365 Bristol travels the world: Lisbon
Posted on: 26 Sep 2017Welcome to the first of our new travel series. We’ll be looking at destinations with direct flights from Bristol, and places within the UK. For the first destination in our series, we're going to travel somewhere warm; perfect for travelling now as we head towards our chilly autumn. Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, has a pleasant climate year-round, making it ideal for a city break at any time.
For those living in Bristol, Lisbon has a familiar feel; there’s a focus on great food and cocktails, there’s a famous river and bridge, and it’s a city that’s easy to walk around. Flights from Bristol are with Easyjet, and at the time of writing, you can depart on any day except Saturday and Monday. Flights range from £25 to £115 depending on the time of year. We visited in May, and our flights came to a total of about £250 for two people, both opting to pay extra for extra legroom.
Lisbon airport is a short distance from the city, and there are many options for travelling into the centre. We opted for a taxi which cots 12€. While in Lisbon, we discovered that Uber is a lot cheaper than in Bristol. We got an Uber back to the airport and it was around 9€, so a real bargain.
I chose to stay in an apartment in the Baixa (pronounced ‘buy-sha’) area. I chose Baixa because of its proximity to the river. After arriving, we realised that because Baixa is at the bottom of all the hills, wherever we walked in the day, our walk home was always downhill; very much preferable to the alternative! Lisbon has several ‘parishes’ all with their own character. They are all close together in terms of distance, but be prepared for a lot of hills.
Choosing where to eat and drink is always a lot of fun, and we were very lucky to be invited to dine at some amazing restaurants.
As Salgadeiras is located in Bairro Alto and serves traditional Portuguese food. The building was formerly a bakery and had been sensitively renovated to keep many of the original features, and there are many beautiful archways inside. One of the former bread ovens now houses the wine cellar. The lovely staff are very happy to show you around and tell you more about the history of the place.
To start we shared a portion of bread and had a selection of accompaniments. The garlic butter, ‘tuna mousse’ and olives were tasty but the star of the show here was the Azeitão, a sheep’s milk cheese. Served with a spoon for scooping, this creamy cheese is tangy and moreish and could easily be a meal when served with a hunk of bread. Portions at As Salgadeiras are very generous, so make sure you arrive very hungry! My husband and I chose the Trilogia de Bacalhau which is a ‘trilogy of codfish’ and the menu states that it serves two people, but even if there were three people dining you’d still have plenty. The three different dishes are all really hearty and filling. We both particularly enjoyed the rich, creamy Bacalhau à Braz which is made from salt cod, eggs and mashed potato. Despite being very full, I couldn’t resist coming back to this dish for another mouthful, and then another, and then another. We couldn’t manage pudding but there’s a wide variety of fruity and chocolately options.
What I loved about As Salgadeiras was the cosy and beautiful building, the wonderful service and the fact that it gave us the opportunity to try some traditional Portuguese cuisine. I have to admit that prior to travelling, I didn’t have much knowledge about it other than piri piri chicken, so it was great to widen my horizons.
We know a good cocktail here in Bristol, but I need to give Lisbon’s cocktail specialists their due; theirs were spectacular. The skill and intricacy that went into each drink was astounding. Due to time constraints, we were not able to eat dinner at Bistro 100 Maneiras but we were invited to try some cocktails. If your budget won’t quite stretch to a meal there, definitely head to their cocktail bar to try a little of their culinary magic. When we visited, the voting had just finished on Lisbon’s Cocktail Week, but we got to try 100 Maneiras’ entry to the competition; the ‘Pineapple Incident’, and also the ‘Cha Cha Cha’. The Cha Cha Cha is a play on the word ‘chai’ meaning tea, and hence the three little cups. It arrived on a wooden board, and after it’s placed on the table, a little dome is whisked away to release the scent of smoked tea. As well as pineapple, the ‘Pineapple Incident’ has hints of rosemary and cinnamon. It was such an intriguing combination; with every sip I was trying to work out the ingredients.
While we had our cocktails, we were treated to a portion of crispy potato skins with truffled sauce to dip. This was heavenly; there was just enough truffle to give the sauce that unmistakeable heady fragrance. The decor of Bistro 100 Maneiras is also worthy of note; I loved the books on the wall and ceiling, and the embedded knives. Behind the cabinet doors are little dioramas with moss and gilded model insects. It really was a feast for the senses. I can only begin to imagine how amazing the food must be, based on our experience so far.
The next two venues belong to José Avillez, who is one of Portugal’s most highly regarded chefs. Perhaps his most famous restaurant is the two Michelin starred Belcanto. Avillez was the first Portuguese chef to be awarded two stars. The two venues we visited, Cantinho do Avillez and Beco (see below) are very different in character, but share the same exceptional skill in their food. We visited Cantinho do Avillez for lunch. It is tucked away down a quiet side street in the Chiado area. The menu is predominantly Portuguese in origin, with some influences from Avillez’s travels. The styling of the restaurant is just my cup of tea; clean, minimal and bright, with comfortable chairs and simple, stylish tableware. We began our meals with lovely fruity cocktails; perfect for a scorching hot day. For my starter, I chose fish soup and Simon had the ‘small partridge pies’. Before our starters arrived, we were given some bread and accompaniments (this is standard practice in Portugal. There is a charge for these items but it’s fine to send them away if you don’t want them. However in our experience, we got to try some wonderful things through this course, I will always accept them, particularly in a gourmet restaurant). At Cantinho do Avillez the accompaniments were truffle butter, ‘cream of tomato’ and olives. I hadn’t tried truffle before this Christmas, and it was love at first whiff, so I was very pleased with its appearance here. The chilled cream of tomato was simply sublime. It’s like a thick soup, and the tomato flavour was really intense and complimented perfectly by the cream. I’ve never tasted anything quite like it. To begin with, I daintily dipped my bread into it, but I am not ashamed to admit that by the end, I wiped the little cup clean with my finger.
