I expected Portugal to be a highlight of our trip but it let me a bit down. It wasn’t terrible but Lisbon pissed me off ( from a food perspective) . The whole downtown is a huge tourist trap. Restaurants have figured out a way to buy reviews cause the ratings are bonkers. I had some of the worst food in some 4.8/5 places… doesn’t make any sense. I was so pissed at getting ripped off and eating bad food we ended our last day having lunch at Mcdonald’s! Last time I went there was over 6 years ago !!
Rest assured, the rest of Portugal wasn’t like this but because we ended our trip there, it soured my view of Portugual. My advice, if you stay in downtown Lisbon is to transit 15 mins out of the city center if you want a good dinner.
Belem
Belem is a short Uber drive away from Lisbon but has a lot to offer. I recommend you spend half a day there and end up at a classic; Pasteis de Belem.
Pasteis de Belem is the original and only place where they can call it this way. Everywhere else they are named Pasteis de Nata . As you can see in the picture it’s quite a busy place. If you don’t want to sit down you can skip this whole line and enter by the second door on the left, you will be in and out in 2-3 minutes.
I forgot to take a picture of them but they were still warm and obviously very tasty. The 2 differences I found compared to the other one I had were with the crust, where it’s thicker and flakier and secondly, it’s less sweet.
While walking on the seaside, we saw this monstrosity. I’m fine if they take a spin at other culture food but Canadian Classic poutine: Mozzarella mix + Original gravy sour cream. Oh hell no brother.
Cascais
From Belem, we took a 20-minute Uber drive down to Cascais. This town is on the opposite side of the Atlantic Ocean facing Quebec. So we were looking “home” which was pretty neat. Cascais being on the coast has lots of fresh fish and seafood to offer and it didn’t let us down.
We went to a little restaurant called Manjar de vila and it was really good. A Portuguese classic is the bolinho de bacalhau , a fried cod and potatoes appetizer. They were the best we had, I would have taken 4 more plates.
I had another Portuguese classic with the arroz de marisco. It’s a seafood rice and this meal is definitely one I need to reproduce. It’s a tomato/seafood stock base soupy rice which is not something I am used to but it just worked. Combined with all the seafood, that hit the spot. The quality of the ingredients is so good and so fresh it’s hard to beat.
Sintra
On the next morning, we took a 45-minute Uber drive down to Sintra, home of the famous Pena Palace. The views you get from the colourful palace are stunning.
Nearby you can walk the Moors Castle or visit the Quinta de Regaleira manor to complete the day.
We went for some fish but more importantly, we had the famous pastry from Sintra, Travesseiro. It’s a flaky pastry filled with almond cream but they also offered others filled with apple. Piriquita is probably the most famous place to buy it from and it’s been open for well over 150 years for a reason. I ate the whole thing in 30 seconds. Will have to add it to my to-do list
Lisboa
Lisbon,Lisbon,Lisbon…. ughhh
So as mentioned in the intro, Lisbon is filled to the brim with fake reviews on restaurants. One place that disgusted me was Bessa. 4.8 out of 5 stars, I mean, that should be freaking amazing food. If you sort the review by lowest to highest, you start to understand the plot. It is filled with real reviews saying the food is terrible and they don’t understand why it has such high reviews.
Unfortunately, this plagues the whole Chiado district ( downtown). Pretty much every single restaurant follows this pattern. If you want good food, you need to get out of this neighbourhood. Take an Uber and drive 10-15 minutes away and you will get great food.
Beside is the bacalhau a Lagareiro served by Bessa restaurant. While it may look good, the fish was not fresh and tasted like an old carpet. Everything was so bland and soggy. Ewwwww
My stomach was upset for a few hours and I started to freak out I would get food poisoning, but luckily I didn’t. The next morning I was ok.
I will recommend 3 places in downtown Lisbon
- EspressoLab – Good pastry and coffee
- A Padaria Portuguesa – Good pastry and coffee
- M’arrecreo Pizzeria – Good Neapolitan-style pizza, it’s not amazing but I wouldn’t complain about eating this weekly