I am either picking better travel locations or getting really lucky in terms of food, because eating in Lisbon was a uniquely extravagant experience. Having stayed in the city for more than a week, I am certain we didn’t get to all the best restaurants in Lisbon, but we put our hearts..errr, stomachs to the test. Eating in Lisbon seems to revolve around two things, seafood and pastries; that isn’t to say their other dishes aren’t great, but those two are the stars. We tried to go to the best restaurants in Lisbon and we hit some really good spots. Every food experience (bar one) was excellent.  From the Michelin star spots, to the lady with a gruff attitude throwing delicious hot pork sandwiches at me, I couldn’t get enough.

On top of the pounds of seafood we ate, we drank. Portugal has some unique alcohol and I thought it appropriate to try all of it. Ginja, Port, and amazing wines to name a few. Eating in Lisbon reminded me just how good Europeans have it in terms of food. The food in Portgual, was like other countries in Europe (only better), it was fresh, simple, and inexpensive. Living in America we get caught up in food fads. People line up to pay $20 for a poke bowl or a spool of ramen. I am more interested in eating my food then instagraming it (although I do both). Lisbon, Portgual gave us simple food that was traditional and delicious. A basic octopus will be here a lot longer than the next cronut.  Below are what I felt were the best restaurants in Lisbon.

Eating in Lisbon: Day 1

I was inspired (copied) a lot of ideas on this trip to Lisbon. I am the guy who watches food/travel shows with a pen and paper. On Netflix, the show Somebody Feed Phil had a Lisbon episode that inspired me.  I followed in his footsteps the best I could, to find the best restaurants in Lisbon. Combine that with an older episode of No Reservations and Delicious Destinations and I was forced to go to this first restaurant, given that it was in all three shows.

Cervejaria Ramiro

No list of the best restaurants in Lisbon would be complete without Cervejaria Ramiro. Once the bags were unpacked, we knew we had to make it our first stop. Coincidently, Cervejaria Ramiro was also our second to last stop. There is a mix of locals and tourists, thanks partially to the above shows. Regardless of who the clientele is, the food tastes amazing. I ate things I didn’t know were edible until they were in front of me. Look at the picture below…who discovered there was meat in there, and how did they find out? 

 

Eating, in no particular order, we gorged on sea barnacles, tiny clams in butter, four different types of shrimp, these weird foods inside shells (again above), and beef. Yes, at the end of the meal there is the optional beef sandwich. Now, you aren’t on TV, if you want the “Prego” you have to ask for it by name.

Overall the shrimp, especially the scarlet and tiger shrimp, were the stars. The garlic shrimp were also amazing and had me eating mounds of the most delicious bread, to soak up the sauce. We left with a full belly and a new realization that we hadn’t really slept in 36 hours. With this information, the only thing to do was find more food.

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The Time Out Market

After an hour or two of wandering the city we decided to check out the Time Out Market, an overly busy food market in Lisbon. As we walked there my head was spinning with all the food options on the street. I held out for what Time Out had to offer and walked into an elaborate food court. Time Out Market was pretty good, but not the best market I have been to. It was lacking the authenticity (i.e. dirt and smell of freshly slaughtered animals) like the Athens market. It was much more commercialized than I would have expected. Another turnoff were the crowds, twice we attempted to return to the market and gave up looking for a seat, as they were the equivalent to finding a golden ticket.

And yet the food was good there, and it was there, at Manteigaria, where I had my first Pastel de nata (more on that below). After finally sitting down, my wife ran up to get some more shrimp, and octopus… I was so tired I fell asleep at the table; that is when we knew we needed a nap. A nice walk back to the hotel, we set an alarm for exactly one hour later, and hit the bed…When we woke up after 10 hours we realized that a good sleep was just the thing to jar our hunger.

Pastel de Nata

What seems like the national dessert in Portgual, these little egg custard-filled wonders, are found all over Lisbon. All are good, but some really stood out. I already mentioned Manteigaria in the Time Out Market.  When I got there they were warm, which makes all the difference, sprinkle a little powdered sugar and cinnamon on there and you’re all set. Tied for first was Pastelaria Santo Antonio, a little-known place that made excellent ‘pastels,’ with the added bonus of no line. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the famous Pastel de Belem, they were good, but not hot enough for me…

Eating in Lisbon: Day 2 -4

The next few days were a feeding blur, with some duplicate spots. It was here that I found my two favorite ways to start the day. Walking out of the castle, down the curvy roads of Alfama, we hit our first Ginja joint. Ginja, is a small shot of cherry liquor, with the cherry still in it. To say I loved it would be an understatement, I smuggled so much back here, there are posters of me hanging in the post office. Hitting a Ginja joint at 9:30am on a Wednesday morning is a classic start to a day in Lisbon.

The other culinary delicacy I fell in love with is a pork sandwich called a Bifano. I usually went to the same place, Casa Das Bifanas, where the Bifanas are hot and the servers are surly. I am not sure if these were meant for breakfast, but they were great with a Ginjia in the morning. 

