Last month, I spent a week in Lisbon with my husband and my parents. It was a great way for us all to meet up, visit a new city, and for the most part (barring one two-hour torrential downpour) get a break from the dreariness of Irish winter.
It was also a GREAT place to eat — as we spent the week consuming our bodyweights in pastéis de nata, Lisbon quickly became one of my new favourite food cities. Here are some of my favourite dishes we had while we were there.
Two notes:
1. A lot of the restaurants in Lisbon are family-style, so it was nice that we were a group of four so that we could share and try more dishes. Likewise, it was nice for my husband that my dad also eats meat (my mom and I are both pescatarian) — while they were both willing to stick to fish and vegetarian dishes, they were able to try some of the meat dishes like the pica pau steak that they might’ve missed out on otherwise.
2. This is not a list of “hidden gems.” One of my travel content pet peeves is when someone goes to a place for the first time, and then comes back a week later claiming to have gotten “off the beaten path” and found the “hidden gems” where “only the locals go.” Is it possible? I guess. But if you’ve gotten your recommendations from No Reservations and Somebody Feed Phil and Instagram reels (as I did), then no, you probably didn’t. And that’s okay. Just be a tourist.
Pastéis on pastéis on pastéis
On our first day, Steve and I kicked things off with the most touristy place possible: the Time Out Market. This massive food hall is full of bars, restaurants, and kiosks selling all kinds of Portuguese foods (and other cuisines as well). When we went, we made a beeline for the pastéis de nata at Manteigaria, which pretty much set the tone for the trip (I don’t think there was a day that we didn’t eat at least one pastel).
Later in the week, we took a trip out to Belém, where pastéis originated. I think that the pastéis in Belém were crispier and slightly more eggy than the ones in the city, and I loved both in different ways. Mostly, I learned that the best way to eat them is fresh out of the oven and covered in cinnamon and powdered sugar.
Swimming in seafood
As a city on the water, Lisbon is famous for its seafood, and we certainly had no shortage of amazing fish and shellfish dishes. Here were a couple of standouts:
Carabineros shrimp at Ramiro
There was one restaurant that was mentioned in pretty much every guide to Lisbon food I read and watched in the lead up to our trip: Ramiro. I’d heard you need to prepare for a long wait, but we skipped lunch and to plan for an early dinner and were seated pretty much right away. When we asked the server what we should order in addition to our own picks, she suggested the scarlet shrimp. A giant, lobster-like crustacean that the server prepared at the table by cutting in half and mixing the meat with the creature’s brains, it sounds a bit gross but we quickly got over any squeamishness once we tasted how delicious it was.
Sardine toasts at Miguel Castro e Silva, Time Out Market
These sardine toasts were so good we got them two days in a row (my parents arrived a day after Steve and I, so we went back to Time Out Market on day 2 as well). Big, meaty chunks of sardines topped soft yet crusty bread rubbed with tomatoes, and the fish was covered with pickled vegetables and herbs. A simple, delicious snack that went perfectly with a glass of dry white wine.
Laminas de polvo a lagariero at Tascatinga
I don’t eat octopus very often because I know it’s a very smart animal and I feel bad, but I couldn’t help ordering it as one of the tapas when we stopped for lunch in Sintra in between palaces. And if I don’t intend to eat octopus again for a long time (because of the aforementioned guilt and because of it not being widely available in Ireland), I’m glad this will be my most recent memory. It was perfectly cooked, mostly tender but with just the right amount of chewiness, and covered in fried onions that gave it some extra texture.
Grilled sea bream at Restaurante A Linete, Palmela
My family is not normally the guided tour type, but we did book one day tour on our trip, a wine tour down to the Setúbal region about an hour south of Lisbon. It was definitely worth having a knowledgable guide who could explain the history and traits of the wines we tasted, and of course to have a designated driver that meant we could all sample the vinhos. After our winery visits, we were taken to a restaurant in Palmela for lunch before our return to Lisbon, and on our guide’s recommendation we all ordered the grilled sea bream. I think the main hallmark of Portuguese cooking is simple food done well, and this dish was a perfect example of that.
More food porn
I could probably go on for hours talking about some of the other dishes I loved on our trip to Lisbon, but a picture’s worth a thousand words, right?
Cheese board, Prado wine bar — this lovely little wine bar was near our accommodation, and after a day spent grazing and snacking we were too full for a proper dinner. So this delicious cheese board (and a few glasses of amazing orange wine) was perfect. We also became obsessed with a raw sheep’s milk cheese called queijo de azeitão that just came from the local supermarket chain, Pingo Doce.
Barnacles (and scallops), Ramiro — a lot of the reviews of Ramiro mentioned the barnacles, so we figured we had to try them. Small and salty, they were a little bit of an acquired taste, but once we got the hang of opening them they were a delicious addition to the dinner and a fun thing to try. Also those scallops were amazing.
Pumpkin dessert, Tascatinga — another odd dish ordered based on rave reviews, I don’t even know quite how to describe this dessert. It was a bit like a lava cake, except that as soon as you put your spoon into it, it melts in to a warm and custardy mush. I have no idea if it’s a traditional Portuguese dish or a restaurant specialty, but I’m so glad I made room for dessert even after a large lunch.
Bifana, O Trevo — Anthony Bourdain is Steve and my patron saint of good food, and we always try to visit some of his recommendations on any trip. In addition to Ramiro, A Ginjinha (a hole-in-the-wall bar counter serving sour cherry liqueur), and A Tasca do Chico (a tapas bar known for its traditional Fado music) we stopped into O Trevo so Steve could try a bifana. This marinated pork sandwich wouldn’t be my cup of tea, but judging by the number of people in high-vis at the tables in this small shop, it’s an ideal work lunch. The Super Bock stout was decent too… more on that later.
Fried sardine fillets at Maratimo, Cascais and various dishes at Pinóquio, Lisbon and seafood rice at Monte Mar, Time Out Market — okay I have to stop but here were a few other favourites. Happy eating!
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