A Cevicheria in Lisbon

I can't remember how I came to know about A Cevicheria (https://www.facebook.com/ACevicheriaChefKiko/) in Lisbon. It must have been through Instagram.
A picture of huge octopus hanging from the ceiling must have caught my eyes when I was checking where to eat in Lisbon.

This is a ceviche restaurant and it's really an excellent one too. Ceviche is a seafood dish made from fresh raw fish cured in citrus juices such as lemon or lime. As the dish is not cooked with heat, freshness is very important.

The restaurant does not take reservations. We popped in earlier in the day and asked how busy it would be if we turned up around seven. They said it should be fine and they were right. We sat at the counter right away where you can see what's going on...

We can't ignore the huge octopus above our head ...

So, we perused our menu ...

We decided to try the 6-course tasting menu. We ordered the house wine and still water too.

Can't read what it says but it was nicely chilled and
very good wine that goes well with their ceviche dishes ...

Anyway, we had no idea what to except but just wait and see ...

Can't escape from the octopus ....

They brought us some bread including some corn bread with some yoghurt and butter to nibble. Then the first course arrived which was a Scallops Gazpacho with topioca, lime and salmon roe.

This was a very refreshing starter. Meanwhile, chefs are preparing the next course ....

This one is Pure Ceviche - white fish with mashed sweet potato, onion, seaweed and tiger milk which is lime and coriander juice. This is a beautiful and tasty dish, especially if you like refreshing and sour lime flavour.

.... wonder what the chef is preparing for us next ....

The third course is Tuna Ceviche, which is tuna, lychees, hazelnuts and beet roots with rice paper on top. (If you eat meat, it would come with foie gras).

This is a very interesting dish but in a very nice way. You would not think that tuna and hazelnuts could work with beetroot but it does. And you also find thinly sliced beetroot and lychee hidden underneath the rice paper. And, despite with beetroot sauce, you can actually and properly taste the tuna which shows how fresh the ingredients are...

In the meantime, without having to ask, waiters came round to replenish our wine glasses ...
The restaurant was full by this time and people were cueing outside, waiting for their tables whilst having some drinks. The bartender was busily making cocktails. Every 30 seconds or so it seemed, I could hear, shuku shuku shuku shuku the sound of cocktail shaker....

We were really enjoying the courses - counting how many courses we had so far and how many to go yet ...

What's next ...?

The next course was BBQ Octopus Causa - roasted octopus with BBQ sauce, onion, padron pepper, dark mashed potato with squid ink. (If you eat meat, it would come with pork rind...). This gives you a welcoming change to your palate which has started accustoming to a typical ceviche dish of raw fish in lime or lemon juice. 

What could be next ...

One of chefs preparing dishes with serious look

Our fifth course was Sea Quinoto - Quinoa risotto with shrimp, cockle, muscle, white fish, seaweed with oysters foam and kombu (Japanese seaweed).

So, it started off with a cool gazpacho soup, followed by typical cold ceviche dish, moving to something intriguing like tuna hazelnuts and beetroots combo, then onto warm roasted meaty octopus, and now with this comforting dish of quinoa risotto which is light with airy foam of subtle but delicious oysters foam. What a clever way of serving dishes.

It's an explosion and exploration of colour, texture, smell and flavour combination and absolutely beautiful to look at.

The meal was then completed with the 6th course, dessert of Chocolate Peanut and Banana which is a banana cake with chocolate mouse, peanut crumble with salted peanuts. It's sweet, salty, nutty and yummy but not overpowering. Perfect ending to the 5 course dishes.

We then had an espresso each.

Bill came in a fish tin ... which is a funny idea, considering nothing they serve come from tins as they are meant to be fresh ....

It's not cheap, especially in Lisbon there are so many restaurants where you could eat delicious meals at least half or even less than the price here but it's worth a try. Such a beautiful food experience.

And if you do go, make sure you sit at the counter where you can see what the chefs are preparing (but don't look up too often if you are not keen on an octopus ....).

That's all forks!

Lunch in Portuguese style, Lisbon - O Triguenrinho

We are in Lisbon right now. We arrived at our hotel mid morning however as it was too early to check in, we decided to go for a wonder around the city. Last year, we found a quirky cafe that served affordable but good vinho verde in Mouraria district so we decided to head there and then have a lunch at Restaurant Ze da Mouraria (see my last year's blog about Lisbon).

June is the festival time for Lisbon so traditional neighbourhood is cheerfully and colourfully decorated alongside with every day laundries of ordinary folks and is very interesting to walk through....

