8 days in Portugal-5-11 to 5/18/2022

Day 2- Dinner at Boi Cavalo-5/12/2022

We are now on our way to Dinner at Boi Cavalo restaurant located in the Alfama district, and about 20 minutes walk from our apartment.

To get there we have to take a set of elevators up a steep hill.

Landing off the 1st elevator and on to the 2nd elevator.

We are now in a residential area with nice view up the hill.

We have to walk through lot of streets in the neighborhood to get there.  Thanks to Google map it was very easy to navigate.

Really narrow cobblestone streets on our way there.

Our reservation was at 7:30pm, and we got there maybe 10 minutes early and the restaurant is not even open.

The restaurant is perched on an a cobblestoned alley in Alfama and this neighborhood is known for Fado.

While we were waiting for the restaurant to open, a lady came out and invited for Fado after dinner.

At exactly 7:30pm, our waiter came out to open the restaurant.

The front of the restaurant.  Boi-Cavalo means Wild beasts.

Inside the restaurant and of course we were the only one in there.

 The space has been transformed from a butcher shop into a modern bistro appointed with Scandinavian-inspired wood furniture.

Boi-Cavalo is a casual contemporary restaurant, featuring modern Portuguese food.  The interior is really inviting, cozy with the warm yellow lights.

The menu changes all the time so they write it on the corner of two walls.

View of the menu

The kitchen is located in the back of the restaurant.

Open kitchen where you can see the chefs working in the back.

The restaurant will get busy around 8:00pm.  People do eat late in Europe.

7:30pm is early bird!

We got a really nice table with a view into the street.

Cheers.

Very simple table set up.

House made cornbread, pickled endive, culture butter - 6 Euros

Delicious corn bread with the pickles endives and the butter is also very tasty.

Hoa ordered a bottle of white wine Uivo Moscatel Galego Branco- 30 Euros

Horse Mackerel, Recado Negro, dill - 16 Euros

I never have Horse Mackerel before and it does not look anything like a regular mackerel. 

It looks like the fish was grilled so it was very flavorful, the flesh is delicious with a nice texture.   We also love the dill and the Recado Negro sauce (paste made with Charred chilies, garlic,etc..)

Live caught sea bass tartare, crispy potatoes, ash powder, drizzled with an herbal oil -16 Euros

Nice presentation.  We love every single bite of it.

Watercress, Brussels sprout, Khamag Kakdi- 16 Euros.

Vibrant color, the Khamag Kakdi is a delicious lightly spiced crunch cucumber salad.  The Brussels Sprouts are caramelized and we just enjoyed this vegetarian dish.

Iberian pork cheek,  Farinheira (Portuguese sausage) sauce,mustard seeds relish, - 18 Euros

This was a generous portion but we ate it all.  We love Iberian pork cheek and this dish was delicious.

For dessert we ordered an olive oil crème brulee - 6 Euros

I found this restaurant on the internet and it got a lot of good reviews.  We are so glad we come here and the food is really different from traditional Portuguese food.

The story goes as when chef Hugo Brito opened this restaurant,, while all his peers were opening restaurants in all the fashionable neighborhoods, Chef Hugo trotted through Alfama on top of his Boi-Cavalo.  When everyone bet on tasting menus at high prices, he chose to offer small plates at affordable price.  Our total bill come to 112 Euros (including everything), of course tipping is optional which of course we did.

Boi-Cavalo is at Rua Do Vigario, 70B, Lisbon, tel. 21-887-1653

Filed under: Restaurants

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