the scooter of street food da Maria do Mar, the cannery shop in Lagos and Portimão, has already made its official debut on Cool Market Auction, which took place at the end of May in the riverside area of Portimo.
The snack served is mackerel bagel, actually a mackerel canned sandwich, on a bed of salad and on a special bread, where the secret is the freshness of everything, but also the sauce, made with mayonnaise, capers and other ingredients that are not revealed.
The owners of the two stores Mary of the Sea – one in Lagos, the oldest, the other in Portimão – they even want to go further with their scooter from street food, they have already made several proposals, but so far they have come up against the intransigence of public entities.
Pedro Estorninho, one of the partners of the Maria do Mar store from Portimo, revealed the Sul Informação that the investment made in the motorcycle adapted to the street food – and which even works, when stopped, based on photovoltaic solar energy – had the objective “to make street sales, pure and hard, of our food, in various points of the municipality of Portimão, such as off the beaches, now in the summer. We would like them to believe in our idea, which was to accompany the movement of people, between the beach and the areas with the greatest tourist concentration».
But «the answer we got from the Chamber was “no”! We were told that the City is ending street selling in some points and trying to impose rules and that they were not going to give us a license now. As if a van street food like ours, which adds quality to the tourist and gastronomic offer, it would be the same as a clothes or trinket seller…», lamented the businessman.
Not lowering their arms, Pedro Estorninho and his partners Pedro Franco and Ana Costa Franco, proposed to install in Jardim Bivar, next to the riverside and Casa Inglesa, «three or four vans from street food, creating a place of animation there. We even proposed having live music there from time to time». In addition to Maria do Mar, other small businesses were linked to this idea. street food Algarve, such as “Em Pão Torrado”, “Fiesta Mex” and one of crepes.
«Jardim Bivar, at this moment, especially at night, is an unrecommended place in Portimão. And we were going to populate it, give it life, drive away unwanted regulars. On the other hand, we were going to add other things to the offer of entertainment and food in that area, within the scope of street food, as is happening in the main cities and tourist sites across Europe, even Lisbon and Porto», he stressed. With his project, the idea was “to attract new people to the area and return the garden to the population”.
Pedro Estorninho argues that «we weren't even going to compete with the businesses that are already installed next door, namely ice cream parlors and cafes, on the contrary, we would add services. We're not stealing anyone's business, we're adding.”
«Furthermore, in our case, with the snacks da Maria do Mar, always based on canned fish, we would be offering something that has to do with the identity of Portimão and the Mediterranean Diet. But councilor Pedro Xavier, who is responsible for this area, and to whom we presented the project, did not accept it. It's a pity!”
Pedro Franco, the other partner and one of the founders of Maria do Mar, regrets that «the investment we made, which is paid in full by us and which, just kidding, was around 10 thousand euros», now run the risk of not can be monetized.
“If you don't do anything, it's because you don't. If something is done, they won't let us work», regrets Pedro Estorninho. «Maria do Mar is already a reference, it was a pioneer in stores dedicated to Portuguese canned fish in the Algarve. If they let us work, we can go much further. We don't want anyone's favors, but we want some freedom,” he added.
Given the lack of receptivity to her ideas in Portimão, Maria do Mar is already studying the possibility of moving to other municipalities or, who knows, leaving the Algarve. Around here, this summer, those who like Maria do Mar's very fresh and 100% Algarvian snacks can find their own scooter. street food at some of the main fairs and festivals across the region.
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