On an Oporto  sloping cobbled street in northern Portugal, opposite the Boys Or Us  gay bar lies the deliciously laid-back Atelier cafe, with its minimilist decor, saxophone beer pumps and bottles of Moet and Dom lying chilled on ice on the bar. The urbanely droll owner Miguel Rodrigues-Pereira assures me it is ’straight-friendly’ a place where people of all ages and sexual persuasion can go to relax, kiss and cuddle and show affections that are usually kept out of sight in this conservative, Catholic society. For lunch, I had fiejoada a transmontana — a stew with beans, pork, sausage, bacon and cabbage  washed down with fine coffee. Totally excellent

www.atelier-cafe.net