Campolide travel guide for food lovers
Campolide is certainly not the most touristic of Lisbon’s neighborhoods. In fact, we suspect not many travelers end up making it to this part of Lisbon, unless they are going to browse stores at Amoreiras Shopping Center (Av. Eng. Duarte Pacheco 48) or, at the most, interested in visiting Aqueduto das Águas Livres, the famous aqueduct from the 18th century that dominates the landscape above Avenida de Ceuta.
Photo by Mariana Branco on Junta de Freguesia de Campolide
Campolide is very well connected to the rest of the city, mostly with trains and buses, and it’s a great place to stay if you wish to not be in the hustle and bustle of the very center of the city while visiting. The neighborhood has good options of Airbnbs and more formal accommodation, and the pricing can be a little more inviting than, for example, around Baixa, while still being quite near most attractions. Furthermore, Campolide offers a very local vibe, one that is becoming more and more elusive downtown, as services for tourists overrun the local lifestyle.
Photo by Wirdung on Wikimedia Commons
In Campolide it is easy and pleasant to walk around and feel what daily life is like for the inhabitants, while breathing in a very Lisbon-like charm. Of course this charm extends to food, as Campolide has plenty of eateries focusing on well-cooked Portuguese food. Considering that these restaurants cater mostly to native locals, you’d know that they are cooking authentic dishes and, in the vast majority of cases, selling them at fair prices too – a combo we can always get behind.
Photo by ::ErWin on Flickr
These are the restaurants you should try when you visit Campolide:
Best restaurants for Portuguese food in Campolide
Tasquinha do Lagarto
This tasca with decoration allusive to Sporting Football Club, whose fans are nicknamed lizards (lagarto, in Portuguese), is a classic for home style Portuguese food in Campolide. In fact, some of us would head to Campolide for the sake of heaving a meal at Tasquinha do Lagarto, knowing that as the owners are from the northern Minho region of Portugal, that’s almost a seal of guarantee that not only the food will probably be good, the portions will be generous too. Tasquinha do Lagarto has a permanent a la carte menu, but also some changing daily specials. Some of the dishes you shouldn’t miss here include polvo à lagareiro, that is roasted octopus with olive oil, and their much praised grouper rice. Don’t be surprised if things get loud at Tasquinha do Lagarto if there’s a football match on TV. After all, this is a place not only for food lovers, but for football fans too.
📍Rua de Campolide Nº 258, 1070-039 Lisbon
www.instagram.com/tasquinhadolagarto
Photo by Tasquinha do Lagarto
A Valenciana
If you talk about the best grilled chicken in Lisbon you have to mention A Valenciana. This place is a Lisbon institution for the dish you may know as peri-peri chicken. Even though this restaurant looks quite contemporary (thanks to a makeover in 2017), the truth is that it has been open for over a century, enough time to truly perfect the art of chicken BBQ. In Portuguese, we have a saying that goes like “são muitos anos a virar frangos” and, even though it translates as “it’s many years turning chickens”, it refers to how experienced someone may be at something. In this case, at A Valenciana, you can take the saying figuratively and literally, as many of the cooks you’ll see by the grill have done this for most of their lives. Their dedication translates into perfectly charred skin, moist meat and just the right amount of sauce brushed on the outside of your chicken. Seriously, this is a must while in Lisbon.
📍Rua Marquês de Fronteira 157 163A, 1070-294 Lisbon
www.restauranteavalenciana.pt/en
Photo by dchan__2 on Instagram
O Cantinho do Alfredo
Friendly Mr. Albino Miguel welcomes diners at O Cantinho do Alfredo, usually saying “juventude, o que vai ser?”, which translates as “young folks, what would you like to have?”. Young and old gather at this down-to-earth eatery in Campolide, one of those rare places in Lisbon where you can still get your meal for less than 10 euros. The dishes served are as typically Portuguese as they come, including alheira with fried egg, grilled fish, Iberian black pork, cod fritters served with our so-called naughty rice with beans and, on appointed days, cozido à portuguesa, our typical boiled meats meal. O Cantinho do Alfredo is one of the best tascas, not only in Campolide, but in Lisbon as a whole.
📍Rua Gen. Taborda 44, 1070-271 Lisbon
www.facebook.com/p/O-Cantinho-do-Alfredo-100064225831035
Photo by O Cantinho do Alfredo
Casa dos Caracóis
Love them or hate them, snails (in Portuguese caracóis) are a very relevant snack in Lisbon’s food culture, prevalent particularly during warmer months, from early spring to autumn. Casa dos Caracóis is part store, part eatery. During the day, they sell the raw gastropodes for those who wish to cook them, at home or at their business. In the afternoon, you can actually come here to snack on delicious ready made snails. If you think snails are an acquired taste and not many would actually enjoy them, it’s time to change your mind. Not only is this a very common snack across Lisbon’s bars during the summer, just Casa dos Caracóis alone has a little empire with shops in Barreiro, Amora, Montijo, Setúbal, Quinta do Conde and Pinhal Novo, and two full fledged restaurants in Montijo and Brejos de Azeitão. While traveling in Portugal, trying snails is a must-do food experience.
