Jen & Angel in Europe: Lisbon Day 1 - Tagide Restaurant, Pastel de Nata, Santa Justa elevator, Rue Augusta, Praco do Comercio, Mini Bar

10/29/2015 - Our internet speed sucked throughout Portugal and Spain (five minutes to upload one picture. ONE! And it kept crashing!), so I've been writing everything down on Word every day. By the time internet was a go in London, I was too busy to upload (I've been averaging 3-4 hours of sleep every day for the past month!), so now I'm playing catch up. Without further ado~

10/3/2015

We're here in beautiful Lisbon, Portugal!

We made it! Besides the fact that we never got the chance to sleep on the thirteen-hour flight over because two loudmouth empty-headed women in front of us were blabbing the entire way. And I mean the ENTIRE way. They never let up once. They didn’t even know each other at the beginning of the flight, but by the end of the flight, our whole section knew their life stories! They kept drinking (United flight attendants really shouldn’t have given them anymore after a certain point), and just kept getting louder and louder. The people around us kept turning to them and glaring, but were too polite to say anything (Europeans are too nice!). I’m pretty ashamed to be American right now. Especially when one of the girls kept saying, “I’m American!” as if that was her excuse for being so loud. No, please don’t advertise the fact and make everyone else in the world hate us. Please.

She was so oblivious, she actually said to the other girl, “I don’t think we’re being disruptive at all.” Yeah, if you’re on a plane full of deaf people!

I used to think the scene in My Fair Lady, where Prof. Higgins turns on the recording machines with all the high-pitched women’s voices and concludes he’ll never let a woman in his life, was completely sexist.

Now, I have to say I agree. Her high-pitched voice is still ringing in my ear…12 hours later. Just keep blabbing and blabbing…

Anyway.

Our luggage came out first because we had a tight connection at LHR, so we were able to clear customs in record time, get out of the airport and into the metro. The metro is literally ten feet away from the airport, which was awesome. Buying the Viva Viadem at the ticket kiosk was also a breeze, as everything's in English. You do have to pay a nominal 0.50 euro deposit fee per ticket, but all in all, that works out to 1.9 euro for a one-way ticket from the airport to our apartment in the city center. Cheap, right?

We were running nearly thirty minutes behind schedule, so by the time we finally arrived at the apartment, I was panicking that our greeter had already left. Indeed, there was no one waiting for us at the front door. I had no cell, so no way to get in touch with her. Thankfully, as we were discussing our options outside the front door, she came out to greet us. Yay!

She took us upstairs to make sure everything was working in the apartment. She’d also made lunch reservations for us at Tagide Wine Bar, a request I’d asked of her several days ago. She followed through and thank God for her!

The restaurant was only a few minutes’ walk from our apartment (I didn’t know it at the time, but the location of our apartment rocks! We’re in the middle of everything!). By the time we made it to the restaurant, Angel and Dad were already soaked with sweat. Even though the weather is temperate, the humidity will get you.

But it was all worth it. The view alone from the restaurant terrace is gorgeous! Overlooking all of Lisbon, from the Atlantic to St. George Castle looming on a distant hill to the red brick rooftops classic of Mediterranean architecture, and the gentle sea breeze wafting through the restaurant, lunch was serene and relaxing, especially after the hectic travel day we’d been through (Don’t get me started on Dad not clearing security and us nearly missing our connecting flight because he stuffed 2 full-size toothpastes in his backpack).

View from the balcony

Or me wanting to save twenty cents/gallon on gas for the rental car, and deciding that we should all drive to Costco near SFO to gas up…and then we couldn’t find the damn Costco, so I was almost late returning the rental car. Note to self: never try something new on a travel day.

Or my doc calling me the day I’m traveling to say they want me to come into the hospital because my sutures are not healing properly. I couldn’t, so they had to rush a prescription for me. Our drive was delayed by a precious twenty minutes because of this…and just…see above. We were already tight on time; we could not afford to be late!

We had a delicious lobster bisque, a prawn scampi antipasto, and fried fish fillet with tomato risotto and cherry tomatoes. Portugal is known for their seafood, so we thought we’d try out all the mer has to offer.

Fried fish with tomato risotto

Lobster Bisque. Yum!

This dish is what the Portuguese is famous for: Garlic Shrimp

Portuguese restaurants do this really quaint thing when presenting you with your bill. They deliver the bill in a box. Nice restaurants expect a 5-10% tip left as cash at the table—not charged to your credit card, as the waiters might never see that money.

Also, restaurants here charge a “couvert”. This is basically the bread, olives, little appetizers they “give” you at the beginning of the meal, much like the free bread you get at Cheesecake Factory. This ain’t free, folks. Never assume anything is free in Portugal, because nothing is. Those little bread plates that you wanna scarf down because you’re starving? 2 euros a piece!

Just politely decline, and the waiter will take away those dishes. They're not offended by this and more importantly, you won’t be charged J.

When the waiter presented us with the dessert menu, we politely declined. Because…

Pasteis de nata, baby! I’ve been dreaming of tasting Portugal’s egg custard tarts ever since I discovered egg custard tarts a decade ago. Mom makes THE best egg custard tarts I’ve ever tasted this side of the Atlantic, but I still really wanted to try out the original thang.

And holy shit, does it taste vastly different. You think you know Portuguese egg custard tarts? You know nothing, Jon Snow.

The real deal is oh-so-flaky crust—just look at those layers!!! And the filling…it’s like nai huang bao’s filling, so instead of silky and pot du crème-like, it’s thicker, has an oozing quality to it, and tastes vastly more of egg yolks than the ones the dim sum restaurants make back home. It’s heaven.

