Breakfast at Hotel Avenida Palace, Lisbon, Portugal

*This blog was originally published on 31/Aug/15, which has now been updated on 14/Sep/15.

We are going back to Lisbon for a week for a holiday shortly. This is our 4th time going there and 3rd time to stay at Hotel Avenida Palace (http://www.hotelavenidapalace.pt/en/hotel-overview.html).  We love this hotel ... everyone looks after you with great customer service, situated at great location in the centre of Lisbon AND they do great breakfast buffet!!!

Palace Salon

You can have almost anything you wish for breakfast .... continental as well as cooked breakfast, lots of fruits and lovely and yummy cakes, catering meat eaters and non-meat eaters, etc. You can also have champaign breakfast if you wish though I have never tried that....

I like to start with selection of fresh fruits with a cup of tea....

... and then have a lovely croissant with jam and mini Portuguese custard tart, which is really really delicious!  The custard tarts seem to be very popular with many guests as they quickly disappear, however the hotel now replenishes the plateful of the custard tarts frequently throughout the breakfast period so that guests can enjoy the tarts straight from the oven anytime for breakfast.

Really really yummy custard tarts ....

You can also get other types of cakes and sponges if you can't get the custard tarts....

Small donuts are another of my favourite...

You can also order boiled eggs ...

Or you can get fry-ups from the buffet table ...

However, my favourite is their perfect omelet, very savoury and tasty. One day I saw Spanish omelet or egg frittata on the buffet table but it had some ham in it. I asked the waiting staff if there was vegetarian option and she said no but she could ask the chef to make a vegetable omelet for me. That was the beginning of many vegetable omelettes we have consumed for breakfast at the Hotel. 

I know it's only an omelet but I really love their omelet, and I can't wait to go back and eat that again before setting out to explore Lisbon under the beautiful pure blue sky ....

On our very last day (or I should say very last morning) of last time when we stayed at the Hotel, we had to check out to catch a very early morning flight, which meant that we could not get to have breakfast in the breakfast room. So we had simple breakfast as room service in the very early hours whilst we were getting ready.  Rolls were fresh, juices were freshly squeezed as well as pots of freshly brewed tea and coffee with warmed milk.  It was a very good start of the day but it was also very sad to leave Lisbon ...

Anyway, it won't be long, we will be back to Lisbon soon and have some more omelettes, and I am sure I will also have their lovely cocktails every evening before going out for dinner (see my earlier blog Cocktails at Hotel Avenida Palace). 

That's all forks.

A little Lisbon in Glasgow

It's amazing how time flies...  we have been on holiday for just over a week now. Around this time last week, my husband and I were having coffees whilst reading newspapers on the top floor of the Princess Square in Glasgow, sitting at a cafe called Tinderbox (http://www.princessquare.co.uk), looking forward to a long relaxing holidays ahead at home for Christmas and the new year.

There was a Christmas choir group of school children singing under a big Christmas tree right in the centre of the Princess Square and it really gave me a lovely festive feeling. It was also a special moment when Emily phoned me on my mobile to tell me that she got promotion at work. Congratulations, Emily!!!  So, it was joy and happiness all around us.

This is also the place where you can get egg custard pastry, reminiscing the good time we had when we visited Lisbon for our wedding anniversary in 2009. This pastry is very rich and sweet with lots of custard but it goes very well with strong coffee. 

If you ever go to Lisbon, you got to try their local Pastel de Nata (a Portuguese egg tart pastry). Every coffee houses sell these and there are also pastry shops dedicated to this national sweet, such as the one we tried called Casa Brasileira in the heart of Lisbon. Here shop window displays freshly baked pastel de nata.

Lisbon's old but charming tram is pre-World War I model.

Window display of Casa Brasileira in the centre of Lisbon.

Inside of Casa Brasileira -
you can order and eat freshly baked and warm Pastel de Nata with strong Portuguese coffee!

Rich custard cream encased in flaky pastry - definitely not good for those watching waistline!

Mmmmmm, just thinking about it make me want to go back to Lisbon again.  There are so much to see in and around Lisbon and so much to eat, catering very well for both fish & seafood lovers like us and for meat eaters too.  Maybe I shall talk about what to eat in Lisbon soon.....

Hope you will all have a Happy New Year.  That's all forks!