I’ve been to Portugal a few times, it is quite honestly one of my favourite places to return to. During these past visits, I’ve indulged in an abandonment of local dishes mostly fish, cheese, and cold cuts. Dare me not but I can live off of charcuterie for a long time. My most recent visit to Lisbon was on the slow travel side so I welcomed the Ultimate Lisbon Food & Wine Walking tour opportunity with open arms. It’s time to learn from a local about all the Portuguese speciality dishes aside from Pasteis de Nata (custard tart), which most of us already know and love.
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This experience was hosted by The Tour Guy who did not review or approve this story.
The Tour Guy* is a tour aggregator company focused on unforgettable experiences hosted by passionate locals. The company partners with vetted tour operators in a wide range of countries offering up in one place for easy search. Our tour choice this time around was the Ultimate Lisbon Food & Wine Walking Tour*, operated by Inside Lisbon.
Rossio Square, located in the heart of the city, is the main meeting point for tours in Lisbon. Here, a friendly face in a blue t-shirt will greet you and sort participants into smaller groups. The maximum group size for this tour is 14, ours was smaller making for a more intimate experience. From here onward we follow Phillip, a knowledgeable local guide and one of the members of the selection committee (let’s call it that). Inside Lisbon team carefully chooses vendors they visit making sure that the food is authentically Portuguese and made ethically in-house by Portuguese people.
This culinary adventure took us around the city centre in a wavy loop with six, mostly seated stops. As we walked along the busy streets Phillip shared insights about the local culinary scene, pointing out the authentic stops from the touristy traps, and sprinkling in inside jokes, fun facts, and local idioms.
The whole trinity of Portuguese cuisine is olive oil, garlic, and bay leaves.
~ Phillip, Inside Lisbon Tours
“This is one of the two best Bifanas in the city,” he stopped in front of the Solar da Madalena’s windows. This typical fast food sandwich is made with slow simmered beef served on a fluffy bun. The best Bifanas are juicy and tender, naturally requiring quite a few napkins to stop the juice from running down your elbows. Later that week I purchased one from a food truck at a conference centre, it was dry and chewy, sending me down a memory lane to this first bite.
With the early moments of twilight setting in our group gathered on a terrace for Port and cheese. Portugal is the biggest wine consumer per capita. According to the Decanter, in 2023 Portugal consumed 61.7 litres of wine per person. That’s roughly 82 bottles of wine per person. Here wine is like holly water, you can and should have a glass of red at lunch. Our pairing includes a traditional cheese (sheep/goat) and a glass of 5-year-old Tawny Port from Ferreira Porto, a family-operated wine house founded by Dona Antónia in the 19th century. A bottle of it travelled for another three weeks through Europe with me to find its rightful place in my minibar.
Lisbon is one of those places where you can dine well for €30 and then spend six times as much for cocktails and appetizers around the corner. The conversations naturally touched upon the most authentic traditional places, those where the blue-collar folks eat, the bodegas (tavern). Tendinha Tavern, back in Rossio Square, is one of the oldest in the city, and the only one to have survived the great fire. The sandwich board outside spotlights their current features: €3.50 for a glass of Vinho Verde, €2 for Bolinhos de Bacalhau (fishcakes), and €4 for a small beer. Much like the custard tarts fishcakes can be found everywhere and the cost of them will range from a euro to €7 if you get one in a fancy hotel. The price of the fishcake naturally does not reflect its quality.
Here in Tendinha, the fishcakes are perfectly balanced (fish to potato ratio). Many other traditional Portuguese dishes can be seen on the menu behind the bar. Our group packed in at the back of the tiny tavern, admiring the green subway-tiled walls while Phillip explained how the fishcake was made, pouring the wine from behind the counter. “This place is cool, we’ll need to come back,” I thought to myself.
After a brief stop at the Ginjinha bar where we all tried this traditional cherry liqueur gleefully, our guide walked us along a busy restaurant strip to one of their new partners, Inhaca, to taste the Arroz de Marisco (fish rice). Settled at a long table we shared this traditional seafood dish family style, scooped table side from a steaming pot. With more Vinho Verde, of course.
The evening concluded cheerfully at another harvest table with, let’s call it a red wine nightcap. As we piled in around the table plates of olives, lupin beans, cheese, and other delicacies filled the space between the wine pitchers. The main course, however, is Chouriço (chorizo). Two plates of sausages in hand Phillip situated himself at the back of the room. In mere moments both plates were set on fire causing a wave of astonishment around the table.
Glass after glass moving plates around the group we all became quick friends. Just one of the many ways food brings people together.
In the gear bag: Fujifilm X-H2S with an XF50mmF2 R WR lens* and Fuji XF 23MM F2 R WR lens*.
