Casa Oriental is the grocery right next to Clérigos Tower, in downtown Porto. All the produce you’re expecting to find in a grocery, will be there. Plus Portuguese wines and liqueurs and codfish. Yes, I’m talking about codfish hanging on the walls and doors of the grocery, almost like a decoration element. Salted, dried codfish. Smelly. But, oh so traditional!
Wide variety of wine and liquor.
This grocery started as a place where you could find products from the Orient (hence the name Casa Oriental, meaning Oriental House). You could buy coffee, tea and chocolate but eventually, traditional and typical products started making part of the selection. Nowadays, oriental products are still there but fresh products conquered the territory! Casa Oriental was founded in 1910 and you can still find traces of the façade paintings.
Casa Oriental’s lettering.
Right next to this deli you’ll see Clérigos Tower. If you walk around, you can visit the Portuguese Centre of Photography, take a walk on Cordoaria’s garden and look at Juan Muñoz‘s sculptures “Thirteen laughing at each other” (2001). If you’re into grabbing a snack and a cup of coffee, tea or a cold drink, you have plenty of places to choose from: Café Progresso, Luso Caffè, Moustache Coffee House, Café Piolho, Pipa Velha and Casa de Ló. You’ll also be in a walking distance from the Arts District or Porto’s Ribeira area.
When I’m around the Clérigos Tower area, I love to walk down the road in the side of the Court house and enjoy the view from the little garden on the left. It’s called “Passeio das Virtudes”. From there, you can go back to Clérigos Tower or you can start walking down to Ribeira through the old streets of Porto. It’s a really nice and charming walk I can assure you.