Off-topic right away. I wrote separately about my favorite grocery stores in Portugal here. Below, only restaurants, cafés, and other establishments.
A Cevicheria – the name speaks for itself. The ceviche here is really excellent. This is a gastronomic place with an emphasis on seafood. In general, all the dishes are excellent, and cocktails too. I recommend booking, there is always a queue at the entrance.
Ararate is an excellent restaurant of Caucasian cuisine. I especially recommend khinkali.
Tomorrow at 9 is a great place for breakfast/brunch.
comobå is also a pleasant vegetarian place for breakfast/brunch. I really liked the burger!
Let’s Pastrami are the perfect pastrami sandwiches. Everything is delicious, but my favorite has not changed since the opening – Mr. Ruben with kimchi on yeast-free bread.
Farès is a great Middle Eastern cuisine. There is always a full house!
Another good place of the same orientation is Fusion Grill.
And another place on this topic – Bruxas, I really liked the hummus. I like not to put onions there, but to add meat as a topping.
Zap Sushi & Ramen Bar is an inconspicuous eatery with excellent sushi. I wouldn’t have known about this place without a recommendation.
Fulai is a charming family restaurant with Asian cuisine, and the main dish here is my favorite ramen (by the way, there are plenty of vegan options). In addition to delicious food, the place has a wonderful atmosphere and excellent service.
Chashu Ramen – also tasty ramen here. They have two locations at the moment, easily located on Google.
La Fugitiva is a great Mexican diner, which was opened by Mexicans. I highly recommend nachos with guacamole, beans, salsa, cheese sauce. This is a huge warm snack for two. Margarita is also beautiful. I liked the classic and chili.
Lupita Pizzaria is a chic pizza. Bravo!
Very tasty pizza La Camionetta, especially liked the dough and the atmosphere. The owners themselves greet guests, heartily share recommendations on what is best to try.
Valdo Gatti is also a good pizza
Honest Greens – healthy, clear and delicious food. On my first visit, it immediately seemed that it was very Californian here, and not for nothing. It turned out that one of the founders of the institution is from the USA.
Leitaria Tejo is an inconspicuous classic simple Portuguese cafe where I found the most delicious bifana among all those tried in the city. True, its excellence strongly depends on who exactly cooks it. But most of the time she is really very good here. The bun is fresh and fried, pork tenderloin is beaten off and fried right in front of you (not blanks as often I see in beef). Roast meat with garlic, which gives it an amazing appetizing aroma. Served with mustard. Well, very tasty. Also, there are very tasty desserts (yellow mousse with lemon zest and mousse with boiled condensed milk).
I am not a fan of pastes, but nevertheless I have tasted many pastry shops with this dessert. And this famous one in Belene seemed to me really the most delicious.
I prefer not quite classic Pastéis de nata, for example, as in cafe Nat‘eliere. Here, various additional ingredients are added to the filling and as a topping, such as pistachio paste, white chocolate, caramel, etc.
I also found a vegan alternative. The taste is very similar to non-Vegan, for me it‘s even tastier, it’s even amazing how they achieved this – Vegan Nata.
Cheesecake.
Basque cheesecake at DONA. I’m not a fan of this type of cheesecake, and I find it a bit too sweet for my taste. But for its category, it’s actually really good, so I’d still recommend it. I think the place will be popular because the location is stunning (right next to the Estrela Basilica), and the chef is quite famous.
Classic cheesecake I enjoyed at Basuku. It has a balanced creamy texture that’s moderately dense, isn’t overly sweet, has a rich flavor, and comes in many variations with different flavors.
(OFFTOP. And still, my absolute favorite is homemade cheesecake. I use more cream cheese instead of heavy cream. The cheese is saltier and tangier than cream, which gives the flavor more depth and makes it more interesting. If you’re on the same page, give it a try—it’s not as hard as it seems!)
Pastelaria Careca (opened in 1954) is an authentic bakery/cafe. There are practically no tourists, they all stand in queues in the neighboring pate Belen. It’s definitely worth trying their croissant bagel, it reminded me of the buns we made with grandma. With a huge amount of butter and sugar. Ideally, if you come across a freshly baked hot one. I ate one and didn’t want to eat all day)))
I visited a lot of different famous (and not so famous) ice cream parlors, and I think the most worthy of them in Lisbon is the Gelato Davvero chain.
Also, another interesting place with very unusual combinations of flavors – Bizzarro Gelato, I especially liked the caramel with soy sauce.
Coffee:
My favorite place is Malabarista.
The Folks and Repeat Bistro – there is also excellent coffee and very tasty breakfasts all day.
Bettina & Niccolo Corallo is a cafe that, in addition to perfect coffee, also offers amazing chocolate.
Palácio do Visconde has excellent coffee, which is roasted right there and served not just in a ceramic cup, but in a porcelain cup. The place itself is very beautiful, worth a visit.
There is also good specialty coffee in 94°, Anemia, Buna, CO-OP Layday, Copenhagen Coffee Lab, Ele Ela, Fábrica Coffee Roasters, Good Company Books, Heim Cafe, How About Coffee, Kiosk, MARQUISE, Selva, Sense, Simpli Coffee, Yellow Lemon.
Beer.
I am a fan of Belgian beer, especially fermented varieties based on fruits and berries.
That is why my favorite beer places in Lisbon are: Delirium Café Lisboa, Gulden Draak Lisboa, Pils Grill Eatery, Mestre da cerveja, Fermentage.
Cocktails.
There are many interesting and worthy places in Lisbon where they make exquisite, high-quality, diverse cocktails. Therefore, I will not write about all the places where I liked, I will talk about those where I encountered something special to my personal taste.
Croqui. This is not just a bar, it is a laboratory where unique substances are created – bases for cocktails, from completely different ingredients (look at the photo, what unusual combinations are on the menu). Here they ferment, distill and infuse. Since this is the author’s research and search, the cocktails are unique, creative. Pure alchemy!
I especially liked two:
T-REX 2.0 – salty-sour-fermented on the basis of kimchi and mescal. I adore this. In addition, it reminded me of my favorite cocktail “White Nights” in my favorite bar in St. Petersburg Orthodox bar.
I also liked the delicate and multifaceted sweet and sour Librdade sour.
The service here is also amazing.
By the way, these owners have two more bars (Uni and Toca Da Raposa), they have a different concept in style, but the quality of the drinks is also super cool. So I can safely recommend them too.
Unusual.
And I highly recommend trying the local specialty – Cherimoya fruit (Latin Annona cherimola). It tastes like a mix of pear, banana, strawberry and feijoa)))
