John Hornick — Chef’s Apprentice
Lisbon is one of those cities that seems to have everything—beautiful views, memorable meals, delicious (and underappreciated) wine, and wonderful sightseeing. It’s great for those spontaneous “let’s just wander and see what happens” moments, and rewards curiosity at every turn.
A Lisbon introduction
Lisbon is a city made for lingering: over a long lunch, a glass of Portuguese wine, a sunset view, or one more pastel de nata than you planned. Between the tiled facades, historic neighborhoods, lively bars, and food spots that range from casual tascas to standout tasting menus, it feels equal parts elegant and easygoing.
What I love most is how naturally Lisbon blends the essentials of a great trip—dining, wine tasting, sightseeing, and pure fun—into one easy, walkable adventure. You can start the day with a scenic wander through historic streets, spend the afternoon tasting your way through local flavors, and end the evening with cocktails, music, or dinner in one of the city’s lively neighborhoods.
If you’re planning a trip that’s as much about flavor and atmosphere as it is about landmarks, Lisbon delivers all of it.
This is my collection of favorite tastes and toasts in Lisbon.
Getting There
We flew directly into Lisbon. To book your trip to Portugal, or anywhere, and to get good prices, use this Expedia box:
We used United points to fly to Lisbon. If you have slightly fewer points than you need, you can buy enough to get you a free trip from United. If you want to stay in Marriott hotels and don’t have enough points, you can also buy more here.
We travel with only one bag and a backpack each. I have been using this Pathfinder bag for many years. It has a large compartment with top or bottom access, and a nylon panel can be unzipped to combine the soft upper compartment and the rigid lower. The whole bag is heavy duty, including the retractable handle and wheels, as proven by the fact that I have been using it for well over five years. It still looks new despite having been in many, many overhead luggage compartments, and Sarah just bought one because mine has served me so well for so long. What I like most about it is the pockets. I love pockets and it has many pockets both inside and out.
Check out my Benable Essential Travel Gear rec list.
ByTheWine
This popular wine bar is not only one of my favorite Lisbon haunts. It also made my world faves list. We discovered it on our first trip to Lisbon. Of the five nights we spent in Lisbon, we went there three times. We went back again the next two times we were in Lisbon.
We loved sitting at the long bar, under the barrel-vaulted ceiling completely covered in empty wine bottles.
The bottles started behind the bar and arched over us.
The food was excellent, and appropriate for a wine bar (secondary to the wine). From our seats we could watch some of the kitchen activity and admire the ham legs hanging from their hooves. Some of that tasty ham ended up on our charcuterie board.
We especially loved the lusciously soft and delicious Monte da Vinha cheese. I’ve tried to find it in the U.S. Alas, no luck.
Another favorite was the Pica-Pau de Lombelo (Steak bites with with the Massa de Pimentao Sauce). Check out my attempt to duplicate this dish: Portuguese Faves: Steak & Potato Bites with Massa De Pimentao Sauce.
Garrafeira Nacional
We happened upon this 100 year old wine shop while wandering around Lisbon. I noticed the place because it had tables and chairs in the windows, which is an excellent sign for a wine shop.
Venturing inside, we found a broad Portuguese wine and port selection. More importantly, we discovered a wine dispenser offering premium wines by the glass.
But most importantly we discovered another wine dispenser offering vintage Madeiras and Ports by the glass, one dating back to 1843.
If you want to taste some fine Portuguese wines without buying a bottle, or to taste old Ports or Madeiras you can’t taste in any other way, come here, dispense a glass, sit in the windows, and enjoy it while the world passes by.
CLICK HERE TO EXPLORE OR BOOK FOOD & WINE ADVENTURES IN LISBON
Pastéis de Belém
One of a Kind. There are two kinds of Portuguese custard pastries 🥮: Pastel (or Pasteis) de Nata, which you can find everywhere, and Pasteis de Belem, which have been sold only at this shop since 1837.
They’re made from a secret recipe developed by monks a little earlier.
There is always a queue here, but it moves fast. We bought a box of six, along with two Pastel de Nata from a nearby shop. Then we took them to a nearby park for a taste comparison.
We found the puff-pastry-like crust of the Belém to be flakier, which delighted the pigeon with the injured foot that lustfully snatched each crumb that fell to the sidewalk with each of our bites.
The Belem’s custard also seemed a little eggier, while the de Nata seemed a little creamier.