Restaurante Leão d’ouro

We liked this restaurant so much we went twice. I think this might have been our first experience with a whole octopus in Lisbon. The food here was excellent albeit, a bit more expensive. On one of our last meals on the first half of the trip we went for the seafood platter. One of two giant platters we enjoyed this trip, this piece of art was delicious…

O Arco

You know those restaurants with 8 tables and a demand for about 50? O Arco was this restaurant, we were disappointed on our first attempt, because you need a reservation at 2Pm on a Tuesday. It is a little family owned shop that gives you seafood with such depth of flavor you would swear that someone’s grandmother is back there stirring the pot. Once again, we ate octopus, but the real stars were the mussels (see below), the sauce had a positively spicy  Portuguese flare (reminiscent of New Orleans…) and the mussels themselves were the size of my palm. O Arco was another place where we went multiple times.

A Licorista O Bacalhoeiro

Right down the street from O Arco was A Licorista O Bacalhoeiro. I mention this because it is highly rated with a line out the door. It was pretty good, but not great. Maybe it was because I deviated from the sea, but it was only OK. It wasn’t one of the best restaurants in Lisbon, but a fairly solid meal nonetheless. When eating in Lisbon you quickly raise your standards, as ‘good’ just doesn’t cut it in a town of fantastic. It is also worth warning that this restaurant plops a lot of food in front of you when you sit (without asking), then will charge you for it if eaten, you’ve been warned…

 

Kiosk the World’s Best Chocolate Cake

What is worse, being near the best chocolate cake and NOT trying it or only eating it once knowing it will be an experience almost impossible to duplicate.. I knew Lisbon was known for chocolate, so I needed to try it at this small Kiosk. One bite and I was thinking about buying “his” and “hers” towels (until I realized it was cake ..annnd then I remembered I was already married). Lucky for me, my wife doesn’t get jealous over cake (a sandwich is a totally different story); she watched as I devoured it and more than once attempted to lick the plate. For some reason she doesn’t like chocolate, so I didn’t even need to split the dessert #winningatmarriedlife.

These were just a few of the places we hit on our first half of our trip. There were also wine bars, small cafes and some random places that for the most part were great, I just can’t fit them all in this post. Reading my other post you know we took a brief trip to Marrakesh, then find more restaurants in Lisbon..

 

Eating in Lisbon: Day 4 -10

 

This is where I really earned my 3rd chin, because the trip got more and more gluttonous as the trip continued. Of course, we visited many of our favorite places from the first leg of our journey. Ramiro had to be hit again and hit hard. I think they had to grab their fishing nets to restock by the time we were done. So as not to make eating in Lisbon too repetitive we added a lot of others to the list. Below are some more of the best restaurants in Lisbon.

Copying Phil to find the Best Restaurants in Lisbon

As I mentioned I am fraud…given I “borrowed” a lot of my ideas from the Netflix show Somebody feed Phil. I doubled down on this formula and found the spots from the immigrants to Lisbon that he visited. First, pizza from La Pizza di Nanna, was perfectly crispy… better than anything I had in Rome. The women laughed when she found out we saw the show, so I am assuming we weren’t the first to make the trip. Unlike Rome the pizza was authentic…

Next, we hit the Wurst – Salsicharia Austríaca, since after pizza a half of pound of sausage is always agreat idea. Here I saw the hardest working man in the food industry, the guy behind the counter never stopped moving. I bet he is cursing Phil’s name. Once again, the show was dead on, if I didn’t know better I would have thought I wandered into Austria.

Finally, in true poser fashion, we had to hit the gelato place, Nannarella.  I would say this gelato was as good as the average I had in Rome, but that would be a lie. Unlike 80% of the gelato in Rome, this was real, and not the phony stuff geared to tourists (warning, if you see extreme/neon colors you should back away slowly). Not to bash Rome too hard, the other 20% of gelato in Rome was amazing…

Alma

I will say with certainty that course for course, this is the best meal I have ever eaten. Sometimes Michelin star winners are more flair than substance, this was not the case with Alma. The food was like exquisite art enveloped in the most magnificent palette of flavors. The weird cod dish that copied the tiles of the streets (with an egg inside), the beef that melted in your mouth, even the small courses from the bread basket (which were much more than bread) everything tasted like it was cooked with a wand.

While the first courses were great, what put this meal over the top was the above chocolate dish.  The dessert the most sublime confection of hazelnut ice cream, chocolate sauce, and a delicious chocolate ball (among other things). There were so many good things happening that I need a cigarette thinking about it..I still do; I think the picture speaks volumes, just remember licking your screen doesn’t do the dish justice.

Mar ao Carmo

We head to our final eating experience in Lisbon. Mar ao Carmo was all seafood, all the time. Given we already went to Ramiro’s again that morning, you would think we would be sick of anything that swims. We weighed this with the knowledge that we were going back to a land locked hell-hole with limited, grossly over priced offerings. Mar ao Carmo was a place we went on multiple occasions for not only the seafood, but also the atmosphere. Located right outside the convent, it was the perfect way to end the trip. One last chance to indulge and we did, with feast pictured above..

Final Thoughts on Eating in Lisbon

There you have it, some, but not all of the spots we tried in our short time in Lisbon. There were many other restaurants, canned food shops, and pastries that we experienced that did not disappoint. We had one unfortunate meal on this trip, which reinforces a valuable lesson: If there is someone trying to pull you into the restaurant it most likely will be terrible. That rule is universal, whether in Africa, Europe, New York or Istanbul. Take this experience out of the mix and every meal was spectacular with visonary nuances and culinary creativity,  Lisbon, Portugal is a place that deserves a ranking among the world’s best food..