This was the day we had been looking forward to: our Lisbon culinary tour with Culinary Backstreets, and it was raining. In addition, we started our day with a big mistake: we ate breakfast before we departed on the tour. Other than that, it was a great day!
We started our day with a train ride to the Belém neighborhood, where we went to what was reputedly the best pastel de nata shop in Lisbon. Pastéis de nata were created at a nearby monastery. After Catholic clergy were expelled from Portuguese monasteries in 1834, this shop became the first purveyor of these pastries in 1837. Here’s a link to the history of the restaurant: https://pasteisdebelem.pt/en/history/
This is almost all of what we ate for breakfast. We each had a huge breakfast sandwich, pastéis de Belém, hot chocolate or coffee, and fresh orange juice. Enough!
The entire restaurant was decorated with tiles. We don’t know who this intriguing man was.
An original commode from the restaurant, on display outside the washrooms.
We met our guide Célia Pedroso on a street corner in the Arroios neighborhood at 11:00. Many immigrants from Portugal’s former colonies still live in the area. The tour concentrated on the food from those colonies that became a part of the Portuguese experience. After stopping at a Brazilian grocery store to learn about the variety of foods from the former colonies, we went to this unassuming Brazilian café.
Elaine and Célia are enjoying fresh-squeezed sugar cane juice at Garapão Company.
These Brazilian pastéis de carne are deep-fried and delicious with savory ground beef filling.
Célia took us into the kitchen to show us how the sugar cane was juiced. Yum.
Tony Fox, the king of cachupa! Cachupa is a delicious bean and sausage stew from Cape Verde. Tony greeted us more than warmly. This was his first restaurant – opened right at the beginning of the pandemic. During the pandemic he open several Fox coffee shops that were big successes.
This is the cachupa. In addition to beans and sausage, it includes several types of corn including hominy. The red thing that looks like a beet slice is blood sausage, which Elaine eschewed as a child, but loved here. It’s pretty common in Portuguese food.
The atmosphere and decor of the restaurant were gorgeous.
Cape Verdean art decorating the wall.
Tony was so sweet to us.
Next it was time for chicken, which is very popular in Portugal. Take-out chicken was all the rage during the pandemic, according to Célia. This restaurant, Franguinho Real, specialized in making chicken in a traditional Angolan style.
Célia and Elaine partake of Franguinho Real’s chicken, greens, and some wonderful freshly fried potato chips, all with piri-piri sauce. The Angolan version of piri-piri sauce was quite hot.
A contented William digests his food after the snack at Franguinho Real. To William’s right is small portion of the restaurant’s homage to fútbol. Number 26 is João Palhinha, a Lisbon fútbol hero who currently plays for Fulham in England’s Premier League.
Finally, Célia took us to Sabores de Goa, featuring food from the former Portuguese colony in India. We had some spicy prawns with rice and some wasabi-like paste. The beer from Barcelona went well with the food. This probably would have been our favorite of the day, but we were so full, who could tell?
Detail of azulejos near Bemposta Palace, where Queen Catherine of Braganza, wife of British King Charles II, lived her late life and died.
We went to a Galician social club, Xuventude de Galicia, for coffee. We were too full for dessert – a first! Célia chose this spot for us so she could send pictures to Paula Mourenza, our Culinary Backstreets tour-guide in Galicia and Célia’s friend.
After coffee, we walked through a nearby park, Campo dos Mártires da Pátria, that was full of all manner of fowl. This was a particularly handsome rooster.
In Jardim Braancamp Freire, adjacent to the park with the chickens, was a statue of José Tomás de Sousa Martins. Dr. Sousa was a “miracle” maker (with tuberculosis cures) and his statue is surrounded by tributes from admirers.
On our way to our homes for the night on a small bus in Lisbon.
After we parted ways with Célia, we walked to the part of Bairro Alto that was home to many art galleries. William came cross this beautiful manhole cover and continued his tradition of photographing them.
Eureka! We found the gallery we were looking for: Cerâmicas Ratton, which features modern azulejos.
This is the tile we bought. It is a detail from a subway mural by René Bertholo.
