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Being a foodie – one of the first things I did when researching our Lisbon itinerary was to find the best local food tours – which is something you cannot miss in Lisbon. My friend and I wanted a chance to enjoy some local authentic restaurants away from the crowds that we probably wouldn’t find on our own.
We were in Lisbon for 3 days and on the second day of our 3 day Lisbon itinerary we booked a ‘Petiscos’ crawl by Food Lover Tour (petisco means a delicatessen or a snack). I always book a food tour whenever I visit a new city and this one was hands down the best I’ve been on! We had a lovely guide, an energetic group and ate some really tasty food (with a good amount of wine!).
We were lucky with the people that were on the tour as everyone was friendly and a good laugh which makes the experience so much better. There were 11 of us on the Lisbon tour – a mixture of British (myself and my friend), Brazilian, Aussie, American, and a Belgian tour guide Thomas (a former journalist and stand up comedian!) who was very funny, chatty and knowledgable.
Thomas had picked some real gems for us to dine at in parts of the city that are non touristy. We wandered through four traditional Lisbon city neighbourhoods: Avenida, Principe Real, Santos and Madragoa and there were 5 different food stops (with a little bit of walking in between).
Table of Contents
Stop 1
Our first stop of the food tour was an introduction to pesticos and some vinho verde in an 18th century water reservoir aqueduct (a listed building and the oldest wine bar in Lisbon). We sampled some petingas (small sardines), queijo da ilha cheese, citrus ceviche and some cured ham. We then took a tour of the wine cellar!
Stop 2
As the sun was setting in Lisbon, we headed to a cute restaurant and sampled some incredibly tasty chorizo and flamed morcela sausage, along with a fruity Alentejo wine and heaps of bread and olives.
Stop 3
Our third stop is a Portuguese tapas joint, located in a former grocery store dating all the way back to 1870. It was a beautiful summer’s evening so we enjoyed eating our food alfresco on a large outdoor table in front of the restaurant. We tried famous local dishes such as bacalhau à bràs (salted cod) and peixinhos da horta (green beans in a flour based batter that are then deep fried), and paired them with tanic wines from the region (and more bread!).
Stop 4
We headed into a tiny mercearia where the owner opens its doors in the evening just for this tour. A mercearia means a local grocers and this one was filled with a huge range of local cheeses, cured meats and bottles of Portugese wine, plus some lovely kitchen gifts (basically my idea of heaven in a shop!). We nibbled on bits of goats cheese, nuts, figs and sipped red and white sweet ports whilst browsing around the shop.
Stop 5
Our final stop of the tour was in a small backstreet restaurant in the district of Madragoa, where we stopped for a final glass of sweet wine and some dessert.
Our group selfie!
And a video I made!
The tour was definitely the highlight of my stay in Lisbon and I would totally recommend it to anyone visiting this beautiful city. The time completely flew by as we were having so much fun and I met some lovely like-minded travellers in the group (in fact we were having such a great time that half the group went out for drinks afterwards with Thomas!).
You can book onto this food tour in Lisbon by visiting the Food Lover Tour website. The experience lasts around 3.5 – 4 hours, and runs on Tuesday – Sunday evenings. The cost of the ‘Petiscos Tour’ is 55 euros per person and is great value for money in my opinion (you get to sample 10-12 petiscos as well as 6 local drinks).
Overall we absolutely loved our time in the city and are looking forward to returning again and perhaps staying longer so we can do some day trips from Lisbon!
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Disclosure: The tour places were complimentary but as always, opinions are all my own.
Further reading:
Tram 28 Lisbon – Tips for Travelling on Lisbon’s Historic Tram
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