216 Best Restaurants in Portugal

Local foodies flocking to this tiny restaurant for freshly prepared ramen, wonton, and a mapo tofu with a real chili kick. Service is speedy and friendly, and the dishes are beautifully presented. Save room for the matcha cheesecake for dessert.

Run by a father-and-daughter team, this snack bar near the top of one of the city's main shopping streets has just two things on the menu: the simple prego (a steak sandwich) and the belly-busting francesinha (a sandwich featuring cheese, cured ham, sausage, and steak, all drenched in a spicy beer-based sauce). Many locals swear they are the best in town.

With its quirky interior illuminated by dozens of pendant lamps, this lively tapas bar—with inventive cuisine and fine wines—is popular with locals for a big night out. There's a strong focus on Portuguese wines, but the menu ranges further afield, with camembert, shrimp tempura, and tuna tataki.

While the restaurants along or near Rua 31 de Janeiro may have river views, they don't necessarily serve the best food. Standing apart from them, this ham-and-garlic-bedecked place—off a square at the end of the main street—has no views, but the regional fare served on its wooden tables make it worth a trip. Regular dishes include cozido à portuguesa (a sausage, bean, and vegetable stew), cabrito assado (roasted kid), and tripas (tripe and beans), most available as a full dose (serving) that's enough for two people or a meia (half) dose. If you're planning on dinner, come early because the small space fills up fast.

This pastry shop opened in 1957 in the city of Alcobaça, and six decades later it expanded to the capital. You can now try the tarts together with “monastic pastries” that follow age-old recipes by Cistercian monks, all in this small shop on Chiado’s busiest street. Its rise to fame in Lisbon happened in 2014, when it took the top prize for best custard tart in an annual contest. 

Sample the very best ingredients from local producers and farmers all from the humble digs of this locally celebrated food truck—there are goods like honey, mushrooms, pork, chestnuts, and chorizo on the menu. Every so often, the food truck hosts fun events, like touring "mountain picnics" and small parties.

A café by day and bar by night, Barreirinha is popular with the locals no matter what time of day you visit. This is partly thanks to its menu of easy-to-eat items like burgers, sandwiches, burritos, and salads, and partly due to its location on a hillside with small outside tables on the terrace overlooking the ocean. Huge white parasols shade you from the Madeiran sun while local musicians keep the atmosphere lively.

Be sure to make reservations for this always-bustling fish and seafood spot—rightfully thought by many to be the best on the island—with pretty views overlooking the marina in the tiny fishing village of São Mateus. You can’t go wrong with any of the freshly caught fish (the restaurant has its own fishing boat), along with limpets, slipper lobsters, and barnacles, which you coax from their shells with tiny forks.

The "Old Donkey" may be a relative newcomer to downtown Batalha, but its recipe of traditional dishes and an informal, modern ambience has won over locals and visitors alike. All ingredients are fresh and organic when possible, and there is a range of house-made breads, as well as an excellent choice of wines. Try any of the fresh fish dishes or a hearty meat option.

Until its conversion in 1923, the space housing Café Santa Cruz was an auxiliary chapel for the monastery. Now its high-vaulted Manueline ceiling and stained-glass windows make it an enticing spot for a cup of coffee or a leisurely lunch with a glass of wine. Despite all the grandeur, prices are extremely reasonable. 

Once a staff canteen serving hearty Portuguese dishes to factory workers, Cantina LX has incorporated elements of its original 1870s incarnation into today’s industrial-chic space. Adventurous eaters enjoy the grilled rabbit, lamb, and octopus dishes, but there are always vegetarian options too, like zingy goats' cheese salads and vegan burgers.

The humble bifana (pork steak), braised in a sauce flavored with garlic, bay leaf, and wine (or beer) and then served in a rustic roll, is a lunch favorite. This bustling eatery on Praça da Figueira, Rossio's smaller twin, is one of the best places to try it—even if they don't bother to put it on the menu! They also offer a great choice of rustic dishes at prices low enough to draw locals, who eat at the counter if they're really scrimping. The terrace out front is a welcome sun trap on chilly winter days, but don't miss the informative historical wall panel inside, which includes reproductions of engravings depicting the Hospital Real de Todos os Santos, whose grounds encompassed what is now Praça da Figueira but which was destroyed by the 1755 earthquake.

Originally a social club for people hailing from the region of Alentejo, this hidden restaurant is found on the upper floor of a Moorish-style building from the 1800s. There's a formal dining room serving classic northern Portuguese dishes like carne de porco à alentejana (pork with clams), and a relaxed terrace specializing in petiscos (snacks) and very affordable jugs of house wine.

Without a doubt, one of the most heavenly—and budget-friendly—meals in Porto is the slider filled with roast pork and sheep's cheese from this snack bar. Served in a warm country roll and oozing with pungent Serra da Estrela cheese, it's no wonder there are always lines out the door. Casa Guedes now has three branches in Porto, including a trendy rooftop, but the "traditional" branch remains the most inviting.

