For a long time, Portugal was never on my "must visit" list, not because I didn't think it would be interesting but there just seemed to be so many other places ahead of it. But I've had a lot of friends recently tell me what an amazing time they had and Portugal is one of the few countries in Europe that I had never stepped foot in, so it seemed like I was due for a visit in 2017.
Lisbon is a great 3-4 day get away from New York, although if you have more time, I'd definitely stay longer to check out other parts of Portugal like Porto. I took the red eye out of NYC and landed in Lisbon around 11am but by the time I got to my hotel (the amazing Memmo Alfama) and settled in for a bit, it was almost 2pm. I had read about this Time Out food market and even though you'd think I've been to enough food markets in my life, I'm always a sucker for them in any city I visit. Plus I thought it would be a nice way to checkout some of the local fare and have access to a variety of food without having to put too much thought into my 1st meal of the trip.
It's a lovely market right by the water not too far off from downtown. On the right hand side of the market is an actual farmers market but it was closed by the time we got there. On the left hand side is the Time Out market and it's quite the site to behold. It's massive, spacious and sensory overload. There are all different kinds of artisanal food stalls lining the edge of the market and my mom and I did a full lap first before deciding. The first thing you should know about the food in Lisbon is that it's all about seafood - if you don't eat seafood, you're going to have a really hard in this city. I ended up picking a seafood focused stall (shocking) on the left hand side of the market. Every stall has a menu in English and pretty much everyone speaks decent English as well. We were starving so we ended up ordering a whole grilled sea bass, steamed clams, octopus salad, a beer and 2 waters.
The sea bass was grilled whole and served with a lot of salt and lemon - simple and delicious although a tad on the salty side. The clams were these teeny tiny clams with very little meat in them but they were soaking in a butter and garlic sauce which always makes everything taste better but it was a lot of work for not a lot of return. This is when I understood why some of my friends don't like eating seafood because of all the effort involved to get the meat out. Next I tried the octopus salad and for me I always think of my time in Croatia and Montenegro and all the amazing octopus salad I had there. But here it was a bit different. It was more chopped up and mixed with some marinated veggies. It was hard to really get a true taste of the octopus in such small bites. It was still a good dish but I still prefer the Mediterranean version instead.
Overall, it was a fun and enjoyable way to kick off our adventures. Everyone at the market looked like they were having fun and it seemed like a good mix of locals and tourists. I'm sure you can't go wrong with whatever you get there and if you don't like it, it's ok because there are a bunch of stalls right around the corner. Don't forget to try a pastel de nata on your way out - they're only 1 euro and delicious. Total bill: $44 euro
Minibar Teatro Rua António Maria Cardoso, 58, 1200-027 Lisbon 4.5 Forks
Having just come back from Mexico and all my amazing tasting menu experiences, you'd think I'd be tired of eating 10 course meals. Apparently I wasn't. While Belcanto is the most famous upscale dining experience in Lisbon, Jose Avillez opened up Minibar as a more fun and whimsical version. First, the decor is all 1930's and 40's retro decor and it's got a theater theme going on for it - which would sound tacky but it actually wasn't. You can order a la carte from the menu (they're called "Acts" on the menu) but they also offer 2 tasting menus, one called "Now on" where you know what you're going to get and the other called the "Epic Menu" where the chef chooses. It was only a 9 euro difference, so I figured it was worth going for the Epic Menu. They tell you that everything is served as mini-portions and they were right about that.
The first dish was a dish that was very heavy on the molecular gastronomy - it was the El Bulli exploding olive. It's exactly what it sounds like - a small bite size liquid olive that explodes with olive juice when you bite into. I'll be the first to say that I'm not a fan of olives, so even though this dish was creative and great, I'll just never really be into anything where olives are the focus. Next we had a chilled apple slice with chili one it - refreshing after the olive juice. The 3rd course was the Ferrero Rocher, not what it appears to be! Yes, that is the name of the dish on the menu. It looks like the famous chocolate on the outside with the gold foil but when you bite into it, you're in for a treat...spoiler alert, it's foie gras on the inside. Thank god there was only 1 per person because the combination of the chocolate and foie gras as super decadent and heavy. Next came a "roasted chicken" with avocado cream, cottage cheese, and piri piri. Again this is not what you think, it's basically a flat cracker with a couple of dots of cream and flavor. It was my least favorite dish of the night.
The next dish was a sweet shrimp ceviche and it was fantastic. Served cold and raw with a simple lime to it. Yum! Next came a low temperature egg with with parmesan and breadcrumbs. It was an interesting dish - it was a runny egg then mixed with the crunch of the breadcrumbs and light flavor of the parm. I didn't quite know what to make of it and if I was ordering a la carte, I probably wouldn't have picked it but it was totally fine tasting.
The next 4 dishes were the stars of the show. The beef tartare in a cone and tuna tartar in a cone were freaking out of the world. They were perfect in texture, flavor and presentation. I could have eaten 10 of these if I had the chance. Best dishes of the night. Next we had the scallops which were pan seared with Thai flavors - very well cooked and seasoned and would have been a dish I would definitely have ordered a la carte. Lastly, the meal ended with mini burgers which I know kind sounds lame but they were super tasty and served with these mini tater tots and spicy mayo. The meat was tender and and bun soft and held up well with the juices. Who knew they had this kind of comfort food over there too? It was very satisfying ending for the meal in this weird way. For dessert it started with a neon green lime yuzu ice ball with ice cream inside - the presentation was very bright and impressive, although taste wise it was a bit on the bland side with the massive amount of ice from the ice ball. Luckily there was a second dessert which was amazing, a passion fruit marshmallow. If you like passion fruit, you'll love this bite size dessert.
Despite it being 10 courses, the meal was very quick. The food came out rapidly and because they were such small bites, we got through everything in probably an hour and a half (unlike my experiences in Mexico where meals would last 2-3 hours). We definitely got there on the early side as the restaurant was getting packed just as we were leaving around 9pm. Similar to Spain, people here eat late, so either make a reservation or come right when it opens at 7ish like we did - they told us that they needed the table back at 9:30 but clearly that wasn't going to be an issue. This was a super fun and tasty dinner and I was a more than adequate substitute for not checking out Belcanto. The tasting menu was a great way to try out a lot of the dishes on the menu - although there were still a few dishes on the a la carte menu that we didn't get that I wish we did (tempura avocado and the codfish). I should also give a shout out to the wait staff as they were super nice and easily explained all the dishes. The waitress also suggested an amazing local wine that I wish I had gotten the name of because it was smooth and exactly what I was looking for in a local wine. The price point is also extremely affordable for the quality and level of food you're getting here. Nothing on the a la carte menu is more than 12 euros. The total bill for 2 Epic tasting menus and a wine = 121 euros.
Photo Credit: Yelp
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