What’s more: all bakeries make it differently. So each one has its own unique flavor. Some taste like orange custard, some like caramel custard (my favorite!). Pasteis is the plural, Pastel is singular.

Angel loves the first one we tried (Near where Rua de Carmo hits Rua 1^st de Dezembro):

The street in back of Mom & Dad looks like Lombard Street in SF:

Which is funny because:

Lisbon has its very own Golden Gate Bridge!

Yep. The same architectural firm that designed the Golden Gate was commissioned to build a bridge for Lisbon. I think they were too lazy to design something new, so they just took the plans for the Golden Gate, and voila! Lisbon's very own Golden Gate!

My favorite egg custard tart is at Cafe Gelo. It tastes like they put caramel or a hint of burnt sugar into the filling, not just on top for the pretty factor (the bottom right one):

Confeitaria Nacional has been churning out pastries since 1829, and are known for their pasteis de nata (egg custard tarts). Among their accolades, they used to be the Portuguese monarchy’s official bakery. However, this was our least favorite of all the ones we tried today:

It's Cafe Gelo on the receipt, but Casa Brasileira on the storefront. Lots of Portuguese restaurants do this for some reason.

My favorite, favorite pasteis de nata (from Cafe Gelo):

And a brioche bun stuffed with egg custard filling, dusted with sugar on the outside:

As always, wherever we go in Europe, something is always under construction. This time, it was the Santa Justa elevator, which is a tower that allows you up to see a breathtaking view of the city. You do have to pay to go up this gray Victorian-latticed ironwork (sounds familiar? Eiffel Tower, anyone?), and there was a long time of people patiently waiting to buy the tickets outside.

Santa Justa elevator

As we wandered down Rua Augusta (Lisbon’s main pedestrian thoroughfare, where there’s a lot of quaint cafes you can sit and people-watch),

we noticed a café selling this:

A lot of people were lining up to buy this pastel de bacaihau. It's a codfish-minced croquette stuffed with smoked cheese. It is pretty salty and pretty fishy-tasting, so definitely not for the faint-hearted (like Dad--Angel's trying to force-feed him haha).

Rue Augusta

We ambled down the rest of Rua Augusta, which ends at the beach with a beautiful massive civic center of a plaza called Praca do Comercio. There’s an archway leading into the city from there, as well as a big horse statue. From the beach, you’re able to see Lisbon’s version of the Golden Gate. Apparently, the architects behind the Golden Gate were too busy/lazy to design a new bridge, so they merely used the Golden Gate design to win the Lisbon commission. So now Lisbon has their own Golden Gate too.

Praca do Comercio

We had some time to kill before dinner, so we climbed up the hill to St. George Castle. Built in the 1000s by the Moors, it was originally a means of fortification for the city. Nowadays, for 8.50 euro/person, you can go in and walk the grounds, and soak in the breathtaking view it commands of all of Lisbon.

Or you can be cheap and just use that as an excuse to hike up the hill. And when you come back down, there’s an elevator of a shortcut. If you go toward the elevator and turn right, you can go into this beautiful observatory deck that also overlooks the city. Sure, it may not have the height of St. George, but it’s free! You can see Lisbon’s Golden Gate from here, so that was super cool.

For dinner, we went to Mini Bar, one of Jose Avillez’s newer restaurants. He’s a celebrity chef in Lisbon, and Mini Bar just happens to be in the budget of what we are willing to pay but also has the cache of great food at the same time.

One of his signature dishes at his fancier restaurant, Belcanto, is a play on Ferrero Rochers. Flash-frozen foie gras is rolled inside a chocolately hazelnut mixture, so it’s crisp on the outside and silky smooth on the inside, with a whole hazelnut in dead center. Just like a Ferrero Rocher.

Indeed, when the waiter brings it out, he says, “It’s not all as it seems.” Because unless you read reviews, you have no idea foie gras is on the inside—the menu doesn’t elaborate on what ingredients go into it! Awesome, huh?

Gold leaf-topped "Ferrero Rocher"

We ordered a variety of tapas-style dishes. Slider burger (no joke, that burger has got to be some of the best beef I’ve ever eaten—Kobe and Wagyu included):

Croquettes with creamy mustard sauce (it’s made with beef instead of spam! Wowza! How did they get that silkiness from beef???):

A play on “Roast Chicken” (basically fried chicken skin accompanied with guacamole and cottage cheese):

And the knock-out of the evening…

Tuna tartar and beef tartar. I’ve never had such fresh tartar before!!! The tuna…let me count the ways I love thee. It was so fresh, so tasty, I’ve never tasted tuna so divine before! The cone that it came in was fried to a light crisp, kind of like a crisp crepe batter with minced seaweed—you can taste the seaweed. It's kinda like the tai tiao huang yu batter (seaweed fried fish).

The beef tartar cone was delicious as well. How did they manage to get tuna and beef with no fiber??? So perfectly plump, tender and juicy!

All finished, happy and full, I paid the bill and we left. As we stepped outside the restaurant, a man in a chef uniform passes us hurriedly by. I stare at him because he looks somewhat familiar, and he stares back at me with a hint of a smile. It was only when he passed me that I realized who he was. That's Jose Avillez! He was probably in a hurry toward his other restaurant, the famed Belcanto or Cantinho Avillez, both of which are pretty close by. Lisbon ain’t big.

After dinner, we strolled the five minutes back to our apartment to have dessert. We’d bought Muscatel and Tawny Port at the local supermarket (for some reason, Portugal doesn’t have big name supermarkets), Pingo Doce. They were so cheap! You can’t buy tawny port for 3 euro a bottle in the States! The Muscatel looked and tasted like an ice wine, so that was pretty delicious. We paired it with all the pastries we’d bought today from the various shops we’d come across.