Detailed Gluten-Free Restaurant Card — Portugal

A grilled-fish country, mostly on your side

Portuguese cuisine is kind to celiacs — grilled fish, bacalhau cozido, rice dishes, fresh vegetables. Lisbon and Porto have dedicated gluten-free bakeries, but awareness thins out in rural tascas, so I lead with the card. And the pastel de nata is puff pastry — admire it, photograph it, skip it.

What’s on the card

• An explanation of doença celíaca in Portuguese
• What I can’t eat and where gluten hides: açorda and migas (bread-based dishes), farinheira (a flour sausage, never gluten-free), caldo verde sometimes thickened with bread or flour
• What’s usually safe: grilled sardinhas, dourada, and robalo; bacalhau cozido with potatoes
• The kitchen questions — including “Is this dish thickened with flour or bread?” and the dedicated-fryer check

What’s in the travel companion (page 2)

• How I choose where to eat: the APC’s online directory of gluten-free-aware places, the question “Tem opções sem glúten?”, and verifying with the card in traditional tascas before ordering
• Six dishes worth ordering, shopping notes (Schär, the free-from ranges at Continente, Pingo Doce, and Auchan, and the Portuguese online retailer Celiacshop.pt), and where options cluster — Príncipe Real and Chiado in Lisbon, Porto, the Algarve
• If you get glutened: the farmácia phrase “sou celíaco/celíaca e comi glúten,” and 112 as the EU-wide emergency number

The honest certification picture

The APC (Associação Portuguesa de Celíacos) is Portugal’s celiac patient association and keeps an online directory of gluten-free-aware places. The crossed-grain mark lives on packaged foods, not restaurant meals, and “sem glúten” on labels is an EU-regulated claim (max 20 ppm). No symbol vouches for an individual restaurant plate — that’s a conversation, and the card starts it in Portuguese.

Format

Instant download. A 2-page PDF you can print or show at the table.

This card helps communicate your dietary needs. It does not guarantee a gluten-free meal or eliminate cross-contact risk. Always use your judgment, and when in doubt, do not eat. Not medical advice.