Best Francesinha in Porto: Porto vs Braga Style, Where to Eat and How to Order (2026)

The francesinha is Porto’s signature dish. You’ll see it on menus all over the city, and no two locals agree on where to eat the best one. They don’t even agree on the sauce: Porto’s classic is red, beery and spicy, while Braga, an hour up the road, has made a name for a sweeter, creamier, orange one. This guide to francesinha in Porto explains the two styles, what’s actually in one, how to order it, and where to eat each style, with addresses, opening days and 2026 prices.

Prices and hours below come from each restaurant’s own website or menu, checked in October 2026. They change, so check before you go.

TL;DR

What it is: a toasted sandwich of ham, sausages and steak, covered in melted cheese and drowned in a hot sauce. Usually with fries, often with a fried egg on top.

Two styles: Porto-style sauce is red, tomato and beer, and spicy. Braga-style is orange, creamier and sweeter.

Price: a standard francesinha costs about €10–14 in 2026. Fries and an egg are sometimes extra.

Porto-style: A Regaleira, where it was invented, Café Santiago, Bufete Fase and Yuko are among the best known.

Braga-style: no need to go to Braga. Try Camada in Boavista or Gaia, or one of Taberna Londrina’s four Porto restaurants.

Watch the days: Café Santiago and Lado B close on Sundays, Bufete Fase all weekend, Cufra and A Regaleira on Mondays, Santa Francesinha on Tuesdays.

What is a francesinha?#

A francesinha (“little Frenchie”) is a sandwich built in layers and eaten with a knife and fork. Recipes vary from place to place, but Café Santiago’s is a good example of the classic: sliced bread, a thin slice of mortadella, grilled fresh sausage (salsicha fresca) and linguiça, a beef steak, ham and a slice of cheese, all between slices of toast. It’s topped with a fried egg and more cheese, and then the hot sauce is ladled over until the cheese melts.

The sauce is what people really argue about, and every house keeps its own recipe secret. Not every francesinha has steak either: at Cufra, the standard especial uses roast pork loin instead, and Lado B serves a roast-pork version it calls the 1960s original.

It’s a heavy meal.

Where it comes from#

The francesinha was created at A Regaleira, on Rua do Bonjardim, in the early 1950s. The restaurant itself gives the year as 1952. The owner, António Passos, had met a barman called Daniel David da Silva in France and invited him to work in Porto. Daniel took the French croque monsieur as his starting point and made it Portuguese: more meat, and a strong, spicy sauce.

Porto-style vs Braga-style francesinha#

The sandwich is much the same everywhere in the north. The sauce is what tells you where a francesinha comes from.

Porto-style is the original. The sauce is red, built on tomato and beer, and spicy, with each house adding its own extras. You’ll find this style at every place in the Porto list below.

Braga-style is the newer one. Braga’s francesinha boom took off when Taberna Belga started serving an orange, velvety, sweeter sauce made with cream and butter. Braga had never seen a sauce like it, and plenty of new francesinha places in the city now follow its lead, each with its own take. At Real Taberna it’s less orange, not sweet, slightly sharp and spicier. At Trota’s and Camada it’s orange, mild and balanced. Taberna Londrina, which started in Guimarães in 2014, makes its sauce sweeter than Porto’s.

	Porto-style	Braga-style
Colour	red	orange
Base	tomato and beer	creamier, with butter and cream
Taste	spicy, beery	sweeter and milder, though some versions are spicy
Where it started	A Regaleira, Porto, early 1950s	popularised by Taberna Belga, Braga

Purists in Porto can be sniffy about the sweeter sauce, and people tend to either love it or hate it. I prefer the Braga one, but each to their own.

Local tip
If you don’t want a very heavy meal, go for a half Braga-style francesinha. The sauce is less heavy and punchy than the Porto one.

How to order a francesinha#

Many menus come with an English translation, but these are the words that matter:

Francesinha on its own can be just the sandwich and sauce, with no egg and no fries. At Santiago da Praça, a plain francesinha costs €10.40, €12.60 with fries, or €13.20 as the house version with egg and fries (2026).
Com ovo means with a fried egg on top.
Com batata means with fries. At some places fries are a separate order: Lado B charges €2.75 for homemade chips and Yuko €3.00 for a half portion (2026).
Especial is the house version, and it means different things in different places. Read what’s in it.
Meia dose or ½ is a half portion. Lado B, Santa Francesinha, Brasão and Yuko all list one.
Dividir means to split. Santiago da Praça will split one francesinha across two plates for €1.90, or €2.60 with an egg (2026). A good option if you want to taste one without committing to a whole one.
Vegetariana or vegana: Lado B, Santa Francesinha, Yuko and Brasão all have a meat-free francesinha. Santa Francesinha’s vegan one is 100% vegan, sauce included.

Beer is the obvious drink with it, and A Regaleira has even had its own craft beer made to go with its francesinha.

