Portugal 2022

Tonight we have reservation at Farol de Santa Luzia, a local restaurant well known for traditional Portuguese cuisine, great service and friendly staff.

The restaurant is located in an 18th century building the Alfama neighborhood.

The front of the restaurant.

Farol de Santa Luzia means Santa Luzia lighthouse.

When you walk in the restaurant you can see the dinning room in a lower level.

Overview of the whole restaurant.

The bar on the left, and lots of awards from Tripadvisor hanging on the wall.

Our table is ready for us, it is in the middle on the room against the wall (it is the empty table)

The bar and the kitchen is behind the bar.

The restaurant is cozy with a traditional Portuguese and rustic look.

From our table we can also see outside.

As we sat down, a bunch of people came it but they could not accommodate them without a reservation. So glad we reserved a table.

The menu

We ordered a bottle of white wine Reserva Dua Quintas 2019 from the Douro - 39.50 Euros

For starters we ordered a selection of bread olive oil with balsamic vinegar, garlic and Rosemary, olives seasoned with garlic and oregano, and the Chef's special butter - 3.90 Euros

The bread is really good and perfect to dip with the olive oil or to spread the butter on top.

We shared an Octopus salad with red and green peppers, onions, parsley seasoned with Balsamic vinegar vinaigrette - 9.50 Euros

Vibrant colors, the octopus was cooked perfectly, and we simply devoured the dish.

For our main dish we ordered a Sea food Cataplana for 2 - 38.50 Euros

A Cataplana is a tradition fish stew from the Algarve (south of Portugal) which is cooked in a typical copper pan with tomatoes, onion, garlic, shrimps, green peppers, and coriander.

It also came with fried potatoes and rice.

OMG, this is so delicious, full of flavors and it feels really light too.

The dessert menu and we also ordered coffee- 1.50 Euros

I selected the typical Portuguese cinnamon soufflé with confited plum from Elvas, Alentjo - 4.80 Euros

I did not really like this dessert, the cinnamon flavor was overwhelming strong but in any case we had an excellent meal here and I am definitely recommending this restaurant if you are interested in eating traditional Portuguese dishes. Our bill came to 101.20 Euros (tax was included) which is really not bad at all. Note that in Europe people barely tip, and if they do it is a few euros. Since, we got really good service and it is so weird for us not to tip, we usually give at least 10%. You should see how happy our waitress was when she got her tip and thank us profusely.

NEXT...Day 2- Basilica de Santa Maria Maior (Sé de Lisboa)

Filed under: Restaurant