Would like your advice on dining in Lisbon and Coimbra - all price ranges. Any must see's in Lisbon?
D

Pap'Acorda in Lisbon. It has a reputation for rude staff and "hipness" though I did not have that experience. It is considered higher end, though in my experience, dinner ran @ 60euro for 2 with entree, wine, port and espresso, regardless of the style of restaurant.
http://www.concierge.com/destination.../detail?id=921

Cannot help with Coimbra.

Thanks Cherrybomb,
I will definitely give it a try. The website is very helpful too. So many new resources since my last big trip.

And thank you for being the first to respond to many posts-I was begining to feel invisible. Best,
D

Donna, there is a great Lisbon dining group among Fodorites. Try looking for it in the search option. Or look for Lobo mau's postings.

My favourite spot is "Cantinho do Bom Estar" in Bairro Alto. Great food, good service, good prices! The place is very small though, if you go there on a weekend night you might have to wait in line.

Wow Brazilnut, thank you for the great tip. I will definitely try to connect with Lobo Mau. Hope that you and Cherrybomb check back in mid Sept. I'll let you know how things went.
Best
Donna

Please type in Lisbon on the search function. You'll find lots of advice there.

Here's my trip report from last March:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...on+Trip+Report

Hi Schuler,
Thank you for sharing your adventures (good and bad), I was so engrossed I felt like I was there. You just missed one detail -a photo of the handsome waiter

Be well,
Donna

One of the best restaurants in Lisbon is " A Bica do Sapato". If you want to splurge try the " Casa da Comida " and the "Eleven".

Donna, the name of the group is "The Lisbon Dining Club". The other person posting about it is Matt_from_England. They post great reviews of the restaurants. And you can also try to plan ahead to go out with them in Lisbon.

Just one more thing: the food in Portugal is delicious! Really, the only places you do not eat well are those in the big shopping centers (except for the little Soup place in the Vasco da Gama shopping - try de "sopa de pedra&quot. I like eating in small family ran places: the servings are usually very generous and the food very tasty.

In Coimbra, reserve a table at Arcadas at Quinta Das Lagrimas for a wonderful upscale dining experience.
O Travador is a nice atmospheric spot for regional dining below the university.
Lisbon- Another vote for Pa Acorda. Also, Pinoquios for simply prepared seafood near Restauradores.

Donna: My husband will be pleased--he manages concierge.com!

As far as Pap'Acorda goes, you can get a reservation same day or day before--it isn't *that* swish or packed. Also, despite all the reviews you may see in guide books and such, they do not make you stand at the bar for an hour prior to seating you. Our dinner there was @75 euro, probably because I had gotten the lobster/shrimp acorda at 22euro.

I also liked Lisboa Noite (I think that is right spelling), it is in Bairro Alto as well. The clams in cilantro broth are super yum.

If you are going to splurge, avoid at all costs Pragma--it is located in a casino at the Expo. We got there and I immediately wanted to leave when I saw where we were, my husband insisted we at least go in and look as we spent 13euro to take a cab there. The casino was tacky, nearly empty save for some teenagers, the restaurant had no other patrons. We turned around and left without dining there. I have no clue what they were thinking, opening in such a location and it would have been a 250+ euro meal.

Olivier for high end experience would be better.

Cafe a Brasilia is a tourist trap, go down the block to No Chiado for a more relaxing cafe experience--cheaper too. Mostly professors and students of the nearby university. Good people watching and eavesdropping.

Personally, I found the food to be hit and miss (though I do not eat meat--only fish). At many places the food was seasoned only with a heavy hand of salt and butter and everything came with a side of broccoli and potatoes-boiled, roasted or fried. It was kind of like eating food your mother cooked! Then again, women, the mothers of the staff seemed to be running the kitchen. On the other hand, my husband was in hog heaven--literally with all the ham and pork.

Just my opinion, not trying to be ugly American.

Also, avoid tap water. Bottled water is very cheap in Portugal. If you run out of water in your flat or hotel room, either go thirsty or spring for the overpriced mini bar. The water tastes off and we both came back with a parasitic infection that we attribute to drinking the water. Mine less so than my husbands--I stopped drinking tap water because of the taste and he kept drinking it if we ran out in our room because he didn't want to pay 2 euro for a bottle that he could get at the store for .80 euro.

I will keep thinking of places I liked and add--was just there in May and spent most of the month in Portugal. Are you only going to Lisbon and Coimbra? If you can, you might want to squeeze in a few days in Oporto since you are headed North. We had a great time there.

Quote:

"Cafe a Brasilia is a tourist trap"

The right name is " Cafe a Brasileira"

"Also, avoid tap water. Bottled water is very cheap in Portugal. If you run out of water in your flat or hotel room, either go thirsty or spring for the overpriced mini bar. The water tastes off and we both came back with a parasitic infection that we attribute to drinking the water. Mine less so than my husbands--I stopped drinking tap water because of the taste "

That's new to me, to avoid tap water in Portugal. I live here and we never had any problems drinking tap water except in the Algarve, there the water doesn't taste good yes. But not in Lisbon. Your parasites had nothing to do with the water for sure! Maybe what you had on the flight.....???

