IKEA Portugal Francesinha Review — Would You Try This Crazy Portuguese Sandwich?!

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Ikea Restaurant

On our last visit to Ikea we saw they were serving Francesinhas in their restaurant!

The timing was unbelievable since we were about to head to Porto, the birthplace of the famous francesinha sandwich.

Could a crazy multi-meat-layered sandwich covered in melted cheese, oozing in thick beer-tomato sauce and topped with a fried egg possibly be any good when bought from the restaurant of a Swedish furniture store known for it’s meatballs!? lol

Sounds preposterous, I know, but…

Only one way to find out… ::smirks::

Ikea Francesinha

Ignore the right side of the tray, we’ll get to that later. ;]

Francesinha Blog — Ikea Restaurant Review — A Francesinha and fries on a tray beside tiramisu

So we’ve got a pile of fries and a ladle of francesinha sauce poured over top the fries and sandwich.

Francesinha Blog — Ikea Restaurant Review — A side view of a francesinha's gravy pool, melted cheese, and fried egg

A side view of the melted cheese and egg over-hang.

Francesinha Blog — Ikea Restaurant Review — A francesinha and fries with an Ikea restaurant background

A Francesinha-sauce pool with one French fry taking a swim.

Behold the inside of the francesinha!

Francesinha Blog — Ikea Restaurant Review — Inside view of what's in a francesinha sandwich

You can see the layers of ham, sausage, and thin steak.

Tiramisu

And because Ikea honestly has really good desserts (like this cheesecake), we try a new one each time!

This time we went for the tiramisu.

Neglected to get a picture of the inside of the tiramisu this time.

Ikea Restaurant Review — Tiramisu dessert top view

The tiramisu was impressive and honestly better than many of the restaurants we have ordered tiramisu at (which is sort of sad— shame on those restaurants charging 2-3x for mediocrity!), but it’s actually not our favorite of the Ikea dessert options!

Our Review — Should You Try Ikea’s Francesinha

Hilariously, I’m going to say yes!

And here’s the deal. Is it the greatest francesinha in the world? No. Of course not. Is it the worst francesinha in the world? No. It’s actually better than one I had in Porto’s Ribera district.

I found it to be surprisingly good and would like to give a particular shout out to the thick slice of ham which reminded us of an American-style ham which is not something you commonly get in Portugal.

If you go into it with the right expectations I think you’ll be happy with Ikea’s francesinha.

Because it is actually a decent francesinha, I would go out on a limb and propose the following:

If you try it and absolutely hate it, probably you wouldn’t appreciate a “great” francesinha anyways. No shade at all. It’s just a specific dish that can be polarizing.

On the other hand if you try it and you’re like “alright, alright, alright, I see what they’re going for here”, then that’s your sign that it’s time to book a weekend trip to Porto and tick “Eat a Francesinha in Porto, Portugal” off your Travel Food Bucket List.

At the same time, I wouldn’t tell anyone to run to Ikea to try their first Francesinha or anything. :p Just saying if you happen to be there when it’s on the menu and you’re thinking about trying it, go for it!

If all else fails you can get some Swedish meatballs afterward. :]

More Ikea Food Reviews ->
A Tasty Homemade Francesinha in Tavira, Portugal ->
5 Very Portuguese Sandwiches To Try ->