Eat Like Ushi

For the final meal of the trip, we headed to a traditional place that I had read was well known. And the football guernseys, photos of celebrities and the huge number of large lobsters at the front of the shop made for a memorable welcome. When we arrived we were told there would be an hour wait or so. But another person showed up quickly and said no, it would be fine and we were seated on the first floor within 5 minutes. Very lucky!

The service is quite busy with lots of staff running around always active. We were sat near the stairs at the main bar/thoroughfare area so maybe that was why. It wasn't overly attentive service for us though and we often needed to flag someone down to ask for things.

The food is far from cheap, but still seemed reasonable overall. They aren't Cacilhas prices, that's for sure.

A series of starters lie at the table in wait and we chose the Escabeche €6.5 which were small sardines in a cure. Not bad albeit expensive.

- "Acorda" of European lobster (stew made with thin slices of bread, eggs & garlic) €29.5 - I thought the waiter described it as a stew served with bread. Then we thought he meant a sandwich with stew in it. Instead we got a stew thickened with bread topped with delicious morsels of lobster. It had been very very heavily seasoned and salted, a bit too much overall;
- Roast kid Moncao style with roast potatoes & baked rice €23.5 - I can't resist a good roast goat and this was a fine example that didn't have too much bones but simply roasted, seasoned and served with buttery potatoes. It was good.

The meal sizes are decently large and there was enough for takeaway. Part of the oddness is that they show you the meal, then serve portions onto plates for you and keep the rest to the side. You therefore also have to wait until they return to serve some more and also they may serve more than you want to eat at that point. In our case the remainders were next to us on the same table they prepare plates and cutlery and I can only imagine they must get in the way. This was to the point that while waiting for them to pack the rest for takeaway, a flustered waiter took away our remains, much to my ire. Luckily it was retrieved but it was a poor point for service.

I would return (and book in advance) as the food is actually good and there is good atmosphere. Having said that, I'm sure there are many other places in Lisbon who would serve equivalent food.

I had Davvero on my list and my brother had recommended it also. I tried the branch near the Time Out market which during the day was completely quiet. Although they did say they get much busier in the evenings when they can serve their cocktails and alcoholic gelato.

The coconut was outstanding with textured pieces of flesh, the pistachio was good, and the passionfruit (maracuja) had little seeds proving actual fruit was used and a tart flavour to balance.

Overall very good.

A limited menu but a pleasant place to sit and have brunch.

Simple food but nice. Coffee was alright I'm told.

My Portuguese friend from (near) Lisbon recommended many dishes to me, including polvo a lagareiro. I like any/all octopus dishes and I know Portugal does it extraordinarily well with my memories of it in Porto (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/solar-moinro-de-vento-porto-10-2013). He said his favourite was at Solar Beirao in Cacilhas, but that really any of them were good. We weren't planning on stopping in at Cacilhas, but as we had plans to go to Costa de Caparica we had to pass through here anyway to catch the bus.

Solar Beirao isn't open on Mondays but many others are, nor is Cabrinha my other choice from reading online. In the end we settled for O Cachilheiro. Our waiter spoke English and was very friendly and even made jokes. He never asked for tips and certainly deserved one.

The food was also delicious with portions so large we had to get takeaway (for a small €0.4 fee for the boxes which is fair).

- Polvo a lagareiro €11 - beautiful serve of octopus, grilled and with the most tender flesh that required no knife pressure to slice through. Simply wonderful;
- Seafood stew (not the acorda, but can't remember the Portuguese name) - a very strongly flavoured (a bit too much salt in the end) stew rich with tomato rice and full shelled prawns, smaller peeled juicy prawns, pieces of crab, small mussels and more.

A testament to the quality of Portuguese seafood and the simple flavours they cook them with.

I didn't expect to eat Chinese food in Oxford, but after failing to get a seat at Oli's Thai, this was on the way back and looked alright filled with all mainland Chinese students.