📍Rua de Campolide 368, 1070-040 Lisbon
Photo by NIT
O Apuradinho
This traditional Portuguese restaurant in Campolide has an extensive menu but their specialities are dishes based on game meats. Some of their best options include wild pigeon with peas, woodcock or hare served with huge beans from central Portugal called feijocas. Amongst their best-sellers, they also make it a point to present their regular customers with rotative daily specials. Every Monday, for example, they prepare a different salt cod recipe and Thursdays is the day reserved for cozido à portuguesa. Besides welcoming customers in a cozy and homely setting at O Apuradinho, which can only host up to 30 people at a time, the restaurant’s team also caters for events.
📍Rua de Campolide, 209-A, 1070-030 Lisbon
http://restaurantebaroapuradinho.blogspot.com
Photo by O Apuradinho
KateKero
A family coming from the northern city of Ponte de Lima, came down to Lisbon like many did back in the day, to open a little restaurant. It’s been over forty years and the second generation has inherited and is now running KateKero, managed today by Anabela and Ester Silva. But the backbone of KateKero is still their Mom who, at 74 years of age, still runs the kitchen. If you’d like to taste northern Portuguese food, Minho style, KateKero is a perfect venue to do so. We’re talking about dishes such as arroz de sarrabulho à moda do Minho (rice cooked with pork’s blood), bacalhau à minhota (fried salt cod with onions and peppers), the much praised veal from Lafões and, when the season arrives, around February, lamprey from the Minho river too.
📍Rua de Campolide 124A, 1070-137 Lisbon
www.facebook.com/restaurantekatekero
Photo by Junta de Freguesia de Campolide
Os Arcos de Campolide
Os Arcos de Campolide is a marisqueira, that is, a typical Portuguese seafood restaurant. Because it’s not super central, at least not compared with other more popular options, because we still think Lisbon is compact enough that nothing is really ever so far, this restaurant is a great choice for a fairly affordable seafood meal. Their menu includes a very good variety of fresh grilled fish, but also enticing crustaceans and shellfish. If you want seafood based comfort food, opt for dishes like arroz de marisco, Portuguese seafood rice, or boiled cod with chickpeas (bacalhau com grão).
📍Rua de Campolide 66, 1070-037 Lisbon
www.facebook.com/arcos.de.campolide
Photo by Os Arcos de Campolide
Sal e Brasas
Lovers of aged meats will be happy at Sal e Brasas in Campolide. Couple Zé Guerra and Maria Eduarda run this restaurant which is all about traditional Portuguese cooking, with a particular emphasis on selected high quality meats. In fact, the name of the restaurant, which translates as salt and embers, anticipates the kind of cooking they like to do around here. Besides their usual menu, Sal & Brasas serve specials for lunch and the options change daily, attracting many folks who live and particularly work nearby. On Wednesdays they serve cozido à portuguesa, mixed meats and vegetables boiled Portuguese style, and they do so on a buffet so that customers can help themselves to their heart’s content. A nap may be recommended afterwards.
📍Rua de Campolide 372 Loja-E, 1070-040 Lisbon
www.facebook.com/salebrasasrestaurante
Photo by Manuel Manso on Time Out Lisboa
São Paio
Delicious home-made Portuguese food comes together with friendly service, to make São Paio the kind of place customers keep going back to. Even if you are new around here, they’ll treat you with the same warmth and, of course, the food itself will be enough to make you happy. This is as close to Portuguese home food as you can get while eating at a restaurant, with the bonus that the portions are generous and the prices quite affordable too
📍Rua de Campolide 199, 1070-029 Lisbon
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100034427926240
Photo by São Paio
A Mariposa de Campolide
A Mariposa de Campolide announces itself as a “Portuguese restaurant with a Brazilian touch”. The dishes listed on their menu are mostly Portuguese, but as the cooks are from Brazil, they may slightly change the seasonings, to add their own signature flair. Of course if you want to eat Brazilian food, they also include some options, such as Brazilian meat skewers, which would go perfectly with one of their cachaça based drinks. If not, you can also eat fried fish with rice, chicken stewed in red wine, or simply satisfy your hunger at any time of the day with a bifana sandwich and a refreshing draft beer.
📍Rua Gen. Taborda 37, 1070-029 Lisbon
www.instagram.com/mariposadecampolide
Photo by A Mariposa de Campolide
O Petisca
O Petisca serves traditional Portuguese cuisine and a few Brazilian dishes. We are huge fans of tascas, simple eateries where you can eat well at affordable prices, and O Petisca is one of the best in Campolide. They’re not fancy but the food is top-notch, and the fact that you can easily feel at ease at their space makes the experience a very pleasant one. Depending on the day, we may want to opt for a straightforward grilled fish or other meat grills such as chicken or pork belly. But we also love their comfort dishes such as the seafood rice, feijoada or perfectly seasoned steaks.
