In Coimbra, the food scene reflects the city's diversity.

"Do you know what is the buffet strategy?" she asked and swung a small black handbag around her red top with black spots. Fate Zahura who daydreams food, and finds food that is like a dream, sometimes, met me to talk her favourite places to eat in Coimbra.

In Coimbra, the food scene reflects the city's diversity.
Similar to Coimbra's architecture, the food scene is diverse. Could the city become the next melting pot?

We climbed up the staircase - grey tiles, white walls, clean and with no character, just like in a small local shopping mall, where I used to buy school supplies in post-communist Poland of the 90s. On the first level we enter a room resembling a cruise ship, hinting that someone studied Joe Farcus' entertainment-architecture to mock, with low budget, grandeur space. Cold lights, like stars on a sky, illuminate glitzy things, dry wall transitions that wave, and the waves frame what we came for: the food. We came around midday, and by 1pm most tables were taken. People were busy walking around with their minds solely focused on making choices. The atmosphere around the food felt like one had to rush; in the place I grew up, it is said that one has to rush only when catching fleas, but my dad used to say, jokingly, that one had to rush also when sharing a plate with the others.

"Do you know what is the buffet strategy?" she asked and swung a small black handbag around her red top with black spots. Fate Zahura who daydreams food, and finds food that is like a dream, sometimes, just came back from holidays in Holland with a fresh stomach ready to talk her favourite places to eat in Coimbra.

"You go for seafood and proteins, you eat more of that,” she began to teach. “The pizza or bread rolls or rice and noodles, that should only be like 10 per cent of your plate," she said, knowing I’m a carbs person. "Avoid random carbs, and fill on the high-quality proteins.” I went for squid, dumplings and Chinese-American style deep fried chicken.