Tere: sorry I misspelled the cafe, I chose not to look up the spelling and as I figured, was chided for it. It was rather touristy, service brusque and pricier. I merely mentioned another cafe that *I* thought was more pleasant.

One can get parasites from tap water, it is not uncommon. Not all water is potable. See wikipedia.com, search parasites.

It is not a slag to the country to say to avoid tap water, I did not state that if one drinks the tap water one will inevitably contract a parasitic infection, nor did I say that Portugal was bad because of what happened. I only stated that both my husband and I contracted a parasitic infection while in Portugal. It is a possibility *anywhere,* as is crime, pickpockets, muggings etc. Do you get upset when people say that they were pickpocketed in Portugal? Doubt it.

My statement was meant to be a helpful and relay *my* experience. That is what this forum is for - to share experiences with others. Is every experience common or shared? No, we all experience things differently, as we all have different backgrounds which lead us to interpret the same things in different ways.

It is rather common to drink bottled/filtered water in the US and in Europe-no? When was the last time you were asked whether you preferred bottled or tap water at a restaurant in any European country? The question is do you want your water with or without gas. If you prefer tap water, fab!

Parasites on my flight? That is an interesting concept as I do not eat the food on airline flights. I take 2 benedryl, have a glass of wine and sleep on my flight.

I give you an A for imagination and effort! A+ for rudeness.

Do you have anything to add that would be of help to the OP, or just here to correct my spelling and discount my suggestions?

Back on topic, Donna: I hope you have a great time! If I think of any other places that *I* thought were noteworthy and worth sharing, I may post again.

Cherrybomb, Brazilnut, Schuler, Tere and Happytravlr,
You have all been so kind to share your tips, especially the detail on food and dining experiences.
Yes just Coimbra and Lisbon. I am attending a conference in Coimbra and especially glad to hear there are places to dine for my family who will not be attending the conference. I was led to believe they would not have any choices near the University where the conference is hosted.
I have posted to Matt and Lobo Mau but have not received a response yet--it sounds like an exciting prospect to meet up with them. Already, I know that my experience will be so much richer having the benefit of your collective insights.

More questions- Do I need to make train reservations getting back and forth between Lisbon and Coimbra?

I am not savvy about international phone calling. I heard something about cell phones that can be purchased has anyone tried them?
Donna

Cherry bomb,

I guess your nick must have something to do with your rudeness and lack of knowledge or understanding.

Let's be clear : I wasn't rude but I can be... and now maybe I am going to be rude!

I am Portuguese and I only corrected the name because you didn't put the name right. If you are not recommending a coffee shop ( I didn't say if I agreed or not) better put the right name, don't you think so? So, I wasn't rude.

Telling people to avoid tap water in Portugal is a nonsense and that was what I said and say again. You can read all the guide books about Portugal and I bet with you none of them says it. Of course you can prefer bottled water to tap water. But saying to avoid it is another thing!!
We are not India, you know that?

So I only posted my thoughts.
If you say I was rude that's your problem dear. I think it's exactly the opposite. Your answer was rude , agressive and low level.

And as you think that my imagination deserves an A ,give it an A plus please.

Your parasites might not be from the food you had in the plane but your rudness must come from the wine along with the benedryl, maybe you're using them tooo much......

And please read my above post as I had already tried to help the OP. And don't pretend that you know more about Portugal than I do just because you spent 1 month here, it's impossible.

I hope now you can give an A to my rudness Happy travels ( but better avoid Asia countries you never know what parasites you might get there....)!!!

Portugal has it's fair share of problems but tap water with parasites it's not one of them

Tere:

One can get parasites anywhere, as I said in my initial response to you. <b>Everyone</b> has parasites and bacteria living in their body, they are not necessarily bad, nor do they cause discomfort. It can occur that when one ingests something one is not used to, it can cause a reaction that needs to be treated with medicine. This would be then called a parasitic infection.

Getting a parasitic infection is not country specific, in other words, I was not implying that Portugal is a 2nd or 3rd world country as you seem to assert. (Nor is Asia as a whole a 2nd or 3rd world continent, as you imply with your response that I should avoid Asia, for that matter!)

I never claimed to know everything about Portugal, nor do I know everything about anywhere including my own country/city--it would be foolish for anyone to make such an assertion.

