Eat, Drink, Walk Food Tour in Lisbon, Portugal

Canned Fish at Sol e Pesca

 

Visiting a new city can be exciting. It can also be nerve wracking to figure out what to do. I have found that taking a food tour is a great introduction to a new place. In Lisbon I had a chance to take a great one.

Eat, Drink, Walk is a family run tour company that offers several options for exploring the food scene in Lisbon and its surrounding area. I met up with my friend and fellow travel writer Paul, and his granddaughter Katie, to enjoy the Chiado tour and be introduced to some amazing food.

Mercado de Ribeira

Filomena, our guide for the day, met us at the Time Out Market, which occupies the oldest public market in Lisbon. The Mercado da Ribeira opened in 1892 on the riverfront, along Av. 24 de Julho. For most of its history is served as the city’s main food market. Today, half of the building still serves that role, with stalls selling fruit, vegetables, meat, and fish.

 

 

 

Bouquets of basil leaves

Ananas, a relative of the pineapple

Heirloom Tomatoes 

The other half of the market has been taken over by Time Out Magazine. Time Out has been creating fancy food courts in major cities around the world. Their goals to make a space where top restaurants and food purveyors can offer their dishes to people who may not have the time or money to go to their main locations for a full meal. Our tour began with a charcuterie plate from Manteigaria Silva. For over 130 years Manteigaria Silva has been selling salt cod, ham, sausages, and other groceries and cheeses. We enjoyed a sample of their wares along with a Portuguese vino verde, which paired wonderfully with the plate.

 

Time Out Hall

 

Charcuterie Plate from Manteigaria Silva

Vino Verde

From the market we walked to our next stop - Sol e Pesca. This small storefront restaurant specializes in a uniquely Portuguese offering - canned fish. In the United States, you would never find a restaurant that serves sardines and tuna straight our of the can, but in Portugal these are considered great treats. We had spicy sardines and tuna from the Azores presented two ways, in oil and dried and smoked.

Dried Tuna

Spicy Sardines

Heading up to Chiado, we took a shortcut through the Pensão Amor. This bar and boutique hotel occupies a former bordello, and it leans in to that history. As you climb the stairs, the walls are covered with art that is risqué to say the least, and its main rooms have mirrored ceilings. The hotel’s rooms are the ones used to entertain its original clientele.

We walked through the Chiado neighborhood, making a quick stop at Livraria Bertrand, the oldest continuously operating bookstore in the world. 

We made our way to the Carmo Restaurant. This is a mediterranean restaurant and tapas bar. We feasted on four dishes - chorizo over alcohol (cooked at the table), bacalão, chicken tenders, and a dish called Pica Pau. This dish of beef chunk and vegetables sautéed in a nicely seasoned sauce, is named after a species of woodpecker, supposedly for the action of repeated picking at the plate of food. Ours came with fried potatoes to add to our bird-like activity.

 

Chrizo over alcohol

(l to r) Bacalão, Pica-pau, Chicken Tenders

 

(l to r) Paul, our chef, Katie, and Filomena

Our final stop was in the Baixa neighborhood, at the Manteigaira - Fabrica de Pastéis de Nata, Lisbon’s favorite dessert. Manteigaira is a Lisbon chain that makes some of the best examples of the egg custard tart. While the Baixa store can have long, although fast moving lines, there are several other branches, and they all provide delicious pastries.

Photo from Endoedibles on Instagram

Mixing the custard

Food tours offer a great introduction to culinary choices in a city, along with a cultural history. Eat, Drink, Walk is a great choice for a tour.

Nuts and Bolts.

• Eat, Drink, Walk charges  €150/person for their Chiado tour, but the groups are small. The tour takes about 4 hours, and it does go up and down some of Lisbon’s hills, so comfortable shoes are a must, and you should be ready to walk.