Food & Drinks

The Portuguese in general and Lisboetas in particular take eating and drinking very seriously. How seriously? That’s difficult to explain in a few sentences, you’ll just have to experience that for yourself.

It starts with coffee

Something as normal to us as just having a coffee for instance. In Lisbon they make a complete ritual out of it: a bica (that’s Portuguese for an espresso), always comes with at least two servings of sugar (Portuguese sugar bags sometimes contain up to 10g!).

And if possible, always take your bica outside your house, in your favorite coffee place. Drinking a bica usually doesn’t take more than 5 minutes: ordering, chugging the bica away, paying and off you go!

By the way, paying? Get ready for a treat, because for an average coffee you’ll pay no more than 60 to 90 cents. Everything over one euro is a tourist price.

Tip of the veil: Bacalhau

And did we mention that Portuguese have at least 365 ways to prepare Bacalhau (salt cod)? That’s right, a different recipe each day. That’s saying something, right?

And then we haven’t mentioned the wines. Or port wines. Or aguardente. Or pastéis de nata. Or Bife à Portuguesa. Or sardines from the barbecue, smoked chestnuts on the street or mousse de chocolate and salame de chocolate. All extremely tasty food & drinks and all extremely Portuguese!

In short, eating and drinking in Lisbon (and surroundings) is a lifestyle in and of itself. We checked out a lot of places that serve typical, traditional Portuguese food and beverages.

These are our favorite spots.

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