Food Fridays - Lisbon
In Lisbon, the food is cheap and the portions are huge. The seafood is fresh and their meats, beef included, are surprisingly good too. They love their olive oil and potatoes come in all forms...boiled, mashed, smashed, fried, and chipped.
They also love sharing tips about their food. Here are a few we were given:
1. Go to the places with the handwritten menus
2. Order the especial do dia (special of the day)
3. Try the bacalhau at least once since it is the national food and there are apparently 365 different ways of making it
4. Never skip dessert
The Time Out Mercado da Ribiera is a interesting upscale food court. How upscale? We tried piripiri chicken at a place called Chicken All Around by Michelin star chef Miguel Laffan.
The soups in Lisbon are vegetable-based, but not tomato-based. Instead, they are made thick and hearty from puréed carrot, squash, or pumpkin.
We went to this one restaurant known for having the grumpiest looking waiter ever (he's very nice though) and phenomenal seafood rice. Tasty and messy. Definitely not first date food.
These aren't just regular fries. They're fried potato skins and they taste amazing.
Yes, this is a burger, but one of the best Jimmy's had in while. What made it so good was that it was done medium so the hamburger in the middle was raw.
Ta da! Bacalhau! It's dried salted cod fish, and so popular that it's been fished to extinction in the Potuguese waters so now it gets imported from Finland.
Gotta love portions in Portugal. This single portion for 9€ includes a whole chicken, lots of fries, rice, and olives.
A traditional plate of protein (in this case, calamari), potatoes, rice, and a little itsy bit of salad.
Trio of Portuguese chorizo, pastel de bacalhau, Portuguese beans and ribs, and tempura green beans. Did you know...tempura originally came from Portugal?
We tried rabbit one more time, thinking that maybe the Maltese way of cooking rabbit just wasn't to our liking. The verdict? Rabbit is still not a favorite. Oh, and the orange juice here is the best freshly squeezed orange juice on the trip.
One of the many especial do dia dishes we tried: grilled octopus drizzled in olive oil.
Ranking up there as some of the more exotic food we've eaten...a murex is a predatory tropical sea snail.
Enormous, delicious, butter-soaked giant prawns. The meat was so tender it was like eating little lobsters.
We ate at a place specializing in meats, and they had Japanese Wagu beef. Just melts in your mouth.