Trafaria is a tiny fishing village with a charming view of small boats and Lisbon in one direction and a huge grain silo in the other. Hidden down a back street, cozy Casa Ideal has been welcoming diners for more than 40 years with a humble menu of grilled fish and delicious seafood rice dishes. Take the ferry from Belém and always reserve a table on weekends.

This bakery in Sintra’s old town has been dishing out regional pastries to visitors since 1862. It is known for its travesseiros, a pillow-shaped puff pastry filled with almond and egg custard and dusted with sugar. It’s become so popular that they opened another place around the corner called Piriquita II.

From fixed-price lunches to delicious cakes and vegan pastries, everything is prepared with love and served with a smile at this welcoming little cafe in the heart of Coimbra's historic center. There are plenty of tables in the cozy interior, but the tables and chairs set out on the flagstones outside are the best bet in the summer months. Prices are extremely reasonable given the prime location. 

This excellent coffee shop has a few branches across Funchal, including one in the Mercado dos Lavradores. After browsing the market's fruit, vegetable, fish, and flower stalls, take a seat at one of the cafe's small wooden tables and enjoy a bica (espresso) and a pastel de nata (custard tart). Step inside and you'll see row upon row of neatly presented cakes and tarts laid out in the chilled counters like gems in a jewelry box.

Serving pastéis de nata and other sweetly delicious treats since 1829, Confeitaira Nacional is the oldest pastelaria in Lisbon. The handsome antique decor competes for attention with the glass cabinets packed with mouthwatering cakes, pastries, and chocolates.

Creativity and chemistry combine at this Italian-style gelato shop on Sesimbra’s waterfront. Choose from 18 traditional and fun flavors, including many that make use of fresh fruits. Two brothers—a pharmacist and a pastry chef—returned from a Bologna gelato course to create ECHO.

This tucked-away eatery serves inventive vegetarian and vegan sharing dishes designed to make the most of fresh seasonal produce. The staff goes out of its way to explain the dishes and provide recommendations; sharing is key here, so plan on three petiscos (small plates) between two people. This is the original location, but if it's full try Fangas Maior a few doors down, which also has fish and meat options. 

A fragrant, flower-filled terrace and a colorful multi-room interior complete with board games, roaring fire, and resident cat make this a lovely spot for a drink and a light meal whatever the weather. Home-baked cakes and pastries vary daily, while cheese and charcuterie boards are among the enduringly popular sharing plates.

A tourist attraction in its own right, this tiny bar just off Rossio square is the best place in Baixa to sample Lisbon's famous ginjinha. Open since 1840, when the Galician Francisco Espinheira became the first purveyor of the spirit in Lisbon, the bar serves the sweet drink with or without cherries (opt for the version with fruit if you want to convince yourself you're getting some vitamins).

Enjoy colorful salads, seafood, and other light meals with a view over Cascais Bay at this laid-back restaurant-bar in the center of town. Sharing plates and a lively musical backdrop make for a sociable atmosphere, and the sea breezes blowing through the open windows keep things fresh on hot days. For the best views, book a table on the terrace.

Vegans in the know head to this little place off Rua Garrett, which has a well-priced varied buffet of salads, hot entrées, sides, and sauces for both lunch and dinner. Desserts and drinks—which include some great fresh juices as well as craft beers—are extra.

From the road, this restaurant doesn't look like much—a fading yellow building with a few signs outside to attract the tourists—but step inside and you'll be blown away by the views of the valley from the balcony in the rear. There's a huge wood oven where they grill whole chickens, serving the tender meat with generous bowls of bolo do caco (flatbread).

These twin restaurants are among a dwindling band in Baixa serving excellent traditional food. House specialties include bacalhau à minhota (fried codfish with onions and potatoes) and fresh fish and meats. You could start your meal by splitting a plate of amêijoas à Bulhão Pato (clams in a cilantro sauce) or a garlicky alheira sausage. For dessert, there's bolo de bolacha cookie cake, baked farófias (egg whites), or pineapple with port. There are also changing daily specials. 

A classic spot to sit back and relax, this quaint tea shop specializes in various herbal and fruit teas, as well as coffees, cakes, and light lunches, that you can enjoy at outdoor tables facing a pretty square. You can pick up teas to take home, too.

This laid-back beach bar on the sandy shores of Praia da Fontinha is one of the best places on Porto Santo to soak up the island spirit. Parasols made of dried grass shade the tables, which sit directly on the sand; kick off your shoes, grab a cold beer, and watch the waves lap gently on the shore.

One of Fátima's longest-established restaurants (open since 1968), this place just outside the inner ring road is above all known for the quality of its grilled meat and fish. The vine-shaded esplanade is another big draw, creating a real family ambience. Leisurely lunches—either outside or in one of the four wood-and-stone dining rooms, all with fireplaces—are made possible by the fact that the kitchen keeps going throughout the afternoon. Top sellers include the mixed espetada (brochette), tender vitela Mirandesa steak, and bacalhau à lagareiro (cod baked with onions, potatoes, and olives).