Here, finally, is my last report from the missus and my brief visit to New York/New Jersey last October. From that trip, I’ve previously reported on pizza eaten at the Manhattan branch of L’Industrie, dinner at Theodora in Brooklyn, lunch at Laut near Union Square and dinner at the now-closed Foul Witch in the East Village. Our last day was spent entirely in New Jersey. We spent the day with old friends down near New Brunswick—and had fabulous home-made Hyderabadi biryani and kababs for lunch. After getting back to our hotel in Newark in the evening, we were too tired to countenance heading back to Manhattan for dinner. As our hotel was very close to Newark’s Portuguese Ironbound district, we looked around instead for a place we could walk to, and seized upon Seabra’s Marisqueira. Here’s how it went.

Seabra’s Marisqueira has been around since 1989, when it was founded by the owner of the Seabra Supermarket. A decade later, it was taken over by three partners who kept the kitchen’s focus on Portuguese seafood and maintained the restaurant’s popularity. I’m not sure what the ownership situation is now but a cursory look at Google reviews seemed to indicate it was still a popular choice for Portuguese seafood in the area.

It was about a 15 minute walk from our hotel to the restaurant. We passed a number of Portuguese and Brazilian restaurants along the way, a number of which seemed quite busy. Seabra’s was not very busy when we got there. There were a few people eating at the bar, which you pass as you enter, and another couple was finishing up their dinner in the large dining room. For most of our meal, we were alone. As to whether that’s a function of it being a Monday evening, a one-off, or a sign of a more general downturn in their fortunes, I don’t know.

The menu is large but we were but two people. We began with various fried things. On the smaller side were the Rissoes de Camarao Caseiros (creamy shrimp turnovers) and the Bolinhos de Bacalau Caseiros (salt cod croquettes). We got one of each and liked both a lot—and found both quite reminiscent of things we’d eaten at Palacio do Deao in Goa. Also nicely done, though a very large portion, was the Cabecas de Lulas Fritas (batter-fried squid heads). With a heavy lunch already under our belts, we could have stopped eating here and been done for the evening. But we had already ordered the Acorda de Marisco, a “dry soup” of mixed seafood and Portuguese bread that is a specialty of the house. This was a truly massive dish and we made as much of a dent in it as we could. We quite liked it and felt bad about not being able to take the leftovers away. There was no question of dessert after.

For a look at the restaurant and everything we ate, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see how much the meal cost and to see what’s coming next.

Ah yes, I had a glass of the house Portuguese red. The kindly server made the standard pour, looked at the bottle and then poured all of what was left into my glass. Cost? $88 with tip. This may have been an error on my part—looking at the pictures of the menu now, I see that each page notes that service charge is included on the bill. But this was not marked on the bill itself as a separate line item. Well, it would have been around $71 without added tip. Not outrageously expensive either way for a seafood-centered meal.

The meal itself was fine in a hearty, comfort-food kind of way but it’s nothing I would make very large claims about. If you know the Ironbound well and have other Portuguese restaurants in the area that you’d recommend over Seabra’s, I’d welcome suggestions. We are going to be back in that area again this October for a weekend and there’s a very good chance we’ll do dinner in the Ironbound again on our last evening.

Alright, what’s next on the blog? A booze review tomorrow. Then restaurant reports from Bombay, Minneapolis, Seoul and Delhi over the course of the week. Come back for some of it.