Bottom line: make the pilgrimage to Pasteis de Belem, check it off your list, enjoy them, maybe do your own comparison, then satisfy your custard cravings with Pastel de Nata anytime and anywhere you need one.
Guelra Restaurante
We stumbled upon this Ocean-to-Table seafood restaurant while looking for a lunch spot after our pilgrimage to Pasteis de Belem. We were looking for a place to dine outside on a typically beautiful Lisbon day.
There are many sidewalk restaurants in this vicinity, but Guerla stands out. Why? First, its open-air but umbrellaed ☂️ outdoor garden is enclosed and shielded from the street by ironwork planters suggesting a coral 🪸 reef.
Wispy greenery, which move with the breeze (kind of like kelp), fills the planters.
Second, whole fish hang in the front window, protecting a bed of fresh oysters-in-shell below them.
Third, the menu is really cool. Back in the day, fishmongers wrapped fish in newspaper 📰. Here, a plastic fish is wrapped in a newspaper-like menu (better than it sounds).
Fourth, the outdoor dining area was more attractive and intimate than the competition and reminded us of a similar place in Paris.
Fifth, the menu offered razor clams, which we order anytime we see them, which sadly almost never happens in the U.S.
Although we are philistines who drink red wine 🍷 with seafood 🦞, the wine list was white-centric, but we forgive them because they brought two tasty glasses of Tinto at our request.
On a cooler day or night, the awnings can be rolled down and the heaters can be rolled out, or we could simply dine at the semi-circular and inviting inside bar.
We enjoyed our lunch and other nearby dishes looked delicious too.
Come Prima
While staying in an apartment in Lapa on one of our trips, which is a residential area of western Lisbon (not in the tourist areas), we found this Italian gem within walking distance. It was celebrating its 25th anniversary and was rated one of the top 70 Italian restaurants on Earth.
This two-level restaurant simultaneously feels old-world and cozy, yet modern and sleek, with the fiery maw of a pizza oven greeting you at the door, zig-zag-upholstered banquets, earth-toned tiled floor, and white tableclothed tables downstairs, and dark wood tables with white linen runners, hardwood floors, and wood paneled vaulted ceiling upstairs, and colorful Italian (or maybe Portuguese) ceramics throughout.
We especially liked the tables along the second floor steel-and-wood catwalk, which looks over the first floor dining room.
The charismatic chef, Tanka Sapkota, is a Knight of the Truffles and Wines of Alba (yes, that’s a thing, achieved only by a brotherhood exclusive enough that all of the Knights can surround one big Round Table). Among his many distinctions, the chef is known for having bought one of the largest truffles ever (337 lbs.).
Chef Sapkota, who also helms a few other Lisbon restaurants and strives for excellence in food and service, has achieved both in this popular, non-touristy restaurant. Needless to say, the menu is truffle-centric, sourced — this surprised me — from Portugal, after the Treasured Tubers were recently discovered growing there.
Many dishes incorporate truffles, there is a truffle tasting menu, and truffles may be added to many (maybe all) dishes.
Although the kitchen offers many dishes that we would have happily tried (some traditional Italian and some more creative), we shared three pastas, all of which were house-made: ravioli with goat ricotta and spinach, tagliatelle with mixed mushrooms, and rigatoni with veal and Alentejo acorn-fed pork ragout. All were absolutely delicious, perfectly prepared, and expertly presented by our server.
Our dinner was capped by a complimentary glass of Limoncello, which reminded me of my first visit to Rome, where I first encountered this magical elixir.
After our meal, Chef Sapkota visited us at our table. It was clear from our conversation that this guy has a philosophy of excellence and is not happy unless his guests are happy, which means that he strives to perfect every detail of the dining experience. He capsulized his philosophy better than I ever could: “the restaurant is a home for hospitality, for sharing, for creating beauty through food. Behind every plate there must be intention.”
The only sad aspect of our experience was that we don’t live in Lisbon, and therefore cannot become regulars and spend more time talking with this inspired and inspiring chef.
Maria Palato – Wine Bar
This charming, fun, and cozy little wine bar tucked away on a quiet street has a solid Portuguese wine list and small plates that pair well with the wine (try the cheese board).
It was exactly what we were hoping for. The friendly staff knows what they’re pouring and the relaxed vibe is perfect for low-key day-drinking.
Rocco Bar at The Ivens Hotel
This fantastic oval-shaped bar with a relaxed, upscale vibe is part of a restaurant located in The Ivens Hotel, where we were staying on one trip to Lisbon.
