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Lisbon's dining scene has evolved dramatically in recent years to include any number of high-end dining opportunities, but amid the international fare, Michelin-starred restaurants, and molecular gastronomy, the city's simplest and most traditional restaurants still do a roaring trade. Meals generally include three courses, a drink, and coffee. Many restaurants have an ementa turistica (tourist menu), a set-price meal, most often served at lunchtime. Note that you'll be charged a couple of euros if you eat any of the couvert items—typically appetizers such as bread and butter, olives, and the like—that are brought to your table without being ordered.
Lisbon's restaurants usually serve lunch from noon or 12:30 until 3 and dinner from 7:30 until 11; many establishments are closed Sunday or Monday. Inexpensive restaurants typically don't accept reservations. In the traditional cervejarias (beer-hall restaurants), which frequently have huge dining rooms, you'll probably have to wait for a table, but usually not more than 10 minutes. In the Bairro Alto, many of the reasonably priced tascas (taverns) are on the small side: if you can't grab a table, you're probably better off moving on to the next place. Throughout Lisbon, dress for meals is usually casual, but exceptions are noted below.
Celebrated Sarajevo-born chef Ljubomir Stanisic is known not only for his unorthodox approach but also for the slick design of his venues. Expect to be wowed by both the tasteful redo of a handsome Art Deco building and the ever-changing roster of small plates—and, at weekends, all-in roasts. Always on offer are dishes from the chef's homeland, such as goulash and other paprika-heavy delights, and a twist on Bosnia's traditional t
Once a staff canteen serving hearty Portuguese dishes to factory workers, Cantina LX has incorporated elements of its original 1870s incarnation into today’s industrial-chic space. Adventurous eaters enjoy the grilled rabbit, lamb, and octopus dishes, but there are always vegetarian options too, like zingy goats' cheese salads and vegan burgers.
One of the hippest tables in town, Tricky's is a collaborative project between natural wine sommeliers and creative next-gen chefs. Cooks in the open kitchen—the best seats are at the counter right in front of it—create a menu of sharable small plates with Portuguese, Italian, and Asian influences, and they're matched with low-intervention wines from across Europe.
Take a seat beneath twisting grapevines for drinks and snacks at one of the most inviting terraces in Alfama. The menu is strong on fresh ingredients and healthier versions of fast-food favorites, prepared with care. There are vegetarian and gluten-free versions of many of the most popular items on the menu, including hemp fried chicken (the veggie version is made with cauliflower) and a signature burger served in bolo do caco (a sweet-potato bread hailing from Madeira).
The name means "that place that doesn't exist" in Portuguese, and that's a clue (along with its lack of online presence) that this restaurant aims to have an insider, underground vibe. However, it does exist, and the main restaurant is a stylish room with that serves an eclectic menu of Indian dishes, pizza, and soup. Across the street, at number 76A, there's an even less promoted rooftop bar.
With its stone walls, vintage furniture, and broken-in leather chairs and couches, this restaurant feels like someone's living room. The menu hopscotches around Europe, with Spanish-style padrón peppers, Italian-inflected pasta dishes, salads, and Portuguese classics.
Mushrooms are the star of the show at this stylish, low-lit new eatery in Santos. While the menu includes a few fish and meat plates, most of the dishes are vegetarian or vegan, spotlighting enoki, lamb's foot, portobello, porcini, and the restaurant's namesake black truffle mushrooms. The combinations are varied and interesting, ranging from Japanese chawanmushi custard to Italian-style gnocchi and pasta.
Known as a wild child among the relentlessly traditional neighborhood dining spots, you'll hear indie rock instead of fado at Boi-Cavalo and experience a menu that features unusual Portuguese products like mackerel with pickles and green beans–rice with pine nuts. The chef uses his kitchen as a lab for experiments with these oddball products, pairing them with Asian and other international influences. The short creative tasting menu changes weekly.
This restaurant—a glassed-in wooden cabana built in the sand dunes—has a laid-back beach vibe with white-washed interiors, colorful deck chairs, and swinging hammocks. The menu is strong on daily fish specials, with sandwiches and salads on offer, too.
While the main street linking Cais de Sodré and Santos seems to be one natural wine bar after another, Cav 86 stands out from the crowd for the quality of its wine selection and for the sophistication of its food menu. There's not a perfunctory snack in sight; rather, the long menu of sharable plates includes dishes like duck rillettes, pumpkin arancini, and beef tartare with mussels escabeche.
This eco-conscious café sources all its ingredients from local independent producers. There's abundant use of matcha, quinoa, and spirulina, and as there's no refined sugar in any of the cakes, cookies, and other sweet treats, they make a perfect guilt-free pick-me-up when combined with a cup of Comoba's excellent coffee.
This all-day brunch spot does a roaring trade in pancakes, avocado toast, smoothie bowls, and other breakfast favorites. Lines are virtually inevitable at any time of day, but the flower-filled café is a pleasant place to wait.
This bright and breezy Ukrainian-owned café was a pioneer in bringing trendy Instagrammable brunches to Santos's main drag. Its pretty, tasty meals made it famous, so there's usually a line, but the avocado toast on house-baked sourdough is worth the wait.
This trendy café and restaurant aims to be exactly what its name implies: a gathering spot for residents and locals in Intendente. The terrace is almost always busy, and laptops are welcome inside, allowing people to work and socialize. It's a rare café that functions well from breakfast and coffee straight through to dinner and cocktails.
An Italian living in Lisbon had the odd but surprisingly successful idea of opening a restaurant that would serve only mushroom-based dinners. The chefs here have certainly managed to find a lot of ways to use mushrooms: in tartare, pâté, or croquettes, and even in ice cream.
