If you want a unique experience in Lisbon’s nightlife, head on over to Pavilhão Chinês. This is probably one of the most bizarre bars you’ve ever been to.
Pavilhão Chinês is one of the most interesting and unusual bars we’ve ever seen!
From grocery store to cocktail bar
What was once a grocery store has since 1986 been transformed into a bizarre bar: 1900s style rarities, hip lounge music, elder male waiting staff in a waistcoat and a 60+ grey dude mixing the most extravagant cocktails.
Dingdong
If you decide to go to Pavilhão Chinês and you have found the red door, don’t bother to try and open it. The door is closed, if you want to enter you ring the bell. Be patient because when it is busy inside it will take a while before a waiter opens the door and welcomes you personally.
Fascinating collection as interior
When you walk in, you can no longer escape the fascinating decoration consisting of all kinds of things, such as paintings of Soviet soldiers, models of warplanes, tiny toy soldiers, floor-to-ceiling glass display cases neatly decorated with antique toys, ceramic Toby jars and Flamenco fans.
Pavilhão Chinês has several rooms. Walking from room to room is like going through a museum with curiosities and tacky art from mainly Eastern Europe. The collection belongs to the owner – it’s almost unbelievable that all this belongs to one person.
The tables are in 50’s style. What struck us was that at midnight a lot of tables were labelled “reserved”, but when we left the bar half an hour before closing time, the tables remained unoccupied. Very strange, so in that sense it fits perfectly.
Erotic art as cocktail menu
Once you have settled down regarding the weird interior, the waiter comes with the menu (or rather, book). This book consists of no less than 82 pages describing the history of Pavilhão Chinês, and of course lists the range of drinks from tea, wine, cocktails to champagne. Pavilhão Chinês has more than 100 cocktails and 100 teas in this special menu, full of images of naked women.
Must go
We had a lot of fun in the bar, not only because of the interior, but we also saw the amazement that other people had when they walked into the bar for the first time.
Pavilhão Chinês Lisbon is really a place you must have been to yourself. The feeling you have when you leave the bar you can only describe well when you’ve had something to drink here yourself.
How to get to Pavilhão Chinês
Address: Rua Dom Pedro V 81, Príncipe Real
Opening Hours: Monday to Saturday: 6 p.m. – 2 a.m. | Sunday 9 p.m. – 2 a.m.
Closed on 24 and 25 December
