14 / 20 How we score Portuguese $ $$$ I’m not going to bury the lead: I love Marrickville Hardcourt Tennis Club. I love it for its schooners of Grifter Pale Ale on summer afternoons. I love that the members voted to ditch the pokies in April.
I love that the clubhouse has been around for longer than colour television has existed in Australia, and I particularly love the Portuguese cooking at its restaurant, Casa do Benfica. There’s nothing quite like a Newtown Jets game followed by cheap wine and a caramel flan. Before it set up shop at Marrickville Hardcourt in 2006, Casa Do Benfica was serving a Portuguese social club on the first floor of an industrial building in Sydenham.
Support for Lisbon football team S.L. Benfica was strong at the club, hence the name, and why the current restaurant’s walls are adorned with framed soccer jerseys and vintage photographs of furrow-browed Primeira Liga players.
It’s a vibe that new places with names like “Chippendale Surf Club” or “Enmore Bingo Society” try desperately hard to recreate. Every time I visit, whether it’s for beers and an embarrassing three-set loss, or the $35 bacalhau a lagareiro (pan-roasted cod and roast potatoes thoroughly coated in olive oil and garlic), I leave thinking, “Must return more often.” Many times, I’m also left wondering, “What are they doing to make those mushrooms so bloody delicious?” If you’ve ever sat down to a bona fide Thanksgiving lunch, you might be reminded of North.
