traditional restaurants
Principe do Calhariz €€ — Bairro Alto
Price: €10–14 for a main course + two sides
Pros: Large portions, wide choice
Cons: Waiting times — they arbitrarily take days off
This excellent traditional restaurant is located between Bairro Alto and Chiado: it is common to find both tourists and locals. It’s my choice when I want to eat good and cheap traditional Portuguese food. The menu is extensive: from the renowned codfish (bacalhau) to their BBQ ribs (entrecosto) cooked by the window.
Price: €10–14 for a main course + two sides
Pros: Kind waiting staff
Cons: Homemade wine
Find Zapata just 2 mins away from Principe do Calhariz. This is an excellent option for such a commercial neighborhood. The atmosphere blends local and foreign customers, along with generous portions. Don’t miss the polvo à lagareiro (octopus of the oil-mill worker). Its tentacles swim in extra virgin olive oil, surrounded by garlic cloves, onion rings and roasted potatoes.
Bonjardim €€ — Rossio
Price: €7 whole roasted chicken
Pros: Terrace
Cons: Waiting staff sometimes a bit meh
One of the most popular Portuguese dishes is the roasted chicken (frango no churrasco) seasoned with a spicy sauce called piri-piri. A mix of Angolan, Mozambican and Indian flavors, this sauce has never skipped a Portuguese table since Age of Discovery times. The interior is bare, besides the usual old tiles dressing the walls. Don’t come with high expectations in relation to the menu: ever since 1959, people have been coming here exclusively to eat piri-piri chicken.
Price: €25 for a main course
Pros: Excellent wine selection, superior waiting service
Cons: COVID has reduced seating booths to 80
O Solar has been serving delicacies for 40 years. Reasons are its reputation and walls crowded with autographs, caricatures and photographs of actors, writers, TV personalities and customers that embraced their philosophy: Whoever enters this house, enters his home. Many Portuguese select this restaurant for important celebrations like Christmas or birthdays because it never disappoints. Renowned also for seasonal dishes like the lamprey (lampreia). Book far in advance. Recently, a 2nd-century cemetery emerged from the basement of the building.
Tasca do Marques € — Santos
Price: €8–10 set meal
Pros: It’s like eating at your granny’s
Cons: There is no choice: you eat what the chef cooked
The owners are an elderly couple: the wife cooks with dedication (according to her Portuguese time), her sweet husband serves the tables with kindness. As in many traditional tascas, the interior looks like a ’70s dining room, with curved back chairs. If you don’t worry about aesthetics, your belly (and your wallet) will say thanks!
Price: €2 soup, €2.50 various types of stuffed bread
Pros: Perfect for a cheap and quick bite
Cons: Little choice: it’s a traditional bakery-fast food place
Find a €5 menu with two of the most traditional Portuguese meals: the kale and sausage soup (caldo verde), and the “still oven warm” pork sausage bread (pão com chouriço). The atmosphere is rustic; women with nurse-like white hats cook in a huge wood-fired oven. Sit on the terrace — with these prices, in such a touristy area, it’s like asking for the impossible!
A Cabana da Estrela € — Estrela
Price: €8–10 set menu
Pros: Fast service
Cons: They cook roughly
If you want to meet a builder on his lunch break, then come in! The kindness of the restaurant owner’s daughter is a good reason to choose this place. Come with no expectations, especially if you’re hungry after the Estrela Gardens, on tram line no. 28.
Ramiro €€€ — Martim Moniz/Intendente
Price: Based on shellfish weight
Pros: Serrano ham, oysters and clams, beers
Cons: A bit overrated, your wallet will go on a diet
Restaurants that sell shellfish (marisco) in Portugal are called marisqueria. This most popular Lisbon dining venue has been welcoming Portuguese since 1956. It became quite well-known among tourists after Anthony Bourdain’s “No reservations” stopped in here: pre-COVID, queues were as memorable as the culinary experience.
Sem palavras €€ — Alvalade
Price: €15 set meal
Pros: Fresh ingredients, terrace, open on Sundays
Cons: Far from downtown
Here you find just Portuguese licking their fingers after Lisbon’s best prego (veal steak hamburger). The fried squid seasoned with extra virgin olive oil and coriander is doubly yummy! Good and cheap XXL shellfish are well worth a cab ride just for the local experience.
Luminosa by Furnas €€ — Alameda
Price: €10–25 (meaty) main course, shellfish price per kg
Pros: Excellent value for money, 10/10 waiting service
Cons: Eat so well (and so much), you lose your appetite for the following 12 hours
Ask me for an inexpensive, traditional Portuguese restaurant where you can eat fish, I say look no further. Portuguese habitués are as discreet as the background jazz tunes. Here I’ve tasted the best fried codfish in Lisbon (à minhota); try also the stuffed crab (sapateira). The waiters aren’t the youngest but they bring great humor to the table.
O Cocho € — São Bento
Price: €8 main dish
Pros: Eat like a king, small and quiet place
Cons: A bit out of the city center
If you don’t want to sit in a restaurant or have three pasteis de nata for lunch again, let the Brazilian chef pamper your taste buds with her culinary expertise. She prepares traditional Portuguese food from the Alentejo region. Located between Lisbon and the Algarve, I like calling it “the Portuguese Tuscany” because of its olive oil and wine production. Try traditional wheat flour bread, sheep cheese, smoked sausages and ham, and raw honey. The homemade chocolate cake and soups are just heavenly.
Here and there
Price: Menu starts at €5.90
Pros: Little waiting time, fast Wi-Fi
Cons: Nothing, really
Lisbon is full of bakeries (padarias). This Portuguese chain is also a coffee and pastry shop and a fast food outlet (a sort of Portuguese Starbucks). Wide tables are generally crowded with students (these days with social distancing) and digital nomads.
Besides the menu, they offer main courses (codfish, lasagna or salty veggie cakes) and a variety of sides (rice, mashed spinach, soup or salad). Try a traditional treat like the coconut sponge cake called God’s bread (pão de Deus), a brioche or Nutella-strawberry croissants. Wi-Fi is available throughout (password: portuguesa) and the staff won’t mind if you spend 10 minutes or 10 hours sitting in front of a coffee. Skip the queue and save some cash through their App.
My fave branches are:
- Saldanha for the modern furniture
- Cais do Sodré for the terrace
- Restauradores for a friendly working atmosphere
