"Step into A Toca on a weekend lunchtime and you’ll see large families celebrating birthdays on the red-tablecloth tables, big screens showing Portuguese football, and cheap vinho verde flowing. Lunch at the Stockwell spot is a paean to Portugal, from the couvert of bread, olives, and tuna and sardine paste—don’t miss the fresh cheese—to the quality olive oil on the tables. Food is taken seriously here, portions are huge, and with judicious ordering, you can eat very reasonably. The grilled meats are excellent, the bacalhau à brás—salt cod cooked with shoestring fries, fried onions, olives and scrambled eggs—is heavy on cod, very eggy, and not overly salty, and the polvo à lagareiro features perhaps the most tender octopus in London. photo credit: Koray Firat" - Tomé Morrissy-Swan
