Recent Events

For interest, this page contains events which we have held over the last year. It contains the description provided prior to the event and, as appropriate, some comments and photographs added afterwards.

Most events include a 'slideshow' of photographs. The way these appear will depend on the device you are using :

Tablets (such as a Kindle) or a mobile phone -

Depending on your device you will probably see thumbnails of all the pictures, tap on any of these to enlarge it, then scroll as usual on your device. Otherwise, try as below.

Windows computer with a browser -

Appearance will depend on your browser :

You may see below the first picture a row of thumbnails and a play button or a black bar. If a black bar appears then to access the controls for the slideshow 'hover' over the black bar below the visible photo, click the play button (extreme right) to start, click again in the same place to stop/pause the slideshow. If you just see one picture (without black bars or thumbnails) then click on the picture to start your browser slideshow software.

A Casa Do Avo

A new Favorite in the Guia Area

June 13th 12:30 pm

A spectacular feast was prpared by Nuno and served by Irene and crew. The appetizers will be especially hard to beat at future events. New faces were the best part of the get together and we hope to welcome more in the future!

It will not be surprising to learn that many Casa members become regulars for this lovely restaurant.

17th April 2025

Lunch

at the ever popular

ASIA-TOKYO

at Praia da Rocha

Arrival from 12:30 for lunch from 13:00

Non-stop "All You Can Eat" buffet served at the table over multiple courses including sushi and other Asian dishes, not to forget the Prawn Crackers and the ice-cream that followed!

21st March 2025

CASA

2025 AGM & Dinner

Restaurant A PONTE

Portimao Riverfront

Arrival from 18:00

AGM at 18:30

Dinner after the AGM - estimated 19:30 to 19:45

Welcome Cocktail

(Gin, Apperol, Martini etc.)

Couvert

Olives, Tuna Pate, and Algarvian Carrots

Starters

Tuna Salad

Fried Shrimps

Mushroom Bruschetta

Mains

Grilled Fish

(As available fresh in the market on the day)

Duck Rice

Veal Stew

Grilled Beef Steak

Vegetarian Option

Desserts

Red Fruit Cheesecake

Fruit Salad

Chocolate Mousse

House wine (red or white), Beer, Juices, Coke, Water

during the meal and Coffee to finish.

All this in a very nice modern Portuguese Restaurant

with views over the river for

€35 Members or Guests

Booking is open until noon on 17th March.

Please remember to specify your three course choices.

Friday 24th January

2025

CASA Traditional

'After Hangover' Dinner

POR do SOL

Alvor

To celebrate the survival of this year's over indulgences we return to this C.A.S.A. long term favourite Portuguese family restaurant to start 2025.

Our last visit was back in January 2023.

Arrival from 6:30 p.m. with dinner at 7:00 p.m.

The bar will be open should you wish to purchase a pre-dinner drink.

Your Menu:

Starters

Homemade Paté

Vegetable Cream Soup

Melon with Smoked Ham

Main courses

Sirloin Steak - plain or with Béarnaise or Mushroom sauce

Chicken Filet with mushroom sauce

Monkfish & Seafood Cataplana

Desserts

Homemade Chocolate Cake with vanilla ice-cream & chocolate sauce

Lemon Meringue Pie

Wine, beer, water and coffee included

If ordering the steak please specify rare/medium/well-done and your choice of sauce.

Price is €37 for members, €39 for non-members & guests.

To avoid over-crowding the dinner is limited to a maximum of 40 people.

C.A.S.A. Starts the year with a lovely dinner.

In line with our long-standing tradition, CASA started 2025 with our annual 'After Hangover Dinner', the purpose of which is to celebrate survival of a Christmas holiday season which consists of more eating and drinking than is good for us! The evening does tend to incorporate the old adage of taking 'a hair of the dog that bit you' as a cure and 21 members did just that on Friday 24th January.

