Parklife in Campo de Ourique
Considering that one of the principle ways the Portuguese identify themselves is by their cookery, it's rather sad that most people leave a Portuguese holiday behind thinking that the food's a bit dull and hasn't much of an identity. They're entirely wrong!
I was lucky: I got myself a Portuguese mother in law. She assumed that
the English, namely me, needed to be educated about food. So she took
it upon herself to introduce most of the Portuguese repertoire to me
over the last ten years.
A Casa dos Passarinhos
My mother in law seemed almost disappointed when she discovered that I loved most of it. However there are a few bits of pig that I have difficulty eating, but that's more to do with aesthetics than taste. A pig's nostril poking out from the plate can be a bit off-putting. But it's not all awful looking offal.
Inside A Casa dos Passarinhos
If you want the real thing (and don't have a Portuguese mother in law to prepare it for you) you must eat where the Portuguese eat and not the fairly safe tourist menus found in Baixa.
Lunchtime (usually the two hours between 1 and 3pm) constitutes the most important hours of the working day here in Portugal. If you come across a típico restaurant that's full of people at lunchtime it's got a pretty good chance of being a good restaurant. You have the added benefit of being with REAL Portuguese rather than tourists, and can listen in on what might be bosses with their "secretaries" or just plain normal business people and their office gossip.
Inside A Casa dos Passarinhos
I needed to meet my friend, Célia, the other day, which of course was a perfect excuse for lunch. She works in Campo de Ourique - one of my favourite parts of Lisbon, (it's an easy to follow grid of
streets, which is one of the areas where Lisboetas live, work and shop). To get their I caught the metro to Rato, walked up R. Dom João and after a (not very) gruelling hour wandering round Campo de Ourique, we met at 'A Casa dos Passarinhos'.
Jaquinzinhos
It's not the fanciest looking place from the outside, nor is it a palace on the inside but in Lisbon, the best places usually aren't. As the busy noise rose around us until we had to pretty much shout at each other. I ate my favourite, the alheira, a delicious smokey spicy kind of sausage made from non-pork meats (invented by Portuguese jews, escaping the Portuguese Inquisition of the 16th Century, by pretending to eat pork sausages just like everyone else). Célia had the Joaquinzinhos which are small carapaus, a sardine-like fish, fried and crunchy as anything, with bean rice. At A Casa dos Passarinhos they also do Massadas and Arroz de, which are filling, soupy stews of fish with pasta or rice, among plenty of other típico things.
The restaurant is always full at lunch time so gettting there before 1pm is essential if you want a table.
A CASA DOS PASSARINHOS, Rua Silva Cavalho 195, Lisbon
Go further: If you have a soft spot for sardines, you would probably like to know where you (according to Martin Toenner) get the best sardines the world. Find out here