Recommendations for Lisbon?

A few days in Lisbon, Portugal this August. Any wine and food recommendations will be much appreciated.

thanks,

Mike

I'm sorry that I can't give you any personal recommendations. However, there is a fantastic new(ish) book on wine travel in Portugal "The Wine & Food Lover's Guide to Portugal" self-published by well-known Iberian wine experts Husband-and-wife team Charles Metcalfe and Kathryn McWhirter. It includes lots of restaurant recommendations and is available on Amazon here but if you can't get it soon enough through Amazon, I could probably contact them to sell you a copy direct - PM/email me if so (they have a little website, but can't find it).

Mike, Hi...

No specific recomendations but some fun background on the city and its pleasures at http://www.stratsplace.com/rogov/da_gamas_erection.html

Best
Rogov

I haven't been to Lisbon since 1980.

Hope you like sardines and bacalhau ( cod ). If so you can't go wrong anywhere in Lisbon.

I don't have specific restaurant recommendations (though I've found surprisingly good Indian food in Lisbon), but one spot I really like to visit in Lisbon is the Instituto do Solar do Vinho (Port Wine Institute) in the Bairro Alto. Many many ports available by the glass.

There was a good Madeiran restaurant (O Madeirense) at the Centro Colombo ( a big shopping center). Also, I can't remember the name of the restaurant (same shopping center), but I had a memorable dinner of a steak submerged in a bowl of melted garlic butter and topped with a fried egg...

If you can get out of Lisbon at all, head East towards the Alentejo - I've really enjoyed the cuisine in this part of Portugal, and the wine is very friendly. Also, must recommend a book - Jose Saramago's Journey to Portugal.

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. Currently in Lisbon, and thought I would do a 'semi-live' blog of the good and the bad, rather than a detailed report at the end, so here goes-

Day 1: We are staying at a great apartment just above the Rossio, details here - http://www.visitingportugal.com . The owners have a Google map of recommended restaurants, see http://visitingportugal.typepad.com/blo ... auran.html . So far we checked out the local Café Tigelinha for lunch - nothing fancy but good food and excellent value for money. Crammed with locals.

Later in the day we visited the Port Wine Institute, atmosphere reminscent of somebody's great-aunt's "good" living room, long list of ports by the glass, most of the clientele are tourists wondering in clutching their guide books open to the page that this place is mentioned. We had two decent ports by the glass, but did not linger...

Evening time a nondescript restaurant south of the Rossio, bacalhau prepared two different ways, both inedible. I think we will pass on this stringy fish of terrible consistency for the remainder of this trip...

More to come

Some links I found on the web with suggestions for wine bars in Lisbon.

Nectar wine bar, Lisbon- http://www.nectar-winebar.com/site/home/
See also http://zoliwine.wordpress.com/2007/12/1 ... ilarities/ and http://zoliwine.wordpress.com/2007/12/0 ... ne-region/

Enoteca Chafariz do Vinho, Lisbon - http://www.chafarizdovinho.com/en/index.htm

Monday 11'th August, a quiet evening at Nectar Wine Bar, Lisbon. http://www.nectar-winebar.com , e-mail geral@nectar-winebar.com, Tel. 912 633 368. An outstanding wine bar, and THE place for a wine geek to spend an evening in Lisbon. Food is excellent, quality of ingredients without compromises, an extensive selection of Portugese wines by the glass at ~3.5-6 Euros per glass, attentive and friendly people, in short if you find yourself in Lisbon just go there.

I will post some comments on Portugese wines on another thread to follow on the main forum- see viewtopic.php?f=3&t=17698

cheers,

Mike