pool level is the outside/inside "Primavera Restaurant" which serves Italian inspired dishes. Excellent pastas abound. But all sorts of choices from light salads to full meat and potatoes as well as sinful desserts fill the menu.
The food is served lunch and dinner inside, outside in the shade of the awning or around the pool under umbrellas.
Just a few yards from the pool is the little beach community of shops, bars and restaurants, and then, of course the beach itself with lounge chaises and umbrellas.
In the evening, for those who want a more formal meal, the Grill Restaurant has a small dining room inside on the upper floor as well as an outdoor kitchen by the pool. Here seafood is the specialty but they also offer beef, lamb and french fries for those from the British Isles who cannot bear to change their diet. The Grill also hosts twice a week the Algarvean Night with folklore dancing; then on Sundays the Fisherman Buffet with live music.
During the summer months, the golfers give over to many more Portuguese families who come for school holidays. The international range of menus remains but many more Portuguese dishes are added.
The Meridien Group of hotels also has another excellent hotel in the Algarve not far from Dona Filipa. The Penina Golf and Resort Hotel. You can contact the Dona Filipa at:
Le Meridien Dona Filipa Hotel
Vale do Lobo
8135 - 901 Almancil
Algarve, Portugal
tel: 011-351-(89).396.522
fax: 011-351-(89).396.908
Le Meridien Sales Offices:
tel: 011-351-(82).475.357
fax: 011-351-(82).475.359
|
