Savouring Lisbon’s impeccable local tastes on a budget
Lisbon may be i of Europe'due south more affordable capitals, but if you're in search of a spectacular meal, it's not hard to drib 120 euros (S$184) for a three-course dinner (without vino) at restaurants like the Michelin-starred Belcanto.
Fortunately, upkeep travellers tin can plow to tascas: Minor, unpretentious restaurants that, back in the early on part of the 20th century, catered mostly to the working form, and sold wine and petiscos, or shared plates, forth with what was once their main product: Coal.
These days, Lisbon'south tascas – including those that have recently opened or been taken over by new owners – all the same serve traditional, filling dishes, with meat- and seafood-based stews figuring predominantly.
"The word tasca," said Tiago Cruz, the author of Guia das Tascas de Lisboa, a guide to well-nigh 25 of Lisbon'southward most traditional restaurants, "is a compliment, more than similar a guaranteed, trusted value, with well-cooked, condolement Portuguese food, and honest prices." While newer versions of tascas "bring a touch of refinement," he said, "the Portuguese traditional tasca cuisine continues to exist in that location."
Twenty euros or under will buy you a three-grade meal with vino at about of these restaurants, and you can expect to find dishes similar pataniscas de bacalhau (salt cod fritters) and cozido a portuguesa (meat-and-sausage stew) on the menu, along with a diversity of petiscos: clams a Bulhao Pato (clams with a sauce of olive oil, garlic and cilantro), say, or moelas estufadas (chicken gizzard stew).
If y'all're looking for a taste of local Lisbon, here are iv spots – all part of a new wave of tascas – worth checking out.
PETISCO SALOIO
Walk downstairs to this small-scale, tiled, basement-level eating house in the residential neighbourhood of Campo Pequeno, and you'll find one of Lisbon's dandy dining bargains.
The two new owners and cooks, Carlos Pinheiro and Diogo Meneses, weren't even built-in when this tasca opened 30 years ago with the name O Buraquinho, which means tiny pigsty (and indeed, the dining room seats just about 20 people). Their goal is to concenter a mainly neighbourhood clientele with dishes that the former tasca specialised in: Filetes de peixe-galo (John Dory fillets), feijoada (bean stew) and arroz de gambas (rice and shrimp), while keeping the TV on a news channel.
For 8.v euros, you'll get a full lunch, with bread and olives, a primary grade, dessert and espresso. On a recent visit, I settled on a wooden stool next to ii locals who were already devouring pots of feijoada with a bottle of homemade piri piri, a Portuguese sauce fabricated with crushed chiles, lemons and red bell peppers. I hesitated betwixt petingas fritas com arroz de tomate (fried whitebait with tomato rice) and entrecosto assado (slow-cooked spareribs), and settled on the latter, which was tender and moist, served with bootleg fries and a tomato and lettuce salad. Dessert was a sweetness, dumbo piece of syrupy torta de laranja (orangish roll cake).
Pleased, I returned for dinner and sampled choco frito (fried cuttlefish) with paprika mayonnaise; bochechas de porco (braised pork cheeks); and, for dessert, a tasca mainstay: doce da casa, a mix of egg cream, Maria cookies and condensed milk. The cost was 15 euros, without wine.
Petisco Saloio, Avenida Barbosa Du Bocage 38, Campo Pequeno, Tel. (351) 21-796-2989. Entrees from 5 to 8.5 euros.
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CACUE
Amid the tall office buildings and hotels of Picoas, a few blocks from the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum and the Eduardo Seven Park, is the 36-seat Cacue, which has been a hit ever since it opened last fall.
For almost 25 years, this space was called O Tomas, a favourite amidst locals, not only for the convivial atmosphere, but besides for its inexpensive daily specials. When the new owner and chef, Jose Saudade e Silva, bought it in 2017, he wanted to ameliorate its appearance, so he replaced the dark wooden walls with lighter wood, and added a counter in front of the kitchen. He has barely touched the prices, though, with daily dishes costing between 6 and 12 euros. He too hired Dona Rosa, who cooked at the original tasca, to produce a weekly menu that runs to feijoada, bacalhau a minhota (salt cod with onions and potatoes), and favas com entrecosto (fava beans with spareribs).
A friend and I recently had a marvellous lunch that included pataniscas (cod fritters), pastelinho de lingua (veal natural language patty), ovas panadas (fried fish eggs) and turbot fillets, both with tomato rice on the side. For dessert, we had an indulgent chocolate mousse and arroz doce (rice pudding).
At that place are no reservations for dejeuner, so get here early on or late to beat the crowd, merely you should volume a table for dinner. Expect to pay 15 euros for lunch, and 20 for dinner, with wine.
Cacue, Rua Tomas Ribeiro 93 B-C, Picoas, Tel. (351) 21-608-2990, restaurantecacue.com.
A TABERNA DA RUA DAS FLORES
In 2012, the city'southward downtown shopping commune, Chiado, was only merely starting to feel the consequences of Portugal's financial crunch. In that same twelvemonth, A Taberna da Rua das Flores opened in a edifice one time used by a chemist's for storage, and has non merely survived the economic crunch, just thrived. Diners hither will detect an emphasis on innovative versions of archetype dishes.
On a recent afternoon, a friend and I sat downwardly at a pocket-sized table. We started with rye and wheat bread, olives and puntillitas, tender fried baby squid served with chopped scarlet onion and parsley. The servings were copious: Frango com tomilho e laranja, a moist one-half craven with orange, apples and parsnip in a thyme-scented goop; and iscas com elas, or thin slices of marinated cow liver with boiled potatoes (a dish that has silently disappeared from most tasca menus). We shared a creamy lime mousse, simply there was also leite-creme queimado (burned custard) listed on the chalkboard menu. The cost was xv euros per person, without wine.
For dinner, you can sit in the pleasant narrow dining room, or in the back, near the bar, which was once a laboratory, and order Portuguese-Asian inspired dishes like picadinho de carapau (chopped, marinated mackerel with babe shrimps and krill), fried eel, duck breast with kimchi, and a chocolate mousse with a nuance of olive oil for less than 20 euros, without wine. No reservations and cash just.
A Taberna da Rua das Flores, Rua das Flores 103, Chiado, Tel. (351) 21-347-9418.
TABERNA SAL GROSSO
It may be tough to land one of the thirty seats in the popular Taberna Sal Grosso in the touristy Alfama district, but if you do, prepare yourself for some difficult choices. On a Friday night visit, at that place were nearly 20 seasonal petiscos listed on the chalkboard bill of fare, each costing between 3.v and x euros. The mellow dining room features a large painting of two beloved Portuguese figures – singer Amalia and soccer player Eusebio – overlooking the mix of tourists and locals seated at marble-topped tables.
A friend and I started with a bittersweet watercress, orange and onion salad, and a faultless croquete de lingua (pan-fried, minced moo-cow'due south tongue in breadcrumbs). Our mains were bacalhau a Bras (salt cod, scrambled eggs and fried potatoes) and a rich, buttery raia alhada (stingray in garlic sauce). The desserts were exceptional, too, including the cinnamon broiled apple with pennyroyal ice cream, and dark-beer pudding. Include business firm wine or ane of the eating place's bootleg brews, every bit we did, and you tin get away for less than 18 euros a person. Reservations are crucial, and can be made only by email ( tabernasalgrosso [at] gmail.com ) or Facebook (facebook.com/tabernaSalGrosso/), or come after 9.30 pm, when the eating place is not equally busy.
Taberna Sal Grosso, Calcada practice Forte 22, Santa Apolonia, tabernasalgrosso [at] gmail.com
By Miguel Andrade © The New York Times
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