The fish soup was absolutely textbook; velvety and rich. I loved the croutons with their little garlicky hats. Simon’s partridge pies were really delicious. The pastry is a little different to pastry we would get here; the flavour is similar, but it’s soft and crumbly. For our main courses, I chose fried scallops with sweet potato, green asparagus and tomato, and Simon had flaked cod with breadcrumbs, LT (i.e. low temperature) egg and ‘exploding’ olives. My scallops were perfectly cooked, sweet and delicate, and the veg that accompanied them was balanced and considered. In Simon’s dish, the ‘exploding’ olives were so much fun! At first look, they look like regular olives but in fact, they’re bubbles of olive gel that pop in your mouth or under your knife. They served as little bursts of flavour, and as a sauce on the dish.
For pudding, I had chocolate cake with strawberry ice cream, and Simon had the ‘life changing’ Hazlenut dessert. My chocolate cake was everything you’d want in a chocolate cake; rich and moist. The ice cream was really fresh and tasted of actual strawberries. It was a lovely combination. Simon’s hazelnut dessert was lovely too; sweet and intense. This meal was really wonderful; fresh and simple flavours combined with uncommon skill in execution. I can’t recommend Cantinho do Avillez highly enough.
Dinner at Beco was our final meal in Lisbon, and it was the absolute high point of the trip for me. I am not often lost for words, but the entire experience left me a little bit speechless. Beco is tucked away in secret (I won’t spoil the surprise) and even their website is steeped in theatre. Beco is inspired by the luxury and hedonism of the clubs of the 20’s and 50’s and when you enter, you’ll first notice the glamorous and luxurious decor, and then you’ll become aware of the incredible room that you’re in. The brick ceiling is many storeys high, and behind the bar is a huge mural of burlesque goddess, Dita Von Teese. With just 37 seats in total, you are assured of an intimate and personal experience. Between courses, you are entertained with a variety of performances from the singers and dancers.
The meal consists of 12 ‘moments’, most of which are just a bite or two, leaving you pleasantly satisfied but not too full. Each and every course is a thing of wonder, with every detail carefully considered from the serving vessel to the cutlery with which you eat, and of course the food itself. I love the variety of a tasting menu so it’s often what I choose when visiting new places. Beco’s is the first one where I have absolutely loved the entire thing. I don’t want to spoil the surprise by describing each and every course, so instead I will pick a couple of my favourite moments. We started our evening with two different cocktails; Miss Saigon and Narcissist. I loved the fun and quirky presentation of the Narcissist, and both cocktails were absolutely delicious. Cocktails in Lisbon are definitely on another level! After this, our first moment was ‘My Rose’ which is a petal made from apples, roses and lychees. A single red rose is presented to each person, along with a delicate pair of tweezers. With the tweezers, you extract the very centre of the rose to eat.
Another favourite moment was ‘costal prawn ceviche and flowers with yuzo honey, tiger’s milk granizado and lyo sweet corn’. Before anyone worries, ‘tiger’s milk’ is not actual tiger’s milk! I did have to google it and it’s the name for the liquid in which the fish is cured. Here it’s made into granizado, an icy liquid, served here in icy spheres. I really can’t adequately describe how clever and fascinating this dish is. Flowers often serve a decorative purpose in a dish, but here they form part of the flavour. I have no idea what kind of flower they are but they had a sharp citrus flavour, eating one with the prawn was akin to adding a squeeze of lemon. I was mesmerised by this dish and even now writing about it some weeks later, I can remember the taste exactly.
Our meal was accompanied by a wine flight. I’m not at all knowledgeable about wine, but luckily our wonderful waiter talked us through each and every choice, explaining its origin and characteristics. My favourite was a so-called ‘green’ wine, which is a speciality of Portugal. The ‘green’ refers to the wine being drunk soon after bottling. The one we tried was exceptionally light and delicate, and absolutely moreish.
Both my husband and I agreed that our meal at Beco was the best we’ve ever had. I’m still in awe of how wonderful it was.
Having spent three days in Lisbon, I felt a got a flavour of what the city has to offer and it has whetted my appetite to visit again and explore further. There’s still so much that could be said about Lisbon that I’ll shortly be uploading some more photos and some other details about my trip over on my blog at yesstarling.com so head over there if you’d like to know more. I’ll be covering more about the practicalities of getting around, where we stayed, what we did and of course, what else we ate!
Article by:
Sarah is a writer and blogger, as well as running workshops and teaching. Her passions are food and travel, and you can follow her on Instagram at YesStarling and find her website at www.yesstarling.com .
