An early flight out of Dublin had us arriving into Lisbon good and early to make the most of our three night stay.
The metro from the airport took a mere 20 minutes and brought us just around the corner from where we were staying. As it was too early to check in, we had time to get our bearings, do some window shopping and grab a coffee. Lisbon is famous for custard tarts, but as we had a reservation for lunch we decided to forgo this treat for now.
It came time for lunch and we’d booked the Michelin stared Alma restaurant. On arrival we were greeted by a very friendly member of staff who brought us to our seats. This was soon followed by their sommelier who asked if we’d like a glass of something to start, we went with our usual favourite, two Kir Royals.
As is usually the case with a restaurant of this standard, a taster menu is the way to go as it gives you a taste of most offerings on the menu. However on this occasion we went a tad mad and went with the a la carte option.
To begin some bread arrived with olive oil and a herb butter. This was followed by a few amuse bouche. Some delicious charred red pepper and savoury crackers with some cod roe. To start, I went with the squid served with confit tomatoes in a very rich seafood broth, C went for the mackerel served with a potato and lemon purée, a seafood crisp bread and a salsify jelly, both were tasty. For mains, C opted for the pork belly, served with a Madeira jus, butternut squash purée and bok choi. I had sea bass with a clam and coriander risotto, which according to our waitress is a traditional Portuguese dish. Both dishes were tasty but the pork belly was exceptionally good.
To finish I went with the chocolate dessert and C went with the apple tart. Chocolate was the winner here, I’ll let the photos do the talking….
Overall a very enjoyable lunch and a deserving Michelin star.
After lunch it was time to check into our apartment. Yep an apartment for a change. It was bright and very spacious and more importantly spotlessly clean.
After relaxing for a bit, we hit the town and headed towards a place called By the Wine which as the name suggests is a wine bar 😀. There’s a fantastic vaulted ceiling covered in wine bottles and the place was hopping. We ordered some Prosecco, bread and a few tapas of charcuterie, cheese, olives and a fantastic salmon ceviche. Service was very friendly and the drinks and food went down very well.
The next day and after a quick coffee and pastry for breakfast we headed towards the Time Out market, which was our meeting place for our food tour.
The tour was fantastic, our guide, as well as a love of all things food had great insight into Portuguese history which made for a very informative day. We had 6 on the tour as well as our guide and we all got on splendidly. After almost five hours of eating and drinking our way around the streets and markets of Lisbon we were fit for nothing more than a rest when we returned to our apartment.
Later that evening we found a local bar and had a pre-dinner drink, although we were still quiet full after our tour there is no harm in having a little nibble. As it turned out we came across a new restaurant which did tapas so we gave it a go, it actually had a sign outside stating that it was a new restaurant 😉. We ordered just a few tapas, however, I ordered the “roast” sausage, which I actually had to cook myself on a little ceramic bbq thingy, it was sort of fun, although C felt it was a fire hazard😟
The following day we hopped on the metro and visited the Monastery dos Jerónimos but before that we grabbed yet another custard tart at Pastéis de Belém which is apparently where the original recipe hails from. It was tasty but for me the one we had on the walking tour was better, even though I feel they are very over rated.
For lunch we visited a small museum, grabbing just a sandwich and a coffee, before we checked out the Torre de Belém which is garrison type tower.
On our last day we did a lot of walking and a little shopping. We spent a good chunk of our day at the castle which was enjoyable. It overlooks the entire city and offers some amazing views. After lunch it was time to pick up our bags which we left with the owner of our apartment and hop on the metro back towards the airport to catch our flight home.
To finish, we both really enjoyed our visit to the Portuguese capital and especially we enjoyed some fantastic food. However we felt it lacked a little excitement and atmosphere compared to other European cities, but nonetheless it was still worth a visit.
Until next time, bye for now.
C&J
cjfoodandtravel 