Just One Main Course, But It's All You Need @ La Brasserie de L'Entrecote, Cascais

So we've been going to La Brasserie de L'Entrecote for some time now.

We were first introduced to it a few years back by friends of ours who are Portuguese, but are currently living in the UK (so it's like we swapped places with them, haha!).

As the title suggests, there's literally only one main course, and that's the entrecote.

It's phenomenal. We love it. What's it look like?

I won't bury the lead, here it is:

But that's the #spoiler, and if you want to read about a few nitty gritty bits to our experience, that's what the rest of the article's here for.

They ask how well done you would like your meat to be.

We always get it rare. Though as you'll see later on in this article I didn't snap a shot of exactly what that looks like at this restaurant.

I should have, I regret it. Feel a little guilty. But I was way too busy enjoying my meal, ok, so sue me!

Besides that you get to choose if you want the basic salad or a salad with salmon, nothing too complicated, and while we've had the salad with salmon in the past, we definitely won't be getting it again as the plain one is delicious and (in my opinion) goes better with the rest of the food.

Thomas and I went back here recently, so the experience is fresh in my mind.

We were even greeted by a furry little feline who we'd never seen before this time -

- pleasant surprise! Not that we'd feed him, but he didn't stick around long enough to join us for dinner anyhow.

You can choose whether or not you want the starters (the couverte), but we always get them as they're delicious.

Now that I know I have lactose intolerance, I always pop a lactase pill if I really want something.

Quick side note to mention, if you have lactose intolerance, even if it's just a little and super mild, I'd strongly recommend buying lactase, the enzyme that digests lactose. It is a GODsend and works like a charm; any brand will do.

Just pop a pill right before you eat lactose, or just after, or whenever you remember, it'll help your body digest the lactose and make any symptoms you have vamoose.

But back to the food because, hell yes, this qualifies as good-enough-to-pop-a-lactase for! Because yum.

Hard cheese, soft cheese, jam, bread, butter, and three spreads. Plus a few fresh fruits to boot. So delicious!

Once that's out of the way, you get your salad.

Which Thomas tells me is done in a very traditional, old-fashioned-French way.

I love it! It's like they took the salad dressing and watered it down so your entire salad is covered in delicious dressing, drenched even, instead of a thin coat of dressing or it being too thick and sludgy and ruining the texture.

I doubt I am explaining this particular salad in the most appetizing way, but honestly, j'adore, and I want to start trying to make salads like this at home.

Totally up my alley, and very different from the norm for me.

Once your salad is done, they'll bring over the entrecote.

Such beautiful, beautiful meat, melt-in-your mouth practically, and it's got the most gorgeous sauce of life on it.

...Look at that... I mean really, who could resist?

I know gorgeous isn't supposed to be used as a descriptor for food, but it has to be used in this case.

And in this case you 100% do not want to waste a single little bit of that flawless sauce.

Don't worry, though, you won't need to, as you are given ever so many french fries, as much as you'd like, to eat with your entrecote, and you can and absolutely should use those fries to soak up a bunch of that handsome sauce.

Do it, do it without shame, it's a stupendously good combination.

Really and truly, there's only one main course, and practically only one set menu with ever-so-slight variations, and that's 100% all you need.

I wish there were more places that did this around. That did just one dish, but made it flawless and even if this concept was 99% of restaurants, I would be so happy.

You'd know exactly what you're eating, exactly what to be getting, exactly the quality of what you're gonna eat, before you even go! What's not to love?

Now, I do have to give a teensy-tiny post script about a couple qualms I have about La Brasserie de L'Entrecote.

One is something they cannot control so I'm going to start with that.

As much as I love the food at this place, sometimes the clientelle is so unbelievably annoying that I have to really be in the mood for entrecote to put up with the idea of being here.

If you're eating outside, this is almost never a problem, however, it's only somehow seemed to be a problem when we're inside. I think maybe it's the acoustics of the room that enhance the noise or something, so again, not in their control, but I will say it puts me off.

The second thing I'm going to say is in their control, but I know I am going to probably get major misunderstandings from Americans when I say this: they sort of pressure you into tipping.

I've written an article about this, and why it's so immensely problematic for restaurants in Europe to do, so be sure to check that out here to understand my perspective on why tipping (even as an American) is bad for European restaurants and restaurant employees.

Either way, I will be back with the hubs one day, and will have to swallow my annoyance when the bill comes and the server eagerly puts a little tactless pressure on tips because he knows we don't speak Portuguese.

Distasteful, but what can you do.