The Eater Guide to Lisbon

Lisbon eats well and looks good doing it. The city is a wonderland of narrow cobblestone streets, opulent tiled buildings, vintage yellow trams, and stunning views at every (hilly) turn. Ornate kiosks provision local parks with drinks and snacks, neighborhood pastelarias serve classic sweets made by hand, rustic tascas sling classic Portuguese dishes, and the city’s diverse immigrant communities cook cuisines from Goa to Cape Verde to Brazil. The tourism boom means crowded streets and tourist traps — but as Lisbon thrives, so does its cutting-edge dining culture, which for now blends harmoniously with the city’s old-school traditions.

This is not a city to visit with an epic checklist, to eat across at a breakneck speed all while Instagramming furiously. This is a city to wander for hours before sipping a beer in the park. It’s the place to indulge a sweet tooth and dig into grilled meats paired with good, affordable wine. Take your time in Lisbon — and yes, always order another egg tart.

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The city’s absolute essentials

• The 38 essential restaurants in Lisbon
• The hottest new restaurants in town
• What to definitely try — and what to skip

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Where to find the very best pastéis de nata

Everything you need to know about Lisbon’s famous egg tart.

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Explore rustic, traditional Portuguese food

• Classic dishes to try — and where to find them
• Why you must have lunch in a tasca
• Decoding twelve iconic Portuguese sweets

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One perfect day of eating across Lisbon

From pastéis de nata to ginjinha to cozido à portuguesa, here is everything you need to eat in a single food-fueled day.

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Dining experiences you can only have in Lisbon

• How to navigate the city’s secret Chinese restaurants
• Intendente is the most interesting food neighborhood in the city
• Your primer on Lisbon’s burgeoning high-end dining scene

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How to take Lisbon home

• High-quality canned seafood is the perfect souvenir
• Make porto tónico your drink of the summer

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Editor: Meghan McCarron
Project Manager: Amy McKeever
Consulting Editor: Célia Pedroso
Copy Editor: Dawn Mobley
Logo Illustrator: Angie Wang
Cover Image: Joana Freitas
Contributors: Miguel Andrade, Adrian Covert, Joana Freitas, Ana Gil, Amanda Kludt, Meghan McCarron, Ansel Mullins, Miguel Pires, Célia Pedroso, Rafael Tonon
Thanks to Amanda Kludt, Matt Buchanan, Hillary Dixler, Sonia Chopra, Helen Rosner, Adam Moussa, Mary Hough, Esra Erol, Brittany Holloway-Brown, James Park, Ansel Mullins, André Magalhães, Miguel Pires, Miguel Andrade