Lisbon Food Guide: Beyond Pastel de Nata

The pastel de nata is the dish every guidebook leads with for Lisbon, and it's a great pastry. Then you've got eight more meals in the day to fill.

Where is the best restaurant in Lisbon?

Loco, Rua Navegantes 53, in Lapa. One Michelin star when we went (2021), two now. Fifteen-course tasting menu at €145/person, wine pairing €85. We did this for Linda's birthday and it was the meal of the entire two weeks.

Standout dishes: a single langoustine wrapped in lardo and seared, served with a foam of its own bisque. A slow-cooked lamb cheek with pickled walnut and black truffle. A gin and tonic in solid form (frozen tonic gel filled with juniper-infused gin). Linda cried at course nine. Book six weeks ahead. Total: €450 for two with wine pairings and a digestif.

What is the best casual Portuguese dinner in Lisbon?

Coelho da Rocha, Rua Coelho da Rocha 104, in Campo de Ourique. Portuguese small plates, €10/plate, family-run, full of locals on a Tuesday night. The dishes: bacalhau a bras (salt cod, scrambled eggs, fried potato strings, black olives), octopus rice (cooked with ink so the rice goes purple), seared tuna with caramelised onion. €55 for two with a bottle of Alentejo red.

Linda has mentally rebooked Coelho da Rocha for our next trip twice already.

Where should I eat late-night steak in Lisbon?

Cafe de Sao Bento, Rua de Sao Bento 212. Opened 1982. Portuguese-style steak in a creamy mustard-garlic sauce with a fried egg on top, chips, and mustard greens. Dark wood panels, brass lights, bow-tied waiters. Service runs until midnight. €25 for the steak. About €70 for two with wine. The kind of meal you'd want as your last.

Is Time Out Market worth visiting?

Time Out Market on Av. 24 de Julho. Twenty-four stalls representing different Lisbon chefs, communal seating. It's touristy. It's also genuinely good. The orders: chicken piri piri at the Henrique Sa Pessoa stall, bacalhau a bras at Marlene Vieira, beef tartare at Manuel Maldonado. About €30/person with wine.

Avoid 7pm to 9pm on Friday and Saturday. The queue at every stall is twenty minutes.

What are the other restaurants worth visiting in Lisbon?

A Valenciana (Rua Marques de Fronteira 157): the tasca for lunch. Chicken Valenciana with yellow rice, €15 for the lunch menu. The Lisbon lunch you'd want every day.

Go Juu (Rua Marques Sa da Bandeira 46A): the best sushi in Lisbon. Japanese-Portuguese chef trained in Tokyo. Omakase €110/person. Lunch set €45. Fish from the Lisbon fish market that morning. The otoro nigiri haunted Linda for weeks.

Gelateria Nannarella (Rua Nova da Piedade 64): queue around the block, worth it. Pistachio is the order. €4 for two scoops. We went twice in two days.

Manteigaria (Rua do Loreto, Bairro Alto): pastel de nata with a lacquered top, made every twenty minutes so you eat them warm. €1.40 each. A legitimate rival to Pasteis de Belem.

Lisbon food budget for 6 days, two people

About €170/day for two, the cost of one mid-range dinner in London.