You’ll also see two other dishes in the same sauce. A cachorro is a Porto-style hot dog: crispy bread, fresh sausage, linguiça and cheese, often served with francesinha sauce. Pica-pau is cubes of steak in the sauce with pickles and olives, usually for sharing.

Local tip
If you’re not used to eating very heavy food, it’s a good idea to split the francesinha. Especially with fries and beer, even a half is filling. Sometimes you’ll need to ask for more sauce, because eating it with the fries can soak it all up. And an egg is always a good addition. I never skip it.

The best Porto-style francesinha in Porto#

These are the places that come up again and again in local guides and readers’ polls, all serving the classic red sauce.

Place	Area	Closed (2026)	Francesinha price (2026 unless noted)
A Regaleira	Rua do Bonjardim, centre	Monday, Sunday evening	€11.40–13.40 (2025)
Café Santiago	Coliseu	Sunday	€10.40–13.20 at Santiago da Praça
Lado B	Coliseu	Sunday	€13.75
Santa Francesinha	Coliseu	Tuesday	€11.90–13.80
Brasão	Coliseu, Aliados and others	open every day	about €13.20 (2025)
Bufete Fase	Santa Catarina	Saturday and Sunday	about €10 with fries (2025)
Yuko Tavern	Costa Cabral and Baixa	open every day	from €11.50
Cufra	Boavista	Monday	from €12.50
Capa Negra II	Campo Alegre	open every day	€12–15

A Regaleira: where it all started#

A Regaleira was founded in 1934, and it’s the house where the francesinha was created. The original building closed in 2018, and in 2021 the restaurant reopened a few metres down the same street, at Rua do Bonjardim 83. It still serves what it calls the original recipe. In 2025 the original 1952 version, on bijou bread with roast pork, cost €11.40 with fries, and the modern one with steak, egg and fries €13.40.

It’s open for lunch (12:00–15:00) and dinner (19:00–22:00), with lunch only on Sundays, and it’s closed on Mondays. You can request a table online, and the restaurant confirms by email or phone.

Café Santiago#

Café Santiago, at Rua Passos Manuel 226, is one of the best-known names in town. It was officially founded in 1959, and the current owners have run the whole place since 1993. Its francesinha is topped with a fried egg and four thin slices of cheese, and the way the egg sits on top is its trademark.

There are now three Café Santiagos in Porto, all close together:

Café Santiago, the original, at Rua Passos Manuel 226.
Santiago F, opened in 2011 opposite the Coliseu, at Rua Passos Manuel 198.
Santiago da Praça, opened in 2017 at Praça dos Poveiros 88, just up the hill from the original. Its 2026 menu has a plain francesinha at €10.40 and the Francesinha Santiago with egg and fries at €13.20.

All three are open Monday to Saturday, 12:00–22:45, and closed on Sundays. At the original, the Francesinha Santiago with egg and fries cost about €12.60 in 2025.

Lado B Café#

Lado B, at Rua Passos Manuel 190, is right opposite the Coliseu. It’s a beer hall decorated around music, and it also works as a café and bar. In 2026 the house francesinha, made with rump steak, costs €13.75 with or without an egg, a half costs €10.45, and there’s a vegetarian one at €13.75. Fries are extra, at €2.75. You can see the 2026 menu in English before you go.

It’s open Monday to Saturday, 12:00–15:45 and 19:00–23:00, and closed on Sundays.

Santa Francesinha#

Santa Francesinha, at Praça dos Poveiros 72, belongs to the same group as Cufra. It has a long list of francesinhas, including a 100% vegan one. In 2026 the Especialíssima costs €13.80 (or €9.80 for a half), versions with veal or chicken steak are €11.90, and the vegan and vegetarian ones are €14.50. There’s also one made to eat with your hands, for €8.90. See the full menu, which has an English version.

It’s open 12:00–23:00 every day except Tuesday.

Brasão#

Brasão is a beer hall with six branches. The two in the centre are Brasão Aliados, at Rua Ramalho Ortigão 28 just off the Avenida dos Aliados, and Brasão Coliseu, at Rua Passos Manuel 205. Its francesinha is baked in the oven, and you can order a full one, a half, a vegetable version, or a big one to share. An oven-baked francesinha cost about €13.20 in 2025. If you’re a group, Brasão’s 2026 group menu costs €23 a head and includes a francesinha, two small beers or a glass of wine, and coffee.

Both central branches are open for lunch and dinner every day. You can book through the website by WhatsApp. There are also branches in Foz, Gaia, Antas and Leça da Palmeira.

Bufete Fase#

Bufete Fase, at Rua de Santa Catarina 1147, is the opposite of the big beer halls. It’s a tiny place, open since 1984, that seats about 14 people and serves nothing but francesinhas, made in front of you. It’s open on weekdays only, 12:00–16:00 and 18:30–21:30, and closed on Saturdays and Sundays. A francesinha with fries cost about €10 in 2025, one of the cheapest on this list.

