Lisbon Portuguese Cuisine

On this visit, we were accompanied by my lifelong friend Ed and his son Zach who are Portuguese. Zach’s friend Scott who like us is not Portuguese came along as well. While talking about going to visit Lisbon, Zach mentioned that he had previously enjoyed dinner there with his mother Anna. So that was a major sign that Doris and I were going to be in for a good night.

Back in mid-March Doris and I were in St Petersburg and visited Fado a Portuguese establishment. For Doris and I this has been a very anticipated visit because while doing the research on Fado, we discovered that it was an offshoot of Owner and Chef, Rui Borgeses restaurant named Lisbon located in Orlando. In fact, it is actually Orlando’s first and only Portuguese restaurant. After dining at Fado and writing its fabulous review it was only natural that we would have to visit Lisbon. Fast forward a few months and now we find ourselves here in Lisbon.

Upon arriving we were seated at a large round table, promptly served water, presented our menus, and given ample time to review the offerings. Our server for the evening, Carla, advised us of this evening’s menu specials. For our drinks of course Doris and I opted for the Sumol which is a very tasty and refreshing Portuguese soda that comes in three flavors, orange, pineapple, and passion fruit.

We relied on the suggestions from our Portuguese experts and for our appetizer we ordered the Chourico a Bombrio which is a Portuguese sausage flambéed table side. It was an incredibly large piece of tasty chorizo that was enough for the five of us.

From there we went on to our entrees. Doris ordered the Gambas a Mocambique, grilled Tiger shrimp smothered in a spicy Mozambique-style sauce served with Portuguese-style fries. I can honestly say I’ve never seen shrimp that large they actually rivaled langoustine, which are edible European prawns. The sauce was delicious and had a lite heat resembling Tabasco. I opted for the Febras Grelhadas which are Portuguese-style marinated grilled pork cutlets served with white rice and French fries. The pork was incredibly fork tender and again deliciously seasoned and cooked to perfection. Ed ordered the Polvo A Lagareiro, comprised of broiled octopus covered with onions, tomatoes, peppers served with broiled red potatoes all drizzled in Portuguese olive oil. The portion size was enormous! Definitely, something that Doris and I will have to try on our next visit. Scott had the Bife a Portuguesa which is Portuguese steak and egg served with white rice and French fries. That was actually my second choice and he cleared the plate. Zack ordered exactly what I had on the last visit to Fado which was the Camarao a Chef that consisted of sautéed shrimp in their Chef’s Special Portuguese sauce served with rice and French fries. Yet again, Doris asked permission before she confiscated the sauce and poured it all over her potatoes, no surprise there. LOL

Time for dessert and Ed and Zack ordered the Pasteis De Belem, their version of the famous Portuguese egg custard tarts that were served warm. Ed said that he had never had it warm and it was in fact very tasty. Doris ordered the flan which I tried and again, that was a very good choice. I went with the Serradura, Sawdust… which Zack had convinced me to order by stating that this is something that his mother makes and that he thought was pretty good. It is prepared by layering pudding, whipped cream, and Maria Biscuits. It was delicious and light and I agreed that it was a very good choice. Zach also pointed out that many of the names of Portuguese dishes have names that have nothing to do with the actual dish.

The table also had a round of Lattes and espressos. When all was said and done it was no big surprise that Lisbon was just as good as if not better than Fado. Definitely worth a return visit the next time we are in the Orlando area. I must emphasize there are hundreds of restaurants for us to go to and do reviews on in the Orlando area so, for us to pass up an opportunity and review a new restaurant just to partake of this delicious fare, speaks volumes.

On a humorous sidenote Bruno, the son of the owner, had read our review on SoFloDining and had asked us if we were ever in Orlando could we please stop by Lisbon and review them? Before he could finish the sentence, I stopped him and told him it was already on the list and that we had already made the arrangements. LOL