Coffee & tea

Brunch. On Saturday and Sunday. In Cais do Sodre. 

Cafe Tati, situated on the road directly behind Mercardo Ribeiro, opens at 11:00 at the weekend and, for € 10 you can have a delicious, filling brunch, complete with freshly-squeezed orange juice and coffee, tea or hot chocolate, and a choice of fruit salad or cereal and yoghurt to start with.

The main course is a beautifully arranged plate of local cold salamis, hams, salmon and cheeses which are accompanied by a portion of scrambled eggs and toradas (huge, fat slices of hot toast), jam and butter. Then, just when you think you can’t possibly eat more and are contemplating another shot of coffee, a little slice of carrot cake appears on your plate, just to finish things off.  

The atmosphere is casual and laid back and the cafe tends to start filling up after 12:30 when people have finally woken up to the world of the weekend.

This quirky little cafe is decorated with a random selection of chairs and tables and the crockery is all mismatched and some of it is delightfully old-fashioned.

It is also possible to have lunch or dinner throughout the week in this charming venue, and it is a good place to meet in the evening for a drink before heading on to one of the other bars in the area. Check out the Cafe Tati blog for information about live music events.

This is one of Lisbon’s oldest providers of bread, cakes and biscuits and all things sweet. Established in 1902 in Saldanha, this pastry shop has one of the widest selections of sweet treats that I have seen in Lisbon.

The huge glass-fronted display cases act as windows into a world of such a variety of traditional Portuguese pasteis de nata, cream cakes, apple tarts and petit fours that you can spend some time deliberating what to have with your coffee (which you will drink standing up at one of the tables around the room).

My favourite cake of all time in Lisbon is the pastel de nata, and the bakers at Sequeira have not let me down – these little pastries are always fresh and the pastry flakes perfectly. This pastelaria is very popular with the locals of the Saldanha area.

Sequeira also bakes these delights in perfect miniature form so you can buy a whole selection to take away with you and sample at your leisure (we often have a selection of these around the office!).

There is a restaurant attached to the bakery where you can have lunch, usually consisting of soup and a buffet selection of traditional Portuguese dishes such as duck rice, fish dishes (bacalhau) or stews. Sequeira is closed on Sundays.

Tucked away in a tiny little street in the suburb of Penha Franca is the entrance up to Miradouro do Monte Agudo. I think that this miradouro is one of the prettiest in Lisbon and offers a spectacular view over the red rooftops that characterize this city. The 180° view of Lisbon is stunning, from the river right up to Saldanha and the north.

This miradouro is off the beaten track and if you approach it from Graça (rather than Anjos) the route to it is nice and flat! Go through a gate in a rust-colored wall (with a rather misleading red No Entry sign on it – this is for cars rather than pedestrians) and there is a windy cobbled road that leads up to the view, which took my breath away the first time I saw it.

There is a little kiosk that serves sandwiches, coffee and beer up here, and you can sit and watch the sun set over the river whilst sipping on a nice cold imperial (beer). This miradouro has been renovated – the tiled benches have been well-restored and the pillared pergolas have been repainted giving the area a pleasant ambiance. If you like to relax, with a gorgeous view in front of you then this is the place for you. Even though winter is here, on the sunny days you can wrap up warmly and still enjoy the view with a nice warm coffee.

If you love coconut and all things sweet then you will love the Pão Deus that is sold at a Padaria Portuguesa. Literally translated this ‘God bread’ consists of a soft, light bread bun topped with an enormous layer of gooey dessicated coconut and then sprinkled with a fine layer of icing sugar. It is to die for!

This small chain of Portuguese bakeries has both in-house eating options as well as a take away bakery section and their products are freshly baked and extremely yummy.

There are a couple of menu options – one for mid-morning coffee and another for lunch where you pay one price and then get a choice of pastries and coffee or toasted sandwiches,  soup and a freshly squeezed juice depending on your menu choice.  The juices are always different – the other day I had some pink lemonade there and I can tell you it was great.

The bakeries exist in Chiado, Graça, Saldanha, Roma and Baixa too.

In my opinion this chain is of far better quality than the other global chain of coffee shops that seems to be opening in Lisbon (you know the one I mean!).

If you fancy a coffee and slice of chocolate cake in the sun, Linha D’Água should be your destination. The self-service snack bar, consisting mainly of outdoor seating, is situated in a grassy hollow in Jardim da Amália Rodrigues at the top off Parque Eduardo VII, right behind El Corte Ingles department store.

The wooden esplanada is on the edge of a pretty, shallow ornamental pond, complete with funky fountain in the middle of it and is a perfect sun trap. There is the usual array of sweet and savory Portuguese snacks to be sampled (I recommend the chocolate cake) as well as light main dishes (the quiche is good too!). Linha D’Água has a license to sell alcohol, so is also a place to go if you would like to go for some quiet sundown drinks before heading to the cinema at ECI or off down the hill into town.

People flock to this snack bar at the weekend to have late lunches or simply to catch up with friends over a beer and the whole area is a hive of activity with people walking their dogs in the park and sitting enjoying the sunshine. Spring is on its way and this cafe is becoming busier as people celebrate the end of the cold days!

On a bright, sunny day (of which there are many in Lisbon) I love to retreat to this little cafe to relax next to the water whilst Lisbon traffic continues to rush on around me.