If there’s anything on earth more likely to inspire a weekend getaway than an Irish winter we can't name it - the endless energy-sapping trudge from dark mornings to grey afternoons has us in a permanent state of flight fantasy. Between cheap flights, a super-short haul and a guaranteed minimum five degrees in the difference, Lisbon is one of our top tips for reprieve at this time of year, and it helps that it’s bursting with great places to eat. Here’s some of our favourites for your next quick break, which you really ought to get booking...
Breakfast & snacks
Alcoa
Tucked amidst the warren of hilly shopping streets in Bairro Alta, patisserie Alcoa is stocked deep with a choice of decades-old winners from the annual Alcobaça International Exhibition – they take pastry very, very seriously here. Friendly staff will help you navigate the dizzying choice and find something to your taste, and the best-selling custard cornucopia and almond-intense coroa de abadessa were as good a start to the day as we could have imagined.
Santo António
The little scream we let out of us on spying a port croissant could have woken the dead – why aren’t these everywhere? Santo António is an unassuming spot set in one of the quieter corners of Alfama, the kind of place that even if you traipsed past it you might not think to pop in. Don’t make that mistake. Red ripples run through the dough just as the intense fruit flavour punctuates the sweetness - this is a great local take. A clotted cream doughnut was delicious too, and their picture-perfect pastéis are a textbook specimen.
Pastéis de Belem
For the textbook specimen, though, you’ve got to traipse out to the western suburb Belém, where this tourist-thronged bakery stakes its claim on being the OG. They’re certainly top-tier, and so persistently popular you’re guaranteed to get one fresh from the oven, though branded sachets of icing sugar and cinnamon give it the feel of a franchise in the making.
The Bifanas of Afonso
Where pastéis have flooded the rest of the world, bifanas might be the most popular Portuguese food not often found elsewhere. These simmered pork sandwiches aren’t much to look at, but one bite of the stew-soaked soft bread, and tender, mustard-drenched meat makes appearances soon forgotten. This tiny cash-only, social media-free window hatch in central Baixa has built up enough of an IYKYK rep to sling them out by the dozen all day – plan an off-peak arrival if you don’t want to be queueing ‘round the corner.
Lunch & dinner
Taberna Sal Grosso
Extensive research is an absolute must for any sit-down meals in Alfama (you’re off to a good start here) with a plethora of hole-in-the-wall tascas, tabernas and cervejarias giving no real clues to discern which are the tourist traps and which the true treasures. Taberna Sal Grosso sits squarely in the latter camp and is the one entrant on this list we’d return to in the fastest fashion - this tightly-packed twenty-or-so seater has lived rent-free in our heads ever since we were in.
Bacalhau à Brás is a Portuguese classic, matchstick-thin potato tossed with salt cod and onions and bound in egg – you will not find a better version than in here. Just as good were the cod tongues, dredged and deep-fried on a pea purée base and spooned over with salsa - this contrast of salty/crispy/creamy had us very close to calling for seconds. A garlic sauce-basted ray was every bit as simple and satisfying as the best treatments of this flatfish always are, while the traditional meringue-and-custard farofias dessert sent us stumbling out the door in ecstasy – no shortage of Algarve Alvarinho can only have helped there.
Andorinhas
Belém isn’t the best part of the city to be when you’re famished, with the tourist hordes visiting its namesake tower and the Jerónimos Monastery making local eateries largely about turning a buck off the passing trade. Venture slightly off-course and you’ll find your way to Andorinhas, a little family-owned spot almost entirely frequented by Lisbon locals. Save time on skimming the sizeable menu and dive into the arroz de tamboril, a massive monkfish stew that shows off the best of Portuguese food’s peasant roots. It will take at least two to have any hope of finishing it. Griddled salmon steak and a veal and prawn dish swimming in glorious gravy are simplicity incarnate - for wholesome home cooking look no further.
Tasca Baldracca
Less likely to be dished up by a grandmother is the fare at Tasca Baldracca, a buzzy little nook offering on-trend twists on Portuguese petiscos, the local take on tapas. If there’s a mantra here it’s the “fine dining is dead xx” that graces their chalk-scrawled menu. They may hold for the atmosphere, but not for the food, plenty of which is fine as it comes. The blood sausage and apple plate wouldn’t look out of place in many Michelin-aspiring restaurants, with the flavours to boot. Tender squid rings take great heat and depth from the puddle of moqueca (Brazilian fish stew) they’re piled in, though like with the cod croquettes and crisps we wished they’d gone a little easier on the herbs – or just chopped them. Tartare is one thing you won’t want to miss, with a bold blast of flavour from anchovy mayo and the plumpest capers.
Maçã Verde
Fine dining really might be dead if Maçã Verde has anything to do with it. Another exceptional little family-run eatery, this is a place that doesn’t look like much at all but my oh my can appearances be deceiving. Forget booking a cheap flight, we’d charter a whole plane if we had to for another taste of their grilled cuttlefish, with generous chunks of sweet meat stirred through parboiled potatoes and onions, all lifted to the heavens with an olive oil and vinegar dressing we’re not ashamed to say we mopped up with a finger. The cinnamon-rich rice pudding is a traditional treat to finish on, and a great counter to the intense acidity of the cuttlefish we still felt flaring through our nostrils. If we’d had another few days to explore we would have gone back again and again.
The ones that got away...
Prado – just about every chef we trust in Dublin has raved about this Michelin-listed bistro, and we’re gutted we couldn’t make the times work
Cervejaria Ramiro – the gambas aguillo and spider crab are the stuff of legend, and allegedly well worth the lengthy wait that kept us from making it in
Tapisco Lisboa - a Michelin-starred chef’s more casual sister outlet that shows a lot of Spanish influence. We’ve heard a lot about their take on bacalhau à Brás
Casa da India – another unassuming tasca with an IYKYK rep – we’ve had a few hot tips about the tripe here
Taberna da Rua das Flores – fried sardines and mini-mackerel are just some of the seafood treats we really wish we’d managed to make it to in this one
