A quarter past twelve, in a Lisbon tasca the size of a living room. No menu, just a chalkboard: bacalhau à Brás, bitoque, carapaus fritos. The owner puts down a basket of bread and a little dish of olives without asking, a small carafe of house wine arrives, and the TV above the counter shows the lunchtime news. This is where you taste real Portuguese food, in these unpretentious dining rooms, far more than in the restaurants that display their menus in photos and six languages.
Here is what to eat, where it comes from, and how to order without a faux pas, from the couvert to the final coffee.
Which Portuguese food should you try first?
Bacalhau. Salted and dried cod is the national dish, and the Portuguese like to say there is a recipe for every day of the year. Start with bacalhau à Brás, shredded and mixed with matchstick potatoes, onions and scrambled eggs, then bacalhau com natas, baked with cream, and bacalhau à Gomes de Sá, a Porto speciality.
Caldo verde. A soup of potatoes and green cabbage cut into thin strips, served with a slice of chouriço. It opens festive meals as well as weekday dinners.
Grilled sardines. Queens of summer and of the June festivals, they are eaten laid on a slice of bread that soaks up their juices. Out of season, they are less oily and less tasty: be patient.
Cozido à portuguesa. The national boiled dinner, with several meats, cured sausages, cabbage, carrots and potatoes. A dish for Sundays and big tables.
Polvo à lagareiro. Octopus roasted in the oven, drizzled with olive oil and garlic, with small potatoes crushed with a fist (batatas a murro).
And for a quick lunch, two sandwiches the whole country knows: the bifana, a thin slice of marinated pork, and the prego, a steak in a small roll, sometimes served as a "dessert" after a seafood meal, a local curiosity.
What are the typical dishes of each region of Portugal?
Portuguese food changes completely between the rainy Minho and the sun-scorched Alentejo.
- Porto and the north. The francesinha, a sandwich of sliced bread filled with meats, covered with melted cheese and drowned in a beer and tomato sauce, is a local monument. Tripas à moda do Porto, tripe with white beans, earn the locals their nickname of tripeiros. Our guide to living in Porto tells the story of the city beyond the plate.
- Trás-os-Montes, for the alheira, a sausage made of poultry and bread, of which the one from Mirandela is the most famous. Legend has it that it was invented by Jews forcibly converted who wanted people to believe they ate pork.
- Bairrada, in the centre, for leitão, roast suckling pig with crackling skin, a speciality of the Mealhada area.
- The Alentejo, for carne de porco à alentejana, pork and clams together, açorda, a bread soup with garlic, coriander and a poached egg, and migas.
- The Algarve, for the cataplana, named after the shell-shaped copper pot in which fish and seafood simmer.
- Madeira, for the espetada, beef skewers threaded on bay-laurel branches, served with bolo do caco, a flatbread spread with garlic butter.
- The Azores, for cozido das Furnas, a stew cooked slowly in the volcanic ground of São Miguel island.
What should you eat in a Portuguese pastelaria?
The pastelaria is an institution. People have breakfast there standing up, the 5 pm snack, and coffee at any hour. The window is a catalogue of Portuguese specialities made with eggs, sugar and puff pastry.
The pastel de nata, a small baked custard tart, is eaten warm, dusted with cinnamon. The one from the historic shop in Belém, which sells it under the name pastel de Belém, draws long queues of visitors; but the pastelaria in your neighbourhood often makes excellent ones, without the queue.
Alongside it, look for the travesseiros and queijadas of Sintra, the ovos moles of Aveiro, pão de ló, a soft sponge cake sometimes still runny in the middle, and the bola de Berlim, a cream-filled doughnut sold on the beaches in summer. In the north, ask for a cimbalino rather than a bica (two names for the same espresso) to go with it all.
In restaurants, the dessert menu follows the same logic: eggs, sugar, cinnamon. You will find arroz doce, a rice pudding flavoured with lemon and decorated with cinnamon patterns, leite creme, a cousin of crème brûlée, pudim, a caramel flan, and baba de camelo, a cream of caramelised condensed milk with an improbable name ("camel's drool"). To finish on a savoury note, many Portuguese prefer a slice of sheep's cheese with a little pumpkin jam. And if you are still hungry at 5 pm, the afternoon snack in a pastelaria, the lanche, is a real local habit, not a foreigner's weakness.
What is the prato do dia, and how much does it cost?
At lunchtime on weekdays, neighbourhood restaurants display their prato do dia: a dish that changes every day, often a choice of fish or meat. This is how most office workers eat, and it is the best bargain in Portuguese food. Many tascas offer it as a set menu with soup, a drink and coffee; expect about €8 to €12 in 2026 in a neighbourhood restaurant, much more in tourist areas.
The dish of the day is served fast and runs out fast: arrive before 1 pm if you still want a choice. And do not be surprised by the size of the portions. In many traditional places, you can ask for a meia dose, a half portion that is usually more than enough.
Do you have to pay for the couvert in a restaurant in Portugal?
It is the classic trap of the first meal. As soon as you sit down, you are brought bread, butter, olives, sometimes a small cheese or sardine pâté. It is not a gift: it is the couvert, and it is charged for.
The rule is simple. Portuguese law forbids charging for a dish, product or drink that the customer has not ordered or has not touched, and the price of the couvert must appear on the menu. So you can refuse it as soon as it is put down (não, obrigado), or eat some of it, even just a little, knowing that you will pay for it. Many Portuguese eat it with pleasure: good bread and a sheep's cheese are sometimes better than the starter.
How do you order in a restaurant in Portugal?
A few habits to pick up:
- Ask for the ementa (the menu) or read the chalkboard: in tascas, the dishes of the day often appear only there.
- Take advice. O que recomenda? ("what do you recommend?") often opens the door to the best fish of the day.
- For water, you will be asked fresca ou natural?, chilled or at room temperature. Bottled water is the norm in restaurants.
- The house wine (vinho da casa) is often decent and cheap, served in a carafe.
- To finish, a coffee, and the bill: a conta, se faz favor. You usually pay at the table or at the counter, and tipping is up to you.
The codes of the table are part of a wider set; our article on everyday life in Portugal will help with the rest.
What should you drink with Portuguese food?
Portugal produces remarkable wines at surprising prices. Vinho verde from the Minho, young, fresh and slightly sparkling, goes perfectly with seafood. The reds of the Douro, the Dão and the Alentejo stand up to meat. Port and Madeira are kept for the end.
As for beer, you order an imperial in Lisbon and a fino in Porto: it is the same draught beer, not the same word. And in Lisbon as in Óbidos, a small glass of ginjinha, the sour-cherry liqueur, is drunk standing in front of the tiny counters of the centre.
To cook what you have tasted yourself, start at the market: our guide to Portugal's food markets tells you where to find the best fish. And if you want to eat like the Portuguese on the big dates, the June festivals, Christmas and Easter each have their dishes: our calendar of festivals and traditions in Portugal goes through them.