Once you’ve tried a Francesinha in Porto, you will never want to eat a hamburger again 
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My self esteem 
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I like both 
There’s enough love in my heart to love burgers and francesinhas. I tried my first francesinha in Porto. Toronto (where @PedroPero is also based ) has at least half a dozen Portuguese restaurants that keep francesinhas on the menu, for people who are craving them 
Take a close look at my avatar, my friend. You may need to click on it for a closer view. Since its not that obvious, I may need to update it when I have it again.
Thanks Maribel!
Looks like the only way for me to do Tombalobos without rushing things is with some backtracking. Tomar - Castelo de Vide - Tombalobos - back to Marvão - Evora. That could work if its worth it.
Portions in the Alentejo are generally huge. Don’t hesitate to ask for a half-portion (meia dose), or share a main course especially if you intend to do both lunch and dinner. And skip big breakfasts at the hotel! You might need a break after 2 days :o)
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Sounds good. We are actually 4 adults with mild stomach shrinkage. Meaning early 50’s
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LOL! Self esteem is over rated 
and I’ll take a good burger over Francesinha any day of the week
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I have no idea if this would be feasible with a toddler. Last September, I took a walking tour in Lisbon with Culinary Backstreets and it was really excellent. I took the ”Lisbon Awakens” tour. The tour was outside of the touristy area and we had a great selection of food in non-touristy places. The tour took the major portion of the day.
They offer several other tours in Lisbon.
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I’m a big fan of guided food tours, I had a great one in Lisbon in 2019 and Valencia last summer. Lots of good options out there.
I’m a big fan of Culinary Backstreets and their food tours of Lisbon and Porto are excellent.
PS, the avatar is the great Francesinha from Cafe Santiago. Though it seems like Santiago got much more touristy since my last visit (11 years ago) so I got Golfinho as a strong possibility this time. If anyone’s familiar, am I making a mistake?
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Thanks for this. My first ever food tour was in Lisbon 11 years ago. I would like to do another but it seems like most tours offer the same too familiar items… Pasteis, Bifanas, Ginjinha, cod fritters, etc. So this one seems a little different, or is it?
I’ve taken food tours in other cities and the Culinary Backstreets tour was especially well done. They offer multiple tours in Lisbon and I happened to take the Lisbon Awakens which included some of the very well-known foods you mentioned. Unfortunately, I did not take notes, but I will try to recall from memory some of our stops:
- We started in the Estrela Park where we sat at a table. We each had a coffee drink of our choice along with a pastry (kind of a spiced bread). The guide spent time drawing a map showing the various Portuguese colonies and explaining the various ingredients from those colonies that influenced Portuguese cuisine (e.g., sugar from Madeira, spices from Goa, etc.)
- We stopped in a nearby church where she talked about some of the pastries made in convents and we samples a few different types that she had brought along.
- We visited the Camp de Ourique market where we stopped at a snack bar for sardines and bifana. She gave us a history of the market and we subsequently stopped at several other places in the market (e.g., fruit, nuts, etc)
- We went to a small family run restaurant (a tasca) for our ”first lunch” where we sat down and had a cod dish with potatoes, a fava been dish, and a dessert Both of the mains were delicious. The family that ran this restaurant was from the north of Portugal and the guide spent a good deal of time talking about some of the regional differences, as well as the types of dishes one might find in a tasca.
- We had a ”second lunch” at a private club where we had some Goan cuisine. The guide and proprietors spent time discussing how this community center served the neighborhood, as well as Goa’s influence on the food.
- We went to a small neighborhood snack bar for some homemade Ginjinha.
- We went to a wine shop and sampled several Portuguese wines and cheeses
- We had a pastel de nata at Aloma
I think I’ve probably missed a few things, but I just thought this was the best food tour I have done. The group was small. The guide was exceptionally knowledgeable and I learned a lot about Portuguese history and culture in addition to getting to try some really delicious foods. The tour was done at a very leisurely pace. There was a couple on my tour who had done multiple Culinary Backstreets tours in other cities and they raved about their tours in Athens and Istanbul. This company is definitely on my radar for future food tours.
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This sounds really good, thanks for the writeup. I see they offer different times. If we take the 10 am, would I be too full for tourist dinner time (I got Prado booked for 7:30 pm)
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I skipped dinneer the night that I did the tour. By the way, this was the tasca where we had lunch
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I started a new conversation here now that I’ve narrowed down the itinerary a bit!
Thank you to everyone who has suggested places…would love your feedback in the new thread too, especially re: Guimaraes and Evora.
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The Historical Hotel Network called The Pousadas, which was created in 1940, has approx. 41 various establishments throughout Portugal and all have restaurants which serve classical traditional Portuguese cuisine of the zone that they are located in. There are several types: Rural, Seaside, City - Urban & Village. Quite a large selection to take a look at.
Have a great trip.
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Just finished my report on our wonderful trip. We ended up going to Guimarães, Evora and Lisbon, with stops in Braga, Coimbra and Monsaraz. Here’s the post.
Thanks for all the advice and help!
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