Where to eat the Portuguese national dish – cozido à portuguesa – in Lisbon
Most people would agree that food can be a straightforward way of comforting us on any given day. Portuguese comfort food comes in many shapes and forms, savory and sweet. But if we had to choose just one dish to hit the spot, both in terms of flavor and solace to the soul, it would probably be cozido à portuguesa.
Feat photo by NIT
Photo by CNTraveler
Literally translated as “Portuguese style boiled meal”, this recipe is one of Portugal’s ultimate winter dishes and, for us, the most representative meal from our country. Many would support the case that salt cod dishes are the most popular in Portugal, and that is not entirely false. But cozido, for us, is Portugal’s national dish.
There are numerous regional variations of cozido à portuguesa across the country, including particularities in terms of ingredients and cooking techniques, namely in the archipelago of Azores, in the island of São Miguel (pictured below), where the dish is cooked underground taking advantage of the natural volcanic heat instead of on the stovetop, and where it goes by the name cozido das Furnas, as per the actual place where it is prepared.
Photo by José Carlos Barral in Olhares
Why do we find cozido so comforting? Well, there’s a little bit of everything in it! Meats such as chicken, beef, pork cuts like belly, ribs, ear and trotters, as well as typical Portuguese smoked sausages like farinheira, chouriço and blood sausage known as morcela. The animal protein shares the plate with plenty of vegetables such as carrots, turnips and cabbage, and starches like beans, rice and potatoes. Most Portuguese folks have their favorite ingredients – while some can’t phantom cozido without cuts full of cartilage such as pork ears, others live for the smoked sausages (known in Portuguese as enchidos) or even the vegetables which soak up all the meat juices and end up being flavor packed.
Photo by Sal e Saudade
To eat a good cozido à portuguesa your best bet is to head to a traditional Portuguese restaurant. Of course fancy restaurants also serve their elevated versions of this dish but, quite often, tascas are the best spots to enjoy cozido, not only because they employ cooks wich specialize in traditional recipes from the good old days, but also because the laid back atmosphere also contributes to enjoying what this dish is all about: it tastes like nostalgia and it brings comfort wrapped in tradition. Many restaurants which have a limited a la carte menu but which also prepare rotating daily specials, will reserve a day for cozido, not only because this is a fairly elaborate recipe, but mainly because it makes sense to make it in bulk because of the sheer amount of ingredients involved. Most commonly, cozido will either be on the menu on Wednesday or Sunday. It’s hard to believe that people can have cozido for lunch on a working day and go back to work on their tasks right after. In an ideal world, there would always be plenty of time for a leisurely nap after indulging in cozido à portuguesa.
If you’re visiting Lisbon and would like to taste the most representative dish of the Portuguese cooking repertoire, we recommend heading to these restaurants to eat cozido à portuguesa:
Os Courenses
We love going to the neighborhood of Alvalade if nothing else for the sake of enjoying a traditional Portuguese meal. This area in the north of Lisbon was named “one of the coolest neighborhoods in the world” by Time Out magazine and we truly appreciate how Alvalade mixes a definitely cool flare with a ton of traditional vibes. There is no shortage of good restaurants in Alvalade and Os Courenses is one of the very best if what you’re looking to enjoy is Portuguese comfort food. The owners come from Coura, in the Minho region of Portugal, and most locals would know that this is a seal of guarantee when it comes to both bonafide Portuguese flavors and massive portions, which are the norm in the north of the country. Os Courenses serves cozido à portuguesa on Thursdays and Saturdays. Besides the usual assortment of meats, vegetables, legumes and rice, they also serve caldo do cozido, that is, the ultra flavorful broth that results from boiling all the ingredients of cozido. Sipping this caldo will warm you up nicely and coat your stomach for the heavy load of all the remaining ingredients which will land on your plate when you order cozido.
📍Where: Rua José Duro 27D, 1700-272 Lisbon
🍴When: Thursday and Saturday
http://restauranteoscourenses.com
Photo by Visão
Chiringuito
Chiringuito’s name might sound a little Spanish and this is no coincidence. This establishment, which used to exist in Santos for a while before finding its current home in the neighborhood of Campo de Ourique back in 2014, specializes in Spanish inspired tapas and typical Portuguese petiscos. Sundays are dedicated to cozido, served in huge amounts as part of a buffet. We love this as it gives us the opportunity to dig in mostly on the ingredients we like the most, and be a little adventurous also serving, even if it’s in smaller amounts, some of the meat cuts we’d normally not be as fond of. Beef shank, spare ribs, pork ear, bacon, chorizo, blood sausage, farinheira, cabbage, turnips, carrot, rice, vegetables and a rich almost stew like soup… it’s all there, and you can eat as much as you want.