Although some dishes are cheap, the one that interested me the most was Xinjiang Dapanji stewed chicken with potato and handmade noodles in spicy sauce £14.8. For the price it should and could definitely feed 2. However there seemed little point on getting some leftover takeaway and so on this occasion it fed 1 well. It was ok overall, the chicken had a lot of bones and the flavour didn't seem too unique. It could have had more chilli. The noodles were quite good though.

My flatmate from Xinjiang said the dish is traditional, although the fable may not be. I guess it makes a good story regardless.

I wouldn't order it again (from there). But I'm sure there are other things I would try next time.

I have to admit the service was excellent. I thought I left my book in the restaurant and the manager checked the place after closing at about 1130pm to look for me. I can only express appreciation for that.

I wandered past this bakery on the way to a curry dinner and it looked interesting. I have a fondness for middle eastern food and seeing the sweet desserts on the counter meant a mental note to return. A few evenings later I made the trek to have some dinner and peacefully read a book. The owner from Palestine was serving was very friendly and took interest in explaining some menu items to me.

Naturally being a bakery with their own oven, the mannakesh baked flatbread was recommended. I went for the very simple Zaatar & Cheese (half zaatar, half cheese) £3.6 which was a medium pizza sized dish with crispy base and a fine spiced zaatar mix and mild cheese. It wasn't very salty overall (perhaps could have used a little more) but the flavours were nice. The Syrian style with minced meat and pomegranate molasses appealed also, but I didn't think I could eat that much.

The main attraction on the menu for me was the Maqloubah (traditional Palestinian dish of tender lamb shoulder, aubergine, tomato, onion, garlic, spiced rice with yoghurt and cucumber salad) £9.5. It was an earthy spiced dish pleasant with coriander and a touch of cumin. Overall excellent with soft meat and nice vegetables.

For afterwards I took home some baklavah which was different in the fast it doesn't soak in sugar syrup and is therefore much more dry. The owner (who admitted he buys them) was quite proud to show me the metal pan was completely dry underneath. He also recommended their homemade kunafeh for next time which he also said is very different to the (mainly Turkish) ones I have had.

I would definitely go back.

The inventor of the cronut and World's Best Pastry Chef 2017 has this London store that isn't the most conveniently located (ok, it isn't that far away but I don't go to Victoria very often) where the wares are on sale and display. And they all look delicious I might add. Lots of people ogle and decide what to choose and how much to spend. Funnily enough the cronuts aren't (or weren't this day) on display at the counter and so I didn't see anyone in front of me order them. Silly them.

Takeaway is cheaper than eat in (although to be honest you could probably just sit after getting your takeaway and they wouldn't mind...

The cronut £4.5 TA is designed with one flavour topping per month. For April is was topped with raspberry. The icing probably wasn't that necessary (or maybe it would be to break through and add contrast to the cronut alone) but the cronut itself was excellent. Sweet, crisp, soft insides. More donut than croissant.

I also like kouign amman £4.1 TA (affectionately known here as Dominique's Kouign Amman or DKA which is a homage to diabetic ketoacidosis) since tasting the syrup soaked delicacies in Brittany (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/le-petits-caprices-rochefort-en-terre-06-2017). These were much less sweet and wet than the traditional ones but still good and more buttery than the cronuts.

Both were good, I probably prefer the cronut more.

The cakes also look delicious at between £6-8 each. I'll have to try one or two next time when my sugar levels are at a low.

There are few food experiences that I dream I could go back to. My tastes have changed over the years, but high quality fresh seafood is one that will always remain, and the general focus of my food adventures through Europe (since London is average and expensive for this). Ramiro in Lisbon (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/cervejaria-ramiro-lisbon-10-2013) is certainly the high praise of seafood restaurant I have even known and told anyone who would listen. The world has certainly caught up and now they have a ticketing system to stop them from being bothered by the throngs of tourists waiting outside. A work colleague from (near) Lisbon had given me advice in advance - a restaurant 200m down the road is as good in his opinion.

