the_lisbon_connection blog

Restaurant week it’s this awesome initiative someone who clearly loves to eat, came up with. Basically for a week, a group of high priced well known restaurants agree to prepare a special three course menu for only 19+1€. The 1€ is given to charity. It’s a good opportunity to try those places you always wanted to go but price has prevented you to do so. So last night I went to La Trattoria, a Lisbon long time classic for Italian food. I had the best mushroom soup I have had in my life and then a delicious truffle pasta. Definitely a place to repeat!

As a pseudo sushi lover, trying new places is always great fun! You can find a lot of sushi places in both Lisbon and Cascais and not for a very high price! Sushi and Gin This place used to be known as Infusão. This new project of mixing sushi and the gin trend, has only started a few months ago. Still for me the best thing in this place is the sushi! There is a all you can eat menu for 20€ and the sushi has good quality and is delicious! The bad part? I loved the idea of Sushi and Gin as I love both sushi and gin but I dont think it's working out the best. The first and second time I went there there were only a couple of gin brands and no gin bar that could make you a good mixure! There is only one brand of wine so the alternative is also not so good! Again the sushi is great!!!

Brunch at Chef Nino - Lx Factory Brunch is such a lovely invention! In Portugal brunch is done a special way!  There will be no mimosas and eggs are an option, not a rule! Still it’s quite amazing to get everybody together for a late breakfast/ light lunch altogether. I normally go with friends and we just love to sit around, take our time trying all the delicious options, enjoying the good company and the chance to catch up with everything that’s been going on in each other’s lives. Yesterday I tried another great Brunch in Lisbon! This time in LX Factory! I had been to Café da Fábrica about a year or so ago on a beautiful summer day. This time we tried Chef Nino’s brunch. They don’t accept reservations and the place is quite small, so the best way to get a table is to be there right when it opens at 12:30. We arrived a little past one and had to wait around 20minutes but the staff is very nice, they will keep your phone number and give you a call whenever the table be...

  Home, the lovely town of Cascais , ready to make anyone fall in love with it!

Capricciosa Cascais   is a nice spot right in the center of Cascais and above the beach. The food is good but not amazing. The best thing about this restaurant really is its great view of the ocean and the price, which is quite average. Our Sunday girly lunch was there this weekend, proof that even in winter sunny days you can take advantage of their terrace! I must say I have had a very bad experience at Capricciosa, a group bday dinner that went totally south and had me avoiding Capricciosa for quite a while. However I decided to give it another try, especially because of the restaurant’s incredible location. The past two times I went, the service was okay and the pizzas were quite good. The trick to enjoy even more Capricciosa is going for lunch (so you can enjoy the view better) and sit outside (inside it gets a bit too loud with the families that bring children). Overall the very busy staff is friendly. The simple red and white decoration is easy to enjoy,...

Pizza for the second time in a week, hum... you could mistake me for a pizza fan! This time Forno D’Oro was the place. It’s a recently open pizza place in Rua Artilharia I right in Lisbon Center. I heard a lot of talk about this white and gold décor restaurant, mostly known by its pizzas and of course it’s beautiful Golden Oven. The pizzas dominate their menu, with only a few choices of meat and pasta – this is fatal for me as I always intend to go for pasta. Anyway since that’s what they are known for I also had pizza. Their pizzas are quite good.   Small in size which compensate with a tall, fluffy dough. They do try to innovate by having some pizzas with Portuguese ingredients such as our several types of chorizos, Francesinha’s sauce and cod fish. I appreciate the effort but for me pizza is Italian so no weird adventures. We had a reservation so we got a place right away, but I figure it’s a no can do without one. Parking was a bit hard and, because it was Saturday, the...

Who knew there was so much to say about Pizza? Did you know there is an organization dedicated to protecting the genuine pizza Napolitana? That there are a special set of gastronomical rules and ingredients to do it? And a special badge for making Pizza Napolitana? … I didn’t but I learnt all about it last night! No, I did not jet to Napoli but the very kind chef Humberto Oliveira at Pizzeria Lambrettazzurra in the Center of Cascais, nicely told us all about it and about the harvests of the several Italian vinos like Chiante, while preparing an amazing pizza meal. The place is a nice little hidden spot in Cascais. With a simple pizzeria decor and nice touch of traditional italian music playing in the background (resembling the Godfather Sicilia scenes), this place will transport you to Italy while you taste the marvelous set of Italian cheeses for starters, a great wine, and later on a true Napolitana pizza with the ingredients of your choice. Chef Humberto is super friendly and ...

One of the funniest things about living in Portugal are trendy waves we sometimes have. For a brief period of time, a certain type of food, drink or restaurant seems to be extremely trendy. New places open up exploring the idea in the most original ways, and they go on doing well until the trend is replaced for another one! People go bananas for whatever is trendy! Lately, we have had the cupcakes trend, the macaroons trend, the gin and the hamburger trends (both still active) – and someone even already came up with the idea of joining these two trends together! Hamburgueria de Bairro is one of the places that is exploring the hamburger trend and, has worked out so well it has already become a chain.   Last week we went to try the one in Cascais, I had already been to another one in Príncipe Real. Both my experiences were quite nice! The menu is made up of several hamburgers choices, including a chicken and a veggie one! The bread resembling brioche is always super fre...

Casa Gracia  was probably one of the coolest, best hostels, I have ever stayed at! The first great thing about it was its location - very central right by Via Gracia, one of the main avenues in central Barcelona. This hostal is in a restored old building with one of those cute old elevators, tall decorated ceilings with columns everywhere. We were a big group so we booked a room for everyone which made our stay very cheap (I think we paid like 10€ a night with breakfast). The room and all the common areas were beautiful, the decoration was very nice – if you just walked in, there was no way you would think you could stay in that place for 10€ a night! There was also a kitchen where you could cook your meals and our room had its own bathroom. Very nice staff : these people are the coolest, they will very kindly check you in and are available any time to help you find cool places to eat, go out and visit. Casa Gracia’s organization and activities I had been to...

Movie to get you inspired: Woody Allan’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona! La Pedrera roof top Been twice to  Barcelona  and had a blast both times! If you want to go in the summer book in advance and stay in the city. We were allured into staying near the beach area by the Costa   Dorada which made us have to drive for 30 minutes every day to get to town. It was okay, because we stayed a week and managed to combine beach time, the city and even a trip to PortAventura. But this specific beach area was more a parents, kids and dogs destination, nothing to die for and I would not recommend it unless you are going with your family and on a budget! Barcelona on the other hand is amazing! The red tourist bus ride around town is a great option for you to get an overall sight of the many things to see in Barcelona (and some history intel as well). You can buy a day pass which gives you access to three different roots that cover different interesting areas – even the Barça...