The bar is not just for wine. We love to come here for pre-dinner drinks, post-diner drinks, a nightcap, or all of the above. The bar is really gorgeous, with a stunning structure soaring above it to the ceiling. Leather stools surround the bar, with bench seating along one wall, and a floor-to-ceiling library of bottles decorates the other.
Ponto Com Sabores
We were looking for a place within easy walking distance of The Moxy and chose .com flavor (I’d love to know how they chose the Portuguese version of the name) based on the reviews of other Google Maps Local Guides. Glad we did.
A beautiful (but currently dormant) pizza oven greets guests of this intimate, two-level bistro. Although we prefer to eat at the bar in most restaurants, and dining at the small bar here would have been a great way to spend the evening, we snagged a table with a perfect view of the wine cabinet.
As we watched the co-owner (with her friendly husband) Tati take our wine choice from the cabinet and pour it for us, we learned not only of her passion for providing great food and wine, but also that she doesn’t like and therefore doesn’t serve Brussels sprouts (much to Sarah’s delight in finding a Brussels-sprout-hating kindred spirit), and that the restaurant was celebrating its fist year of operation. It’s bound to celebrate many more.
We started with the signature Tapioca Cheese Bites, which are fried cubes of tapioca and cheese, accompanied by a house-made red pepper jelly. Not only delicious, but — in my experience — unique in the world.
The menu is also strong on various steaks, cooked to your liking and sliced in the kitchen, which is the way I believe all steaks should be presented.
We chose the ribeye, which was perfectly cooked to the chef’s recommendation of medium, accompanied by mushroom risotto, demiglace (liquid gold -see my video on how to make it), and an oil that I think was parsley or basil infused.
We ordered the excellent mix of roasted vegetables to accompany the steak, which perfectly rounded the meal.
Whenever we are in Lisbon, this place will be a top go-to. You should go too.
A BRASILEIRA
We don’t go to Lisbon without dining outside at this centrally located spot.
The food is good, traditional Portuguese, with generous portions, and the wine list is full of Portuguese wines at value prices. But the real attraction is its location in a busy piazza where local musicians play a few feet away.
This is also the oldest coffee shop in Lisbon (and brought coffee to Portugal), with incredible baked goods. Step back in time by venturing inside to see the traditional interior with dark wood, vintage mirrors, and framed photos that acknowledge its long history.
CLICK HERE TO EXPLORE OR BOOK ADVENTURES IN LISBON
Where to Stay
Moxy Lisbon City
Having Moxied in several cities around the globe, we always enjoy their unique blend of color, fun, and funkiness.
Downtown Lisbon’s Moxy has plenty of both, from the casual, steel-meets-glass rectangular bar (our favorite kind, so we can watch people across it),
to the unique wooden amphitheater lounge,
to the various other comfy seating areas and foosball table, to the photo wall,
to the art I understand and the art I don’t (there’s always at least one),
to the walled patio, to the 8th floor roof deck, and the rumored 9th floor pool (which we never saw).
Our room was spacious, with a balcony, where I spent some pleasant time after our nearby dinner at Pont com Sabor writing this review and sipping a glass of Toriga National.
Next morning, the excellent continental breakfast covered the continent, offering much more than the baked goods and juice of most continentals.
The Ivens Hotel
We enjoy staying at this elegant, safari-themed boutique hotel with polished service and a fantastic central location. It’s a reliably comfortable stay in the heart of Lisbon.
Amenities: thoughtful in-room comforts (comfortable beds, good toiletries, fast Wi‑Fi), 24-hour front desk, concierge service, small fitness area, and valet/parking options. The Rocco bar offers well-crafted cocktails and a calm spot for evening drinks. Breakfast is solid with hot and cold options served in a bright dining room.
History: modern boutique property housed in a restored historic building that blends period architecture with contemporary finishes — feels like a respectful update rather than a hotel that swallowed the original character.
Location: prime spot in Baixa/Chiado near Praça do Comércio and Rossio — walkable to museums, tram lines, shops, and major sights.
Decor & vibe: tasteful, minimalist-luxe design mixing neutral tones, polished wood, and brass accents. Public spaces feel calm and upscale without being pretentious; rooms are elegantly appointed and well laid out.
Service & staff: professional and attentive — check-in and concierge were helpful with local recommendations and reservations.