📍Where: Rua Correia Teles 31, 1350-093 Lisbon
🍴When: Sunday
www.instagram.com/chiringuito_tapas_bar
Photo by Chiringuito on TripAdvisor
Páteo
If you are roaming around the contemporary neighborhood of Parque das Nações and feel like eating cozido à portuguesa, you can count on O Páteo to satisfy your cravings – well, at least during the weekend. O Páteo prepares cozido on Saturday, thus allowing for plenty of locals to indulge and then take it easy afterwards, having the rest of the day to slowly digest, either strolling around this picturesque riverfront area or, the preferred option for many, horizontally at home. O Páteo’s cozido is quite traditional, featuring all the ingredients one would expect to be included. Not only does it taste fantastic, we quite appreciate that you can slightly customize it. As mentioned above, some people prefer certain cuts of meat, while others despise, for example, a piece of pork trotter to land on their plate. Fear not as at Páteo you can ask for your preferred cozido elements to be included on your serving, and simply ask to remove those you may not be so fond of. But if you visit to try this iconic Portuguese dish for the first time, we’d highly recommend not to ask for changes and dare to try everything that is served. You may like it more or less, of course, but there’s no denying that it would be a very Portuguese experience and something to do if you wish you truly taste what Portuguese culture is all about.
📍Where: Edifício Adamastor, Av. Dom João II 11B, 1990-077 Lisbon
🍴When: Saturday
Photo by Páteo
O Nobre
O Nobre is the restaurant by chef Justa Nobre, who is one of Portugal’s most celebrated female chefs. Originally from Trás-os-Montes, a northern interior and mountainous region famous for its hearty cuisine, chef Justa Nobre has gained quite a reputation for crafting ancient Portuguese recipes with her own signature touches. This is the kind of food most Portuguese know and love, the type of food that tastes like home. O Nobre prepares one of Lisbon’s most reputed versions of cozido à portuguesa. Served every Sunday to inspire families to gather around the table, O Nobre’s cozido stands out because of its carefully sourced cured and smoked meats from Trás-os-Montes. Come hungry, as O Nobre’s cozido is served buffet style and you can refill your plate to your heart’s content. For a little over 30 euros, this is a highly popular option for Sunday lunch out in Lisbon, so reservations in advance are definitely a must.
📍Where: Av. Sacadura Cabral 53B, 1000-080 Lisbon
🍴When: Sunday
www.instagram.com/restaurante_onobre
Photo by Público
Faz Figura Portugal Wine & Food
Just like O Nobre, Faz Figura serves cozido à portuguesa buffet style every Sunday. For only 20 euros, during three hours, you can help yourself as much as you’d like to. This restaurant near the train station of Santa Apolónia is a lovely place to indulge into authentic Portuguese delicacies, paired with a great selection of local wines. Faz Figura’s cozido is also available for take-away and delivery, but we would highly recommend to enjoy it while dining in, as it will surely taste even better with an expansive view out towards the Tagus river. We know cozido is a heavy meal, but we can’t help but suggesting you save some space for the restaurant’s decant desserts, namely their take on pudim Abade de Priscos, here served with pineapple sauce, or their chocolate crumble with fleur de sel and pink pepper.
📍Where: Rua do Paraíso 15B, 1100-395 Lisbon
🍴When: Sunday
Photo by Sábado
Rosa da Rua
The readers of online lifestyle magazine NIT voted Rosa da Rua’s cozido as the very best in Lisbon. They serve it every Wednesday and Saturday, in an all-you-can-eat buffet format. In fact, this restaurant in the happening area of Bairro Alto specializes in buffets, and every day they serve a variety of themed spreads. Even though in the vast majority of restaurants, listed here and otherwise, cozido is only served for lunch, Rosa da Rua extends the pleasure hours and makes a great variety of meats and vegetables available during the day as well as for dinner. Because no one should dictate the specific hour one craves a good cozido à portuguesa!
📍Where: Rua da Rosa 265, 1200-385 Lisbon
🍴When: Wednesday and Saturday
Photo by Rosa da Rua
David da Buraca
When you visit a traditional restaurant such as David da Buraca there is something important you ought to keep in mind: here in Portugal, unless we’re talking about a daily special, when a menu lists a “dose”, which literally translates as a serving, we’d normally be talking about an amount of food which is way too much for one person. Typically, if you’re dining alone, you’d be asking for a “meia dose”, that is, half a serving. Do not worry as this will not leave you hungry. Quite the contrary, as you will be able to experience if you order a meia dose de cozido at David da Buraca, you will have more than plenty to eat! Open for more than half a century already, David da Buraca is an institution of traditional Portuguese food in the capital. It welcomes hundreds of hungry diners each day and, on Sundays, most of them order cozido.
📍Where: Estr. Buraca 20, 1500-118 Lisbon
🍴When: Sunday
Photo by Joao D on TripAdvisor
Solar dos Presuntos
We have recommended Solar dos Presuntos several times, as this is one of those Lisbon addresses where you can’t go wrong, no matter what you order. Wednesdays are the day for cozido, prepared as per the ancient tasty traditions of the northern region of Minho, where the owners of Solar dos Presuntos originally come from. Solar dos Presuntos has a tremendous following and customers were not disappointed during the Covid19 pandemic, when even during lockdown, the restaurant made it a point to do home delivery every week, thus providing the ultimate comfort with their food. If you can only make it to one restaurant during your travels in Lisbon (something that may happen if you have very limited time in our city, but which we certainly hope it is not the case), head to Solar dos Presuntos, order cozido à portuguesa, and you may return to your country knowing that, at least once, you certainly had a taste of genuine Portuguese cuisine.
📍