📍Rua Prof. Sousa da Câmara 203, 1070-216 Lisbon
www.facebook.com/pages/O-Petisca/1038530029540425
Photo by Andrey Rostov on Google
Escondidinho das Amoreiras
Also known simply as Escondidinho, this restaurant is now run by José Simões (pictured here) who worked here for several years, became the manager and, eventually, the owner. In the kitchen, we find Susana Lopes, who is now 49 years old but has been cooking at Escondidinho das Amoreiras since she was only 19 and came in as a helper. Folks who come to Escondidinho do so mostly on their lunch break, so they care for tasty food but also for speedy service. Escondidinho das Amoreiras delivers on both. The house’s specialities include galinha de cabidela (braised chicken with its own blood), duck rice, feijoada meat and beans stew, and cozido. Whatever you end up choosing as your main, do not overlook their tasty home-made desserts.
📍Rua Prof. Sousa da Câmara 164, 1070-026 Lisbon
Photo by Mariana Branco on Junta de Freguesia de Campolide
Aqueduto
If you can’t be bothered to decide what you’d like to have for lunch, while in Campolide, you can simply head to Aqueduto which every day has a lunch buffet with plenty of options to keep almost everyone happy. For little over 15 euros, you can eat as much as you’d like, including dishes with meat, fish and vegetarian food too, as well as a vegetable soup of the day and a couple of desserts. You may not have a life-changing gourmet dining experience at Aqueduto, but it’s a very convenient and saifying option for an uncomplicated weekday lunch without having to spend too much money.
📍Rua Artilharia 1 112, 1070-085 Lisbon
Photo by The Fork
Cozy Restaurant
To enjoy Portuguese cuisine in a more contemporary environment while in Campolide, head to Cozy Restaurant. Chef Tiago Vaz Santos is responsible for a menu full of well-executed Portuguese classics, such as grilled Iberian black pork, roasted octopus, and saucy rice dishes. Beyond the classics, you’ll find other surprising creations, mixing Portuguese flavors and international influences, such as Goan curry with prawns and chicken, duck breast with apple sauce, lamb chops with honey mustard, and more. Our favorite part of Cozy Restaurant’s menu might just be the appetizers, full of enticing petiscos that, when combined, could easily make up a full meal: puff pastry bites stuffed with Bairrada style spit-roasted suckling pig, alheira croquetes stuffed with quince marmalade and served with curry mayo, button mushroom carpaccio with almonds and fried onions, samosas with a filling of goats cheese, honey, walnuts and olive paste… invite your friends to come along, because we can guarantee that you will have a hard time selecting just a couple of things to eat at what is one of the best restaurants in Campolide.
📍Rua Prof. Sousa da Câmara 149, 1070-214 Lisbon
Photo by Cozy on TripAdvisor
Best cafes and pastry shops in Campolide
Pastelaria Deliciosa
Smiley Ana Rita Bernardo manages Pastelaria Deliciosa (“delicious pastry shop”), one of the best places in Campolide to sample typical Portuguese cakes. Their pastéis de nata are so good that, before lunch time, they have often run out of stock. On the savory side of things, their puff pastries stuffed with Portuguese cured meats such as sausage, ham and chouriço are also one of their best-sellers. Even when customers don’t buy everything that decorates the enticing counter which you see as you walk in, nothing goes to waste, as surplus is always donated to an NGO at the end of the day. Pastelaria Deliciosa has been open for over forty years and owner Ana Rita hopes for many more years to come, as she states that she truly loves to welcome people into her establishment and get to hang out with the neighbors, while being surrounded by delicious goodies.
📍Rua de Campolide 70, 1070-037 Lisbon
Photo by Mariana Branco on Junta de Freguesia de Campolide
Os Amigos de Campolide
No proper Lisbon neighborhood is complete without the kind of establishment that doubles as cafe, pastry shop and, generally speaking, just as a meeting place of the neighbors from around the area. Os Amigos de Campolide (literally, Campolide friends) is a classic Portuguese pastelaria, which serves cakes and savory goodies all day long, and has a few daily specials for lunch, which are very representative of Portuguese home cooking. Come to Os Amigos de Campolide for a Portuguese style breakfast, for a quick savory snack as a pick me up in between meals, or simply for a cup of coffee which, if you learn with us, you can even try to order in Portuguese.
📍Rua Gen. Taborda 55, 1070-138 Lisbon
Photo by A Nossa Telha
We hope you have an incredible time in Lisbon and that you venture out of the most obvious places. If you have any doubts, feel free to reach out to us via Instagram, where we’re always happy to chat and give you even more tips. Please tag us and will reply to you shortly: @tasteoflisboa #tasteoflisboa
Feed your curiosity on Portuguese food culture:
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