PORTUGAL - LISBON - BAIRRO DO AVILLEZ

BAIRRO DO AVILLEZ

For our third and final lunch on our short Lisbon trip, we decided on something more modern and trendy after two very traditional restaurants.

From the outside, the place looks quite small but is actually two restaurants in one building. The front is the Taberna and delicatessen which serves small plates and tapas and has a buzzy atmosphere.

The rear is the Páteo, which is a full restaurant with modern interpretations of Portuguese cuisine.

We ate in Páteo, which is the main restaurant. It has a kitchen which is open to a large patio dining room. This creates a nice ambience which I imagine would be quite noisy when full in the evening.

It was about a third occupied for our lunch.

To start we had:

Améijoas Bulháo Pato (house style clams)

Gambas con alho malaguet (garlic and chili prawns)

Barriga atum conserva (tune belly, homemade preserve with miso sauce lime, and ginger)

Pica pau lomo (beef tenderloin pica-pau with 3 sauces)

Mains were:

Bifo do lomo (ribeye steak grilled over coals, with a slice of dry-cured ham and special sauce).

Pres porco Alentejano (Iberian pork presa grilled over coals with a smoked garlic sauce)

Vazia maturada (aged beef loin steak grilled over coals with béarnaise sauce) Picture by our friend @Stretford_Dogs

Legume Salteados (grilled lettuce heart, roasted tomato, almonds and pumpkin, parmesan and lemon vinaigrette)

Desserts followed:

Mil folhas pastel nata (this is chef José Avillez’s take on the Lisbon classic custard tart)

Avelá (hazelnut ice cream, hazelnut foam, freshly grated hazelnut and fleur de sal served in a glass)

From the extensive wine list, we had

One white, Anthea Alvarinho (€20) and one red, Papa Figos (€22)

All the food was well prepared and tasty, service was friendly, knowledgeable, and efficient

With 4 coffees and 3 bottles of water, the bill came to €240 for 4 people.

Prices are a little above average for Lisbon but Chief Avillez is media-friendly so this probably explains why. The servings are fairly small compared to the price.

The wall on the way in - Picture by our friend @Stretford_Dogs who joined us for lunch