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Apologies for the lack of recent posts. Thanks to intense day-job responsibilities and several trips, I ran out of space to write about bagels. That said, I never stopped thinking about them.
Even in Portugal.
Starting in Porto and working my way south through Coimbra, Lagos, and Quarteira, I have eaten a many wonderful things. The Portuguese tomato rice (arroz de tomate) has been deeply rich and flavorful. A traditional chestnut and caramelized onion tapas might be my new favorite thing to eat. I could eat salada Algarvia, which is like if someone turned salsa into a salad, for days. And all the while, the port & tonics have been flowing.
On this culinary journey, I thought of many meals and hungered to try many more, but I wasn’t thinking about bagels.
And then I turned a corner on one of the tightly packed alleyways of Lagos and came face-to-face with Pom Pom Bagels.
I almost kept walking, but two things gave me pause. The line out of the door and a window view into the kitchen where I could see racks of freshly baked bagels ready to serve. And so, the following day, I came back.
You might presume that Portugal and bagels don’t have much in common, and you’d be right. At least, you would have been until around 2023, when a “brunch boom” hit the Iberian Peninsula, and bagels were part of the mix. Previously an unnecessary addition to any local meal thanks to the presence of fresh papo-seco rolls or traditional sweet bread rings, bagel shops started showing up in Lisbon and elsewhere.
It makes sense, then, that a shop might pop up in Lagos, a seaside town in the Algarve, Portugal’s southernmost region, where the local cuisine mingles with the foods that follow the tourists from their home countries.
There’s another reason for the emergence of Pom Pom in 2023, one that’s familiar to those who have been following the bagel industry in recent years: The pandemic.
Owners Katie Pomeroy and Kevin Keenaghan loved Lagos and wanted to open a business that was open across the entire day. Rather than focus on one food item, they decided on two. Pom Pom Bagels (Pomeroy’s passion) was open for business during the day but turned into Illicit Burgers (Keenaghan’s expertise) at night.
“They are a treat that my mum started to make a couple of years ago, and because I couldn’t find them in the supermarket, I just started making my own,” Pomeroy said of bagels to The Resident.
According to their website, they focus on “Montreal style chunky bagels,” though they use agave instead of honey so that their bagels don’t include any animal products.
Can this seaside bagel shop serve up something true bagel lovers will want to flock to Portugal to try? Let’s find out…
If you want to know how I define a good bagel, you can find it here.
Plain bagel
Everything bagel with garlic and herb cream cheese
Old Town Lagos is a winding maze of corridors, alleys, and snug streets where pedestrians and vehicles constantly find themselves in an uneasy alliance. Pom Pom Bagels really does feel like a discovery every time you see it, as it’s at a centralized point where three streets meet at once, creating an oft-chaotic melange of tourists, tiny cars, motorcycles, and bagel shop customers.
One thing to know about Portugal is that the people here are friendly and kind, but they move at their own speed. Whether there’s one person in line or fifty, they’ll get to you when they get to you. That’s the kind of thing that might drive me insane in the States, but it has its charm here.
There was only one person in front of me when I arrived, but I waited a solid 10 minutes before I could place my order. When I gave it, the cashier seemed downright confused by my desire for a plain bagel without any toppings or sandwich accouterments. Admittedly, this might have partly been a language issue, but it took me at least four assurances before she grabbed a plain bagel for me to eat on its own.
There was no scallion schmear on the menu, so I opted for garlic and herb cream cheese.
After getting my order, I ate the bagels the only way one can in Lagos: at Praia da Dona Ana (Dona Ana Beach).
I will admit, my initial view of the bagels was one of suspicion. The plain bagel looked… unique. Knowing now that they are attempting a Montreal-style helps me make more sense of it visually, though the description of “Montreal style chunky bagels” is not something I’ve ever heard before or witnessed in a Montreal-style bagel. However, it does seem to be an apt description of these bagels. We’ll get into that.
The plain bagel was a good size with a small-to-medium center. It was oblong with several nubs, ridges, and textural lines all over. The bagel was like a topographical map, and I could feel my hand hiking up its trails as I moved from one side to the other. It was also beige. Very beige. The top was firm to the touch with a slight crinkle.
The everything bagel with garlic and herb cream cheese was a good size with a tiny center and a rounded shape. There was a heavy seed hand at work with a sesame and poppy seed focus. The garlic in the mix appeared to be granular. Underneath the seasoning, the bagel appeared to be very beige like the plain with some interesting ridges. The top was firm to the touch and crinkly. A strong garlic aroma emanated from the bagel, though it was initially unclear if it was from the seasoning, the schmear, or both.
The bottom of the plain bagel was soft but firm, featuring lots of textured lines and ridges. It was even lighter in color than the top, almost white. There was no Cormeal Ring of Doom (CRoD) present.
The bottom of the everything bagel was similar to the plain in terms of feel and color. There were also similar lines and ridges all over. A smattering of seeds appeared across it, but there was no CRoD present.
The plain bagel offered a tough rip and revealed a sourdough-like aroma. Biting and chewing it felt akin to eating a sourdough roll with a whisp of crispiness. While very chewy and very doughy, there was a flatness of flavor that made it taste like eating bland bread. Ultimately, it was edible but not entirely enjoyable on its own. It was understandible in retrospect as to why the cashier was confused by the request; this is a bagel that requires schmear or toppings.
The everything bagel was slightly toasted, and the bite reflected that as there was a crispness to the exterior that gave way to a mushy interior. The garlic and herb flavor from the schmear really came through and drove the experience, as the everything seasoning needed more salt to stand up to it on the palate. The schmear was loose and slightly oozy but not overly so.
Montreal-style bagels have yet to impress me, and a “Montreal-style chunky bagel” defintely didn’t land with me either. The plain bagel was a real miss. The everything bagel with schmear was perfectly edible and didn’t offend, but it also didn’t wow me either. The dense doughiness of the bagels makes them ideal for the kind of sandwich-focused menu Pom Pom has, but doesn’t quite make them must-trys for bagel enthusiasts passing through the Algarve.
By all accounts, it looks like Pom Pom Bagels is popular with the tourists that trickle into Lagos and are looking for something to soak up the alcohol in between trips to the beach and next bar. So by all accounts, things are going great.
Listen, fellow American Jews, if you find yourself in Portugal, please do yourself a favor and let the Jewish deli classics wait for your return home. There’s a bounty of local ingredients and regional dishes for you to try, and no reason you need to go looking for the best pastrami on rye on the Iberian Peninsula. Let me take the hit on your behalf while you enjoy some sardines, francesinha, and caldo verde soup.
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