Yuko Tavern#

Yuko Tavern opened in 1987 at Rua de Costa Cabral 2331, in Paranhos, north of the centre. It now has a second branch in the centre, Yuko Baixa, at Rua da Conceição 26. It’s a traditional tavern, all stone and old wood. Both branches are open every day, 12:30–14:30 and 19:00–00:00 (until 01:00 on Fridays and Saturdays). In 2026, francesinhas start at €11.50 and the vegetarian one costs €14.50.

It’s often fully booked at weekends, so book a table online.

Cufra#

Cufra, at Avenida da Boavista 2504, has been open since 1974. It’s a big seafood restaurant and beer hall, with counter seats if you want to eat quickly. Several of its francesinhas come with shrimp. In 2026 the Francesinha Especial (with roast pork) costs €12.50, €16.50 with steak, and €17.50 with steak and shrimp. At the top end, the Francesinha Real à Cufra comes with four giant prawns, for €39.50. See the full menu and prices.

It’s open Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner, until midnight (01:00 on Fridays and Saturdays), and closed on Mondays. It has its own car park, so it’s an easy stop if you’re driving.

Capa Negra II#

Capa Negra II, at Rua do Campo Alegre 191, near Boavista, is a big restaurant (it seats about 280) that’s famous for its francesinha. It’s open every day for lunch and dinner, and late on Fridays and Saturdays. If you want to book, it asks for at least four hours’ notice. Its 2026 menu has the plain de Sempre at €12 (€14 with fries), the Rainha do Capa with egg and fries at €15, a traditional one on bijou bread at €11 and a mini at €9.

Other places locals mention#

There are far more francesinha places in Porto than any list can cover. To explore beyond these, use our francesinha finder: a map of francesinha places across Portugal that shows what’s near you and what’s open now.

Where to eat a Braga-style francesinha in Porto#

You don’t need to go to Braga for the orange sauce. Two chains from the Minho have brought it to Porto, and one skewer place has put its own spin on it.

Camada#

Camada started in Barcelos in 2019 and has grown into a chain of around 20 restaurants. Its Braga-style sauce is orange and mild, with more going on than the colour suggests. There are two near the centre:

Camada Porto Boavista: Rua da Meditação 51, in Boavista.
Camada Gaia: in ArrábidaShopping, across the Arrábida bridge in Vila Nova de Gaia, open since May 2026. In 2026 its francesinhas cost €9.30–12 with picanha and €9.80–12.50 with beef sirloin, depending on whether you order a half or a whole one.

Taberna Londrina#

Taberna Londrina opened in Guimarães in 2014 and now has more than 25 restaurants. Its francesinha is a proper Braga classic. In 2026 its Francesinha Especial costs €12.90 (€10.50 for a half), and fries are extra, at €2.90. It has four restaurants in Porto:

Baixa: Rua de Ceuta 72, Cedofeita, the closest to the centre.
Campo Alegre: Rua do Campo Alegre 328.
Foz: Rua Monsenhor Manuel Marinho 35.
São João: Estrada da Circunvalação 7964, near the hospital.

There’s also one in Gaia, at Rua Soares dos Reis 9, and one in Maia.

BBQing: a francesinha on a skewer#

BBQing is a skewer restaurant, not a francesinha house, but since August 2026 it has served a francesinha espetada: the meats threaded on a skewer and covered in sauce. The sauce is made the Braga way, with butter, not the Porto way. In 2026 it costs €13.95 with fries. The Porto restaurant is at Rua da Boavista 335.

If you’re going to Braga anyway#

Braga is about 1h10 from Porto São Bento on CP’s urban train (€3.60 one way in 2026). If you’re there for the day, have lunch at Taberna Belga, the Belgian beer tavern that started the style. Its April 2026 menu has the house francesinha, with Uruguayan entrecôte and an egg on top, at €12.90, or €10.80 for a half. It has two restaurants in the centre: Rua Cónego Luciano Afonso dos Santos (Loja 3) and, as Taberna Belga 2, Rua Mário de Almeida 67. For a sharper, spicier take, try Real Taberna, at Rua Costa Gomes 494, open Tuesday to Saturday, where a francesinha cost €12.90 in October 2026.

Francesinha near Matosinhos and the beaches#

If you’re staying by the sea in Matosinhos Sul or Leça da Palmeira, Brasão has a branch in Leça, at Rua das Fuzelhas 5.

So, where should you eat a francesinha in Porto?#

Whichever sauce you go for, a francesinha is for sure worth it, and it’s amazing after a day of activities, like surfing. Check the closing days before you set off, order a half if you’re not sure you can finish a whole one, and don’t plan a big dinner afterwards. And if you’re staying somewhere else in Portugal, the francesinha finder shows places all over the country.