Our Favorite Eats in Lisbon, Portugal
Anyone who knows us, knows we love to eat, and we sure had our fill in Lisbon! Usually when we are asked about destinations, we give our recommendations of our favorite places to eat. As a reference for anyone who plans to visit Lisbon, here’s a list of some of our favorite eats from our time there:
CERVEJARIA RAMIRO
Avenida Almirante Reis 1, Lisbon 1150-007, Portugal
This place almost always has a wait, and there’s a reason why. It’s definitely worth visiting if you’re a seafood lover We went a little earlier to avoid the lines and were seated right away, by the time we left the dinner crowd had formed and there was a line out the door. Minh and I may have gone a little overboard with our order and totally blew our daily budget for this meal, but we both agree it was worth it.
Crab w/ Roe
Giant Tiger Shrimp
Clams in Garlic Sauce
We noticed the table next to us (2 young guys) kept staring at our table as our food came out. I think they were either really impressed or disgusted by how much we ordered, and how we managed to eat it all. Lol. There’s no doubt that we love our seafood, especially Minh!
TIMEOUT MARKET
Avenida 24 de Julho, 49, Lisbon 1200, Portugal
About a 15 minute walk downhill from the Baixa area, we stumbled upon this market when looking for an affordable place to eat.
The TimeOut Market is a place where some of the best chefs and restaurants in town get to showcase their food, at affordable prices! Can’t ask for anything better – gourmet food at an affordable price! We liked it so much we came back 3 times during our time in Lisbon!
The Squid Ink Risotto from Alexandre Silva was our favorite dish, and was the best we’ve had so far (we tried a good amount in Croatia and Italy too)!
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PASTEIS DE NATA (EGG TARTS) AND PASTRIES
Pasteis de Nata are served a little differently and are much sweeter than the Chinese egg tart (dan tat). They’re traditionally served with powdered sugar and cinnamon on top. (I think the Chinese dan tat, as well as many other dim sum pastries, might have been adopted and influenced by the Portuguese when they colonized Macau!)
We tried several places in town, and here are our picks in order:
1) MANTEIGARIA
The crust here is really crunchy and flaky. It seems like they don’t let the egg tarts sit out, so it’s fresh, warm, and yummy when you order it. This was our favorite place and we definitely revisited it a few times!
The egg filling/custard part was tastiest here, although not served as fresh as Manteigaria. We may have gobbled it up before snapping a picture. Oops!
This place also has lots and lots of other delicious pastries to try, such as this sugary donut with custard in between. Yum!
Pasteis de Belem supposedly has the original recipe and is supposed to be the best. This place is a Pasteis de Nata factory. They churn these babies out all day long and the box they give you is still warm.
Maybe it was overhyped for us, but Minh and I liked it the least of the places we tried as the filling was very “egg-y” and the crust was undercooked and not flaky despite receiving a fresh box.
After eating a Pasteis de Nata practically everyday, we concluded that the perfect Pasteis de Nata would have been the crust from Manteigaria with the filling from Confetaria Nacional! A warm, flaky crust, with a creamy filling. I guess it just gives us more reason to sample more and more places the next we return! 😛
Some other notable pastries we tried while in Lisbon included some of these mouthfuls of deliciousness:
Similar to the Chinese Bolo Bao, with coconut and butter on top. It’s very buttery and sweet and you may have sugar overload after, but it’s so delicious!
Baba: A very moist pound cake with coconut flakes
In an attempt to offset our unhealthy pastry consumption, Minh and I made some homemade meals at our Air Bnb apartment. Lisbon has really fresh and affordable seafood available in the market, so we were able to make seared Tuna and veggies at home!
Lisbon’s food scene is definitely not to be missed. There’s a great variety of fresh seafood, mouthwatering pastries, and so much more (that we still need to go back to try!). The delicious and affordable food put Lisbon in one of our top destinations in Europe.
Im so hungry now.