Por do Sol, a long time CASA favourite in Alvor, did us proud in this respect - not only was the food and service superb but the wine flowed as it should which does tend to help a convivial evening along. Por do Sol is always a welcoming venue, be it the decor, the well stocked bar or the friendly staff; the open log-fire was especially welcome on the cool and slightly damp Friday evening, adding a both visual and spiritual glow to the evening. A distinct pleasure just to walk into the restaurant again . Of particular note in the meal was the melon and ham starter, an amazing sight with the ham slices topped by a huge pile of juicy melon balls. Great presentation - and also delicious! We were not the only people enjoying the hospitality, the other tables were all in use with various groups of people obviously enjoying the ambience and food. Since we previously held an After Hangover here (2022) the previous owner has retired passing the venue to his daughter who has made a few small but positive changes, we thank her and her staff for an excellent evening. A good evening all round, a shame though that so many members were unable to attend our first event of 2025, thus missing out on a superb evening in convivial company. We hope that the attendance improves over the three events that we are already busy planning through till April.

Thursday December 5th

Christmas Lunch

at THYME in Alvor

We return again to this superb restaurant for another

CASA Christmas Lunch

Everything you have come to expect.

Father Christmas has told us he

plans to be there!

We have reached our maximum places

Booking is now closed

Arrival from 12:30 for lunch at 13:00

Your Christmas Menu:

Starter:

- Goujons of hake served with tartar sauce or

- Baked Camembert and forest red berries wrapped in filo pastry or

- Tomato and Basil Soup with crème fresh or

- Smoked salmon

Main course:

- The Traditional Christmas Roast Turkey with all those trimmings or

- The Roast Beef alternative or

- Bream served with a pesto crust or

- Seabass served with prawns in a lemon citrus sauce

Sweets:

- Traditional Christmas Pudding with a brandy sauce or

- Carrob Tart with lemon (gluten-free)

Coffee and Mince Pie

Includes: Welcome drink, water, wine or two beers.

All this (and more) for the remarkable price of only

€50.00 per person (€55.00 for non-members and guests)

This is the same as the last two years!

We will be doing table plans for the lunch, so if you want to sit on

the same table as special friends, please tell us when you book,

we will do our best to accommodate you.

There will be a maximum of eight people per table.

Maximum for the lunch is 50 people.

C.A.S.A. Celebrates Christmas in Style

Following our extraordinary general meeting in mid November we held our annual Christmas Lunch on 5th December at "Thyme by Ruccola" at the ALTO Golf & Country Club resort in Alvor. This lunch has previously proved so popular that we returned here for the forth consecutive year, we were just a little concerned that members might have tired of the repeat location - but we need not have worried - we had our best turnout at any event since before the Pandemic at 58 attendees. A busy couple of hours perhaps for the staff but once again an excellent meal was served without any problems. As might be expected the Roast Turkey and the Christmas pudding were the most popular menu choices but the alternatives were also very well received. We took a brief pause between the main and desert courses to allow Santa to make his round; randomly distributing small presents to everyone from his two brimming sacks. We thank him for taking the time from his busy schedule at this time of year to entertain us, we hope he will return next year, he says he will. We would also like to thank the excellent, hard-working management and staff of Thyme for their efforts in making this such a success for our members again.

Thursday November 14th

"Extraordinary General Meeting"

To discuss the future of the club

and appoint, if possible, a new committee

All members are asked to attend if possible

followed by Big Red's

special three course

'Party Dinner'

including welcome drink/wine/beer

at

Big Reds Steakhouse, Alvor

Member price (subsidised) - €25

Non-member price - €30

Meeting starts 18:30

Dinner at 19:30

MENU

Couvert

Starter

Spring Rolls with Garlic Bread or

Sautéed King Prawns

Main Course

Sirloin Steak with Pepper Sauce^** or

Rack of BBQ Ribs or

Cider Braised Sea Bass with Mussel Sauce

Vegetarian: Mushroom Strudel

Dessert

Sticky Toffee Pudding or

Crème Brûlée

Includes Water, Wine or Beer, but not coffee.

