Where to eat well and low cost in Lisbon, a trip to try four restaurants in Portugal.
Just landed in Lisbon my first thought went to culinary traditions of Portugal. Impossible to try them all in just five days of vacation, but I had the opportunity to try different clubs and some even outside the classic restaurant circuit in the most famous and historic neighborhoods.
The first thing you need to know, and I was not aware of it, is that the welcome dish in each place is more or less the same, that is olives, salted butter or cheeses and bread. But you only pay for it if you consume it. Lisbon is renowned for its cod and we have had the opportunity to taste it in its many variations in different places and I would like to point out some of them.
In the first evening of our stay in the capital we chose to visit the Laurentina, or Rei do Bacalhau. The restaurant is very popular and seems to have remained stuck in the seventies thanks to the classic style of its furniture. Here, among the various dishes ordered, we have clearly chosen cod, in its variant with vegetables, eggs and sweet potatoes with peel called Bacalhau Lascado Especial. The staff was of infinite kindness, the food was excellent, the final bill contained and I highly recommend it.
We visited Lisbon following the directions of a paper guide and so we also tried some very touristy places. Among these the Trinity Brewery in the district of Chiado in Rua Nova da Trindade, 20. It is an old convent converted into a brewery and restaurant and is very well known, where the waiters are even dressed as friars.
You eat on benches with wooden tables that are deliberately reminiscent of a refectory and the place is frequented almost exclusively by tourists in a festive atmosphere where even the menus have an 'ecclesiastical' theme. Here, partly because of the rush we were in, I chose the Chiado Menu for 18 euros with bread, butter and olives, cod croquette, Portuguese-style meat, for dessert a Carmel-style creme caramel and beer.
Honestly I was not impressed also because I do not appreciate those places where they expose you certain menus that you can eat only at certain times and only a few days a week. As long as you stay on the menus, the shopping is also limited but if you venture to the menu, there is pain.
We toured Lisbon a lot and above all on foot. On one of our trips we happened upon Praca do Commercio, overlooking the Tagus River. Here it is NoOnly Italy, a very popular place. It is a franchise to be honest but we were interested in the rich salads that were served. Of course, Italian dishes were also offered, but revisited in the Portuguese style. We tried this place for lunch and didn't mind at all.
However, we could not fail to try the cuisine of what we would call osteria of the past. So near the Marques de Pombal square, in Avenida Duque Loule 79, we found a very simple place, the Caprilia 2.
English is not at home here, let me know right away, but we ate really well between Cod with potatoes, olives and onion and a Francesinha that, if I think about it now, my mouth is still watering. The restaurant is slightly below street level, but compared to the other places it was the best in quality and price.