We turn into Escadinhas De Sao Cristovao to walk up the stairs to get to the quirky cafe.

The walls are full of graffiti however, in Lisbon, they actually add charms to the ambience and you don't think of them as vandalism ...

There are always many tourists led by walking tour guides who explain about the background to these graffiti or murals, often associated with Fado music which is what Mouraria is famous for.

We arrived at the cafe, found a nicely shaded table to sit down and enjoyed nicely chilled vinho verde (green wine).

I also notice that there seems to be more graffiti around here than last year ... 

After that, we tried to trace our way back to Restaurant Ze da Mouraria for their big pot of Portuguese cuttlefish and potato stew, and of course, we took the wrong turn and could not find the place. Typical ....

However, that turned out to be good as we then found an interesting back street with some photographs on the walls, titled "A Tribute" by Camilla Watson.  

A lady carrying a mop on her shoulder ...

Unfortunately, by the time we got to Restaurant Ze da Mouraria, tables were fully booked and waiter told us in Portuguese, which we do not comprehend at all, to come back in an hour and a half ... well I am sure that's what he said, I think ... We were starving so we decided to try another restaurant which we passed by earlier and traced our way back ... walking through traditional neighbourhood with lots of colourful and cheerful decorations ....

.... and we found the restaurant ...

It's called O Triguerinho at Largo dos Trigueiros, 17, Lisbon.

Owned by two ladies serving traditional Portuguese dishes

We had no idea what this place would be like but decided to try. Clientele seems to be a mixture of local office workers who are on lunch break and some tourists. We were seated right away and given a menu which is in Portuguese. The menu was just one page, with either fish or meat ... simple and price seems really good....

I know very limited Portuguese words for food - sardine, fish, grilled, tuna ...

While we were trying to decipher the menu, this nice local business man who was sitting at the table next to us, offered to help.  He said that dishes on the menu are traditional Portuguese and since we are in Portugal we should eat fish. He then said, sardines do not have much fat (or meat?) on them this year and therefore recommended we try tuna or fish stew. That sounds good to us.

We were looking at the wine menu and he said Muralhas is good so we ordered a bottle too.

The business man said that the restaurant serves very good food but the service is very slow, so not suitable if you are pressed for time. Clearly he did not have to worry about his lunch hours. He was eating beef steaks with chips and a half bottle of red wine to go with his lunch. This is the different attitude from the UK. He then called over the waitress and placed an order for our lunch. What a nice man....

The next thing, the waitress brought us a basket of local bread (Portuguese bread is really good!), olives and cheese. (By the way, these are not free; if you eat them, they charge for them but you can also tell them that you don't want them.) We thought we ask the waitress to take them away and the next thing, the business man said we should try the cheese as it's really good. We kept them cheese, olives and bread; just as well as we did have to wait for the food for some time. The business man said that the locals pre-order their food so that they do not have to wait.

The business man told us that he works at a bank and since we are from the UK, naturally the conversation centred around Brixit. He was quite knowledgeable about voting results across the UK and showed keen interest to know about 'Remain' Scottish voters. He said that he does not live in Lisbon but commutes by train from Cascais, a lovely seaside resort. I instantly pictured a lovely big white house overlooking the sea under the beautiful blue sky.

I nearly wanted to ask him if he would not mind me taking a picture of him for my blog but I resisted such temptation so that he could finish his lunch in peace. When he left, he wished us a good holiday. I did not take his picture but I took the picture of his table, hahaha....

I looked up from his table and saw a Portuguese flag proudly displayed on the wall. This is so apt, given that Portugal had just won semi-final the previous night.

Our lunch then arrived. My husband's tuna steak and my fish stew.

The business man was right - they were really delicious; such a hearty meal.

After that, we finished our lunch with bica, in which I add lots of sugar to it.

We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch, thanks to that business man from Cascais. The bill was reasonably priced.  A bica was only 0.60 cents!!!

By the time we finished our meal, most of customers had gone too.

Stepping outside, the afternoon sun was getting stronger. We saw people taking shelters from the sun under the trees whilst having coffees.

Even a tree is getting some shelter  - tender loving care ... 

We left Largo dos Trigueiros to head back to our hotel to check-in as our room should be ready by now.  We walked through the traditional neighbourhood and found more murals, graffiti's, etc.
Are they art or vandalism.... you decide ...

Lisbon is such a wonderful place - full of surprises. I love this city, everytime we come back, we always find something new to do and see, and most of all, it's a food heaven!

That's all forks!