Big Reds Steakhouse, Alvor

When booking please specify your choice for all three courses.

** If choosing the Steak as main please also specify

Rare, Medium or Well Done

Booking is now closed

Last minute change

Due to another event taking place in the bar area please enter Big Reds

by the glass door at the right-hand end of the building furthest from the bar where there is outside seating available if you arrive early.

Arrival time 18:15 for the meeting starting promptly at 18:30.

A welcome drink (Prosecco) will be served.

As usual please do not occupy seats at the tables until after you have paid and obtained your menu slips.

October 17th from 11:30

Mini-Golf Competition

followed by

help-yourself

Cold Buffet Lunch

After an absence of a few years

we return to

Lost World Adventure Golf

in Alvor

Booking is now Closed

We have 19 booked.

Please note the Newsletter has the wrong start-time

Please try to arrive around 11:30 not 12:30

Members Price of €25

includes golf round (with equipment hire)

Lunch and one drink

(Cash bar will be open throughout)

Best golf score wins a small prize

and

a silver cup to hold for one year

If the golf is not of interest but the lunch is

then Lunch and one drink is available at €18.

We had a total of nineteen booked, one was unwell on the day, four were booked for lunch only and two did not complete all 18 holes.

The remaining scores were:

Ann 62

Guest, no name 64

Norman 65

Detlev 72

Marjie 74

Bill 79

Another guest 79

Richard 82

Karen 84

Liz 87

Ronald 89

Chris a few more

Friday 20th September,

2.00-4.00 pm

Traditional English Afternoon Tea

(with prosecco!)

On the Terrace of the Club House

Vale De Milho Golf Club

Carvoeiro

Please join us to celebrate the end of the summer heat -

and the tourist season!

This will be a repeat of the afternoon tea we very much enjoyed at the
same beautiful venue last September - a lovely way to start our
autumn season of events.

A welcoming glass of Prosecco will be served from 2.00 pm
followed by afternoon tea (see photo) from 2.30 pm

with a mouthwatering spread of:

Assorted selection of finger sandwiches
Freshly made cakes
Scones with jam and cream
Tea to drink (as much as you like) -

and a second glass of Prosecco

Accessibility: Access from the car park to the clubhouse

is up a short flight of 4 tiled steps. There is no ramp.

Please contact us if you need an alternative route.

Otherwise, it is all flat.

Price €20.00 per person (+ €2.00 for non-members and guests)
Last Booking date: Friday 13th September at noon.

Each September CASA Social Club tries to hold a celebration of the summer, being that the temperature is now a little more comfortable; the tourists are heading home (perhaps leaving the EN125 usable again); or whatever each member feels happy to celebrate. Last year we found that the terrace of the Vale de Milho Golf Club was an excellent location for this event; so we booked the same again this year. As could be predicted - maybe - after several months of non-stop sun - just the day before the weather forecast changed, rain and winds predicted instead of balmy late summer sunshine. A short telephone discussion with the staff at Vale de Milho and we relocated from the outside terrace to the main member's bar inside. Quite naturally on the day (the 20th) the rain did not happen, though the cool wind did, so it remained a good choice. The event proved popular, in fact the best-attended club event of the year to date. As expected from last year the sandwiches were excellent and rapidly devoured, helped along the way by prosecco and large pots of tea. A similar fate awaited the scones with their jam and cream and finally the cakes. The odd left-over sandwich or cake was collected in hastily assembled 'doggie bags', we don't believe in waste! A lovely way to spend an afternoon; food, drink and good company are always a great combination and very welcome. Our thanks to the staff of Vale de Milho for their hard work and friendly attitude, perhaps also some small thanks to the members of the golf club for giving up their space - squeezing into corners and onto the draughty terraces for a couple of hours.