Of course I wanted to go back to Ramiro preferentially, but with the wait being about 50-100 people (even though the staff member said "it's Sunday. It moves fast. 30mins maximum" - I don't know why tourists would eat faster on a Sunday...), I ended up at Marisqueira do Lis. There's an immediate similarity - large quantities of seafood on display both on the window and in tanks, but a more stark difference - no waits, tables available, locals all around, men drinking beer at the counter watching the football. It's a truly different experience.

I'll assume that the seafood quality is mostly the same. This may not be true (they wouldn't have as much turnover), but hopefully the Portuguese waters are kind to all. MDL is also a bit more expensive overall than Ramiro. Part of it may have been that they marked up the weights of some of the items - I can't prove this but I think it's feasible...

- Percebes 300g €18 - sweet, salty, squirty, delicious fun;
- Giant tiger prawn 400g €25 - the biggest prawn I've ever seen in my life. The texture is quite firm and chewy, maybe because it had been slightly overcooked or maybe that's just what happens with these large versions.
- Carabinero 200g €16- a large prawn with the characteristic red colour, more subtle flavour but sweet and with wonderful soft delicate but biting texture. Was it really 200g?;
- "Big crab" sapateira 1.5kg €40 - I wanted the hairy crab served with hot blended crab goodness. Instead I ended up with the very large crab instead, which to be fair was cold but delicious. The crab meat chunks in the claws and legs were excellent. Not the sweetest (that honour is the Alaskan crabs in Scandanavia) but still good. The middle mess was a bright colour that looked and tasted like egg. I assume it had been mixed with egg yolks/mayonnaise. Not exactly what I hoped for, but it was ok.

A delicious meal and one I've missed for a while. It certainly isn't cheap and works out (when I eat these) to be about €50pp. That's also without lobster which I would really like to splurge on next time. I'll be older and hopefully richer by then...

Given the unexpected 33C May weather in Lisbon, gelato was always going to be on the agenda.

I liked the look of Sorbettino from the evening before after visiting Manteigaria for pasteis, and so on the hot uphill walk from Time Out market through the streets it was a needed break.

Sorbettino, as the name suggests, specialises in sorbet. The server warned me - do you like strong flavours? Because there is no milk, they use a lot more of the core ingredient. A medium cup for €4.5 for 3 flavours.

The pistachio and guanaja (70% dark chocolate) sorbets were remarkable. No milk but you cannot tell. The flavours were strong, the textures were perfect, they were a marvel. Passionfruit sorbet was selected for contrast, and the sweet/sour fruitiness also had bits of flesh hidden within.

I never thought pistachio sorbet could be so good. A clear victory for vegan "gelato".

Time Out market is a new addition since my last visit to Lisbon. It seems to have really gentrified the area and turned it from what I remember as a scrubby place to catch the tram to a nice area to sit and explore a little. Inside there's a range of stalls to pick from, many of which are offshoots of well known restaurants around town. The prices are seemingly quite high for Lisbon with a plate costing around €10-15.

In the end we tried the mainly seafood cuisine at Marlene Vieira. 8 course tasting menu €25 consisted of all their appetisers and a sandwich.

- Portuguese octopus salad - dressed in a vinegar oil and nicely refreshing;
- Crab & guacamole - topped with egg with some avocado at the bottom. The crab was a paste form and ok;
- Mussels & tomato sauce - very nice and hidden mussels underneath the sauce (probably about 8 altogether);
- Codfish salad with chickpeas - never thought they'd pair these together. The cod had good firm flesh, the chickpeas were a bit bland;
- Codfish fritters, red pepper aioli - thin, warm fried fish fritter;
- Crispy wrapped shrimp, basil, curry mayonnaise - not a big fan of the curry mayo but the shrimp was
- Stuffed mushrooms, iberico ham, quail egg - a little bundle of flavour;
- Mini roast beef sandwiches, rocket, beetroot mayonnaise, crispy onion - cold beef in soft bread. The crispy onions added good contrast of flavour and texture.

It was actually quite filling with the added bread. Overall it was nice but I wouldn't go for the platter again. There's plenty of other things at the market to try.