It has been a while since I have been on a plane/in an airport (5 years +, I think). Can’t say I missed the latter, with me having a general hatred of airports (somewhat reinforced by this trip), or the flying bit (when did people just start farting continually on planes?).
Due to Covid and the pooch getting a bit long in the tooth, we have tended to holiday in the UK over the last few years (Cornwall mainly) and very nice it has been too.
This year, Mrs. SF and I fancied something a bit different (it being a big birthday for Mr. SF) and the Azores seemed to fit the bill rather nicely. A bit exotic and mysterious, without being a million miles away.
A widely dispersed archipelago of nine volcanic islands in the middle of the Atlantic, it sits in rather splendid isolation.
I suspect, if presented with a map, most people would struggle to locate them.
We wanted to island hop and not land on the main (Sao Miguel) Island first. This necessitated going via Lisbon or Porto and having already done Porto, we went via Lisbon.
It would, of course, have been rude not to have stayed in Lisbon so we started our trip with a few nights there.
For the record, this is not a “Best of Lisbon” post (I mean, how would I know over a period of only a few days!) and merely details where I ate and drank whilst there.
Lisbon has loads to offer for wine drinkers like me, I personally think Portuguese wines (certainly outside of the Douro) are hugely underrated and thus still good value, with a myriad of wine bars and we seemed to be in quite a vibrant area on the Rue de Alecrim with plenty of bars and restaurants.
Being knackered and hungry we asked the hotel owner where was close and decent for lunch and she pointed us to a place just down the road on an adjacent street.
Vicente by Carnealentagana
Lovely looking place that seemed to have been hued out of the rock itself. Where we sat gave us an ideal position to view the confusion of people looking for the loo (the door to which was mirror in the picture above).
Decent menu, it served it purpose in filling a hole (as we had missed breakfast in the hotel, due to the early flight time and had had a very mediocre breakfast bun at Leon in the Airport departure area – where you can sell any old shxte for a horrific price).
The place is somewhat a shrine to Carnealentagana beef (from an impressive looking beast based on internet search pics) and we kicked off with some rather nice croquetas (€1.75 a pop) from this beef.
Good crisp shell and very well flavoured shredded beef interior, with a honey and mustard dip.
For mains, I went slightly left field (in a place focusing on beef) and went for the black pork (the Portuguese are as obsessed with pork as their Iberian neighbours). This was partly because I was rather intrigued by the mashed bread and tomato accompaniment.
By no means a looker, it was actually very nice with tasty pork and the “gruel look a like” mashed bread and toms. being actually a nice change from potato (sort of a lighter version of bread sauce – which is one of the few things a bah humbug like me actually enjoys at the C- word time of the year).
The Portuguese seem to have the same half and half obsession as the Welsh (rice and potato combos are common place). Still think it is a bit odd (nice fries here, though).
Mrs. SF had a burger, which I didn’t deign to take a picture of (was nice, with a properly pink interior – the Portuguese are somewhat more relaxed about such things than the UK’s” You will die a gruesome death, and zombies will rise up and the world we end as we know it, if you eat a pink burger” H&S messaging). The beef here was very good.
This was all washed down with a pleasant bottle of red (€24 – retails here at about £12.50 and €10 over there – one of the higher mark ups we paid on the trip).
from Tejo.
Address: Rue das Flores 6, 1200-195, Lisboa
Website: Can’t find one
The next day we route marched up to the castle (well worth the uphill walk or you can be lazy and take the tram, but go early or book your ticket in advance as the queue builds up very quickly) and drank in the views.
After a long and hot, mostly up hill, walk, we were ready for food and booze and thus took to hunting down somewhere decent and wine bar’y
Antiga Wine Bar
We struck lucky stumbling upon a rather nice one in the Alfama district.
which had a lovely wine list with everything by the glass.
A Royal Palmiero vinho verde was rock star good (€45 a bottle – about €25 retail there)
and showed just how good this underrated wine (vinho verde) can be. Lovely minerality, with bag loads of citrus and a nice acidity.
Perfect with a bowl of top-notch, beautifully sweet, clams (€8)
loaded with enough garlic to banish me to the spare room for eternity and some lovely salt cod fritters (€9).
Pleasing creaminess to the interior to these, with a touch of nutmeg and a good crunch to the exterior. Much better than the somewhat rubbery ones I had in Bar Douro in London.
The wine also had enough oomph to it to cope with a very good mini charcuterie and cheese plate (can’t remember how much – €6 maybe- as our server said the big plate, which was €16, was huge so suggested a tone down version if we were eating later, which we were).
Good charcuterie and cheese (including one from the Azore – part 2 of our trip) and a very fine ginja/sour cherry liqueur chutney/jam.
Highly recommended this place, with the staff really helpful and knowledgeable. They were happy to chat with a wine bore like me, I could have sat and drunk in there all day!