I would only go as far to claim to know much about my neighborhood, that is about it. I would never think, however, that my knowledge of my neighborhood would translate the same to everyone, i.e. it is not an absolute knowledge. As an example, I live on the Lower East Side of New York. I find it to be a vibrant and diverse area with many restaurants and bars. My neighbor who is on the community board may think that there are too many bars and too many &quot;outsiders&quot; disrupting the neighborhood, that s/he preferred the area prior to gentrification and that it was more pleasant when the bodegas only sold beer, and heroin. A tourist might state that it is scary, filled with unsavory people (read: people of color) and crime ridden. Those are all opinions that one may make--none are right, none are wrong, none are expert.

There is a phrase that comes to mind which I will modify to avoid being crude: opinions are like noses, everyone has one.

I will restate what I said in my response earlier, &quot;My statement was meant to be a helpful and relay *my* experience. That is what this forum is for - to share experiences with others.&quot;
Sharing my experience in no way, shape or form implies that I am an expert. Only that I am sharing my experience. It so happened that we had an issue with the water, I certainly don't think everyone else will have the same thing happen, again that would be foolish.

As far as misspelling, <b>you are right</b>, it was lazy to not look it up, though hardly a crime warranting a post, unless you want to share your experience with the cafe, perhaps you like it and think that it is a noteworthy stop, perhaps you don't. I personally would love to hear your take on it as a person who lives there. Maybe I missed something, maybe not, maybe I just have a different take on the place than you or others who like it.

Despite my misspelling, I can be very explicit in stating why I did not care for it and called it a tourist trap, which perhaps I should have initially done. Cafe a Brasileira (I cut and pasted from your post to make sure I did not misspell, I hope that is acceptable) was filled with tourists, service was rushed, there was a table turning mentality and I did not feel like it was a place where I could linger and read a book.

<b> Again I agree, you are correct, I should have been more specific in my initial statement about the water.</b> It should have been worded &quot;the tap water tasted off, I would avoid it and buy bottled water. In addition, my husband and I contracted parasitic infections which we suspect was due to the water--though I cannot be certain everyone will from drinking the tap water, this was just our experience,&quot; rather than stating &quot;The water tastes off and we both came back with a parasitic infection that we attribute to drinking the water.&quot; I can see where this was misconstrued.

Personally, I try to avoid tap water in any country--including my own--my statement was not Portugal specific. And I would say that the water tastes off in numerous countries, not just Portugal. BTW, if you look in the blue back section of the Time Out Portugal guidebook, it does state that not all water in the country is potable and to drink bottled when possible. To be fair though, I believe that phrase is in many of their guidebooks (including other European countries.)

You did come across as rude in your response to me, I was rude right back. Suggesting that I am a drunk is absurd, as is stating that under no circumstance could water make one ill in Portugal. If I had stated that Portugal is bad--avoid it, I would have expected the response I received regarding the misspelling and and the water, but really I am confounded that it hit such a nerve for you.

Frankly, I'm shocked you didn't slag me for stating my opinion on the food!

For the record, I had given you an A+ for rudeness, would you merely prefer an A?

I do actually have a question for you now that we have gotten the flaming out of the way. 1. is there really such thing as a bica being served in Lisbon. It seemed like espresso or cafe yielded an espresso. Confusion and lack of recognition arose when asking for a bica. Granted, I only tried this on the 1st day there, after resigned to the standard espresso/cafe when ordering.
2. There is such a vast disparity in terms of seasoning food. It seemed either highly seasoned and tomato based or not at all, yet restaurants did not seem to be labeled as cooking in a certain regional way. I am having trouble formulating this question, but perhaps any insight you have would be appreciated as the food I had in Lisbon in particular differed wildly from what I have experienced at restaurants in NYC that are Portuguese owned.

Cherrybomb,
I am sorry you did not have luck with your food in Portugal. I find it strange, though, as everybody I know who has been to Portugal has loved the food there. Maybe you just went to touristy places instead of the places the locals go to.
As to the Cafe, I also do not recommend the Caf&eacute; a Carioca, in Bairro Alto, by the statue of Fernando Pessoa. Too touristy as well...

My three favorite restaurants in Lisbon:

Terreiro do Paco -- for a special meal http://www.terreiropaco.com/por/

Adega San Roque -- for their seafood cataplana, a wonderful seafood stew. The adega is across the praca from the San Roque Church

Tasquinha de Adelaide -- for &quot;duck rice&quot; (yum yum) and unbelievably good lamb (and I'm not much of a meat eater). It's a very small (10 tables?) place in the Campo Ourique neighborhood. Reservations required. We learned about it in a NY Times review http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...gewanted=print (I've also tried all the others, and really liked Stop do Bairro, but found the rest only so-so).

And if you have a car, the Adraga restaurant, on the very tiny Praia (Beach) d'Adraga is on the coast near Cabo da Roca. It's kind of out of the way, but I've taken at least 8 or 10 groups of visitors there and they all rave. The setting is great -- just this small restaurant and a parking lot and the beach. The restaurant has a wall of windows that look out over the beach. And the food is fresh and caught that day. I always hope for the robalo (I think that's sea bass).