My Escapes Portugal Another Lovely Trip to Portugal! Lisbon Dipping Into Lisbon Lisbon Munch 'n' Brunch

Lisbon Munch 'n' Brunch

Central Lisbon is a hungry traveler's paradise.
From the finest restaurants to the bare minimum simple budget eateries, the choices to choose from are vast...
I took a few bites, tasted a few local pastry products and even dropped in to a Peruvian bar for a pisco.
Simple biting around, nothing too sophisticated from my side.

Among others, the most popular foods in Lisbon include bacalhau (cod fish), grilled octopus, the pastel de nata (famous egg tarts), suckling pig meat...

Still, the pastéis de nata have remained deeply embedded in my memory, as some of the most delicious pastry products I have ever tried.

Trying Out the Delicious Pastel de Nata

Famous Portuguese egg tart.
But its popularity zone spreads out to former Portuguese colonies like Brazil, Macau, Malacca, Cape Verde, Angola and others.

Pastel de Belém is just an alternative name - because the product originates from the town of Belém.

The pastéis de nata were created by the Catholic monks of the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém before the 17th century.

It is believed that egg-whites were used in immense quantities by the monastery for starching the clothes of nuns and many egg yolks were left, which they had to use up.

So, someone came up with the idea of this pastry product.

This is how the pastel de nata was invented...

The pastel de nata resembles a cup - a crunchy one, which contains a cream filling.

On my photo you can see the left pastel de nata has cinnamon on top of it. It's common to pour cinnamon and/or icing sugar on top of it.

The cream filling wasn't at all that sweet. It's a rather mild cream.

Drinking Pisco Sour at the Qosqo Bar

I wouldn't have thought I'd be stopping at a Peruvian restaurant for a drink when in Lisbon.

In the great heat of the strong June Sun, I was yearning for a cold drink and of course - I wanted to rest my muscles and my mind.

I noticed a place called Qosqo - the name was alluring enough (referring to the Peruvian city of Cusco), so it attracted me in.

It's a place where they sell various Peruvian specialities - like ceviche (salad-like with seafood), but also Pisco Sour (cocktail drink) and others...

Upon entry, I immediately noticed the huge poster of Machu Picchu - what else would be so iconic to Peru?

OK, so I stopped by for a drink...

I ordered a Pisco Sour - which must not be confused with the other Pisco drink! I will explain later...

It took a while until the guy at the bar mixed and shook my drink - which was terribly ice-cold, I must add.

The drink tasted like a mix of lemon juice, rum (or something similar), some trace of green grapes and something else giving it a bitter after taste.

Pisco Sour was totally new to me.

It's made up of a mix of Pisco brandy (the main alcohol content), lemon juice, sweet syrup (generally sugar and water), egg whites.

Pisco Sour is a cocktail originating most probably from Peru.

There even is a city called Pisco in Peru - allegedly, the name of the Pisco brandy comes from the city's name.

Pisco is different from Pisco Sour

Pisco is a transparent, slightly yellowish pomace brandy originating from Peru and Chile, developed by Spanish colonists in the 16th century.

Pisco is generally used as a vital ingredient when mixing the Pisco Sour cocktail. But the two are frequently confused.

At the bar, they too used the short term "Pisco" and I also ordered with the same way - but the two are not the same.

In addition to the drink, I was given roasted corn.

I first imagined it will be hard and I'll break my teeth biting on it, but it was suprisingly soft.

I loved the Qosqo Restaurant and I warmly recommend it to any traveler for a unique experience.

You can find it at Rua dos Bacalhoeiros 26A.

Salad Meal in Chiado

In the Chiado neighbourhood, I came across a Vitaminas restaurant - sort-of-like a healthy fast food eatery with meals primarily based on salads.

The place was located at Rua Garrett, 69/71.

For 8 EUR I got a large green salad with shrimp, cheese cubes, corn and garlic sauce on top.
The added drink was a multivitamin drink - allegedly all natural, but who knows... Terribly ice-cold, almost undrinkable.

I bought this as an alternative to fast food and it was just a bit more expensive than eating at McDonald's.

Behold, the photo of another restaurant form the same chain (not the one where I ordered the salad meal above), this one is at the Vasco da Gama Shopping Centre, far way in northern Lisbon.

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