Address: R. Santo António da Sé 10, 1100-500, Lisboa
Website: https://antigawinebar.eatbu.com/?lang=en
The evening brought another wine bar (have I mentioned I like wine).
By the Wine
Buzzy little place this,
with a rather impressive ceiling composed of empty wine bottles.
Rather lovely selection of wines by the glass or bottle for nearly all of the wine regions of mainland Portugal
and food based on a mix of nibbles/ petiscos (Portuguese version of tapas) and more substantial dishes.
I, of course, got totally carried away on both the food and wine fronts and we rather over ordered as against our intended couple of glasses of wine and one or two small plates.
The star of the food show was definitely the beef dish, billed as pica pau ( €16).
This translates to woodpecker, apparently, but is actually a dish consisting of bite size pieces of beef (quality loin steak) swimming in a beer gravy.
Lovely tender beef this, with the gravy hitting that right consistency of not too thin but not gloopy.
Wine wise, we went with various by the glass options.
A good vinho verde ×3 (Morgadio de Torre – €6),
a Herdade do Peso Reserva ×2 (€10) from Alentejo
and a Quinta Dos Carvalhais Touriga Nacional from Dao (€8.50).
The star of the wine show was, however, a fortified sweetie in the form of a Moscatel de Sebutal.
Lovely aromas of coffee, hazelnuts and caramel, as well as an intriguing herbal back note (rosemary). Really long finish as the flavours lingered on the palate for an age.
Really like this wine bar, with a great selection of wines, knowledgable servers and good food. Also the prices to drink in as opposed to take out are not gougey at all.
Just my kind of place.
Address: Rua das Flores 41 43, 1200-193 Lisboa
Website: https://www.bythewine.pt/en/index.html
The next day we popped over to Belem for some sightseeing by the river
and, of course, a spot of lunch.
Nunes Real Marisquiera
A rather muted frontage hide a delightfully art deco (and huge) interior,
which was a veritable temple to seafood.
Lots to entice (and relieve you of wads of cash) on the menu, we decided to share a No Tacho arroz de marisco dish (€65).
Before the main event, we had some exemplary jamon
and pão com tomato
A rather large pot contained our arroz and was a seafood bonanza.
Lovely rich stock and on point cooked fish, shellfish and molluscs. I took great delight in sucking the brains out of the prawn heads (much to Mrs. SF’s horror). To me, that is by far the best bit of a fat juicy prawn. A quite ferocious hot sauce added nicely to the mix (when applied sparingly).
It was delightful, but messy work and we both sported natty Nunes bibs
By no means cheap we manage a good 3 plateful each of this excellent dish (a lot cheaper than some of the more ostentatious dishes on the menu, with Lagosta Basco – in effect lobster, egg and chips – seemingly very popular as was the very pricey mixta de marisco).
This place was my introduction to Azorean wine, with this gorgeous number (ordering it got a nod of approval from the sommelier).
Lovely wine this with bracing acidity, tangy grapefruit and green herbs,
as well as saline minerality (reminiscent of the aromas you get from wet shingle on the beach). Think it was about €50 (not bad when it retails at over €32) and it was a great pairing with the seafood rice dish.
Mrs. SF finished off proceedings with a rather fine dessert,
containing pastel de nata ice cream.
Address: R. Bartolomeu Dias 172 E F, 1400-031 Lisboa.
Website: https://www.nunesmarisqueira.pt/
Timeout market
We inevitable went to the Timeout Market (our hotel was only a short walk from it).
Bit under/overwhelmed by it to be honest. Too frenetic for my liking, with it absolutely rammed with nowhere really to sit.
After much humming and harring and failing to find a seat (other than next to stag/hen parties – my definition of hell) we dipped into one of the side alleys away from the man concourse and had a couple of decent rice (one sour chicken, spiked with vinegar, and one duck) dishes.
and (white) port and tonic.
Here, whilst eating, we marvelled at the chef’s asbestos hands (he had a cast iron pan on a ferocious heat for a good 5 mins and then took hold of the handle bare handed without flinching – I was expecting him to leave most of his palm on the cast iron handle to be honest) and the breathtaking rudeness of a Portuguese Karen (a Katrina apparently) when her order wouldn’t be taken by one of the chefs (as he was cooking someone else’s dish) or the kitchen porter (the waiting staff had the temerity to actually serve people who had arrived well before Katrina first).
We had a pastel de nata and some rather nice vintage ports to finish that evening.
Address: Av. 24 de Julho 49, 1200-479 Lisboa.
Website: https://www.timeoutmarket.com/lisboa/
Where we stayed
Our base was a lovely little hotel (the hosts were just lovely, with nothing too much trouble) called Alecrim ao Chiado.
Highly recommend this place. Good location, great rooms and communal spaces, and really good value (nice breakie too).
Address: R. do Alecrim 73, 1200-015 Lisboa.
Soliciting Flavours 