Wednesday 24 July

7.15 pm for 7.45 pm

Dinner at O Tasco

near Mexilhoeira Grande

We return to this very popular traditional Portuguese family-run restaurant where we enjoyed a delicious meal last year.
For those who haven’t been before, the restaurant is in a quiet setting in the hills away from the busy town of Portimao and the coastal strip and is perfect for a summer evening meal

Couvert

Bread, toasts, cheese, sausage, olives, butter, sardine pate, home-made
paté, boiled shrimps

Main Course choices

Grilled prawns with rice and salad;
Turkey stroganoff with rice;
Grilled chicken breast with mushroom sauce, fries & vegetables;
Pork medallions with pepper sauce, fries & vegetables;
Grilled fish (bream or sea bass) with potatoes & vegetables;
Vegetarian choices – Vegetable Curry or Vegetable Crêpes

Desserts to choose on the day

Chocolate or mango mousse, crème caramel, sweet of the day, fruit salad, Viennetta ice cream, pineapple

Wine, beer, water, soft drinks and coffee included.

Price is €28 per member, €30 for non-members.

Booking will be open from 1st June to 17th July.

First 30 bookings only due to the limited space on the terrace.

Please specify your main course choice when booking.

C.A.S.A Social Club rounded off it's very successful spring series of events on 24th July with a dinner at the popular O TASCO restaurant not far from Mexilhoeira Grande. The twenty-eight of us enjoyed a very pleasant evening centred on a three course meal. This restaurant's quiet country location makes for a nice change after the constant hustle down by the coast at this time of year. The large bowls of boiled prawns were much enjoyed as a starter, the most popular main course was the pork medallions though the beautifully prepared bream was also much enjoyed by those who made that choice. As at most of our evening events there was lots of meaningless chatter during desert and coffee before we all headed off home again. Our thanks to the very limited staff at O TASCO for their untiring efforts towards providing us with an excellent evening.

- Friday June 21st –

A repeat of last years very successful

Hawaiian Luau

From 6:30 p.m.

at

O Choupana restaurant

near Mexhiloeira Grande.

Our normal 'dress code' for dinners is relaxed!

you are invited to dress up (eg fancy shirt / grass skirt!)

** though this is not compulsory **

We will provide a pre-made lei for everyone

and a prize will be given to the most

entertainingly outfitted man and woman.

(2023 winners shown above)

The event will include tuition in

Hawaiian Luau dancing - and

demonstration of 'poi ball twirling'.

It should be fun!

Food

will be served from 7 p.m. over several courses

with choices available

To include:

Couvert: Octopus salad, cheese, olives, presunto, bread, butter, pate.

Fish Course: Sardines and/or Breaded fish

Meat Course: Grilled Chicken and/or Leitao (the house speciality)

(A Vegetarian dish may also be requested)

Dessert: Selection of house deserts as available on the day

Both the main courses will be served on platters to share,

these will be re-filled on request.

Beer, wine, water and coffee are included.

We will be seated at three tables with a maximum of ten people at each,

thus a maximum of 30 people in total.

Price is €32 for members, €34 for guests

If you require the vegetarian main course option

please request this when booking.

If you require extra space for a wheelchair (etc.)

please advise us when booking as space

around the tables is rather limited.

Access from the large car park is easy otherwise.

** Within 2 hours of publication of the June newsletter

this event is now fully booked. **

We are maintaining a 'reserve list' in case of any cancellations

If you should arrive before 6:30 please wait in the bar area

(the room to the right)

while we complete preparations.

The restaurant bar (cash only, no cards) will be open

for anyone wanting any additional drinks.

The meal and included drinks will be served from 7.

- Monday 20th May -

Following the success of the visit to Cabrita Winery

last year we are holding another

Wine Tasting

Quinta da Tôr

A tasting of four wines

accompanied by a charcuterie board.

Includes a tour of the facilities

(This will involve some walking, we are not currently aware

of any stairs etc. which could impact those with mobility issues.)

The family run winery is located outside the village of Tôr, 5 Km north of Loule.

Price for the visit is €29 for members, €31 for guests.

The visit will start at 4:30 and is expected to last about 1 1/2 hours.

The winery is also located only about 5 Km west of the interesting town of Querenca. If you don't know this region, then this would be a good place to spend a couple of hours while in the general area. There are a couple of restaurants in the town square where a good lunch can be obtained. There is also a water museum and an old church (if this is locked the key can be obtained from the museum). For the more energetic souls there are some excellent country walks around.

May 20^th saw CASA members assemble at the Quinta da Tôr winery for a wine-tasting. The facilities were more extensive than we had expected, with a large patio with tables and even a swimming pool, all perched on a north facing hillside with a great view of the village of Tôr opposite us a couple of kilometers away. A delightful location to spend a lazy afternoon with a glass of wine and some nibbles. The weather was absolutely perfect for the occasion as we sat under the shade of an ancient olive tree for our introduction to the winery and its recent history, and of course the wines and grape varieties grown. We then walked a couple of hundred meters to the building where the fermentation is carried out. A huge array of stainless steel vats of several types and capacities was on display, and at the rear of the building stacks of oak barrels where the ‘reserva’ wines are aged for up to seven years. An easy amble back to our shady tables where plates of charcuterie had been set out during our absence and the wines were presented to us by a charming lady (who did introduce herself but I failed to write her name down) who seemed to know every possible detail of every wine: A very pleasant white, a rosé and then two red ‘reservas’, the second of these being especially remarkable. All were somewhat higher in alcohol content than are regularly found in the supermarket! Perhaps this helps explain why so many of us were so slow in leaving afterwards; it was extremely pleasant sitting in the warm sun (now being well after six o’clock) in the shade finishing off odd bits of remaining cheese and sausage.

A great couple of hours in a wonderful location, it would be very surprising if several of our members don’t head back there in the near future, especially perhaps those who left carrying several bottles of wine!

Thursday 2nd May

AGM and dinner

Will be held at the

Portimao Naval Club

The AGM will be in the ground floor meeting room at 18:30.

Registration and Welcome Drink from 18:15.

We ask that you arrive soon after 6 o'clock for Registration from 18:15

when we will start serving a Welcome Drink

in the meeting room on the ground floor.

If you arrive earlier (prior to 6) you may choose to wait in the

Naval Club bar/coffee shop upstairs where you may also

purchase additional refreshments if you so wish.

Dinner will be in the first floor restaurant from 19:30

(two short flights of stairs, no lift)

Last date for booking was 24th April

Dinner Menu

Starter: Vegetable Soup

or Salad.

Main: Grilled Salmon

or Veal Stroganoff

or Vegetable Spaghetti

Dessert: Creme Caramel

or Fruit Salad.

Red & White wine, water, coffee

Price: Members €26, Non-members €28.

Note that only Members may vote should this be

required during the AGM.

On the 2nd May we held our Club AGM, which had been delayed from March. This took place at the Portimao Naval Club. As usual at our AGM the meeting included a speech from the Chairman summarising our activities over the last 12 months, naturally concentrating on some of the more enjoyable events - of which there were several. Next the treasurer’s report which showed the club to be in a financially healthy position for the year ahead, as verified by the auditor. Every year we give the members a chance to suggest a charity worthy of a donation from those funds, this year three charities had been submitted prior to the meeting via e-mail. Following a short discussion and vote the members present elected to give each of the three a donation of €500. Finally we held a discussion regarding the Committee positions as three of the committee expect to be moving out of the area before the 2025 AGM and will not be able to continue in their roles. Hopefully replacements will be recruited over the next few months. Business complete we were then free to retire to the O' CAIS restaurant up on the first floor for a very pleasant three course dinner and a well deserved glass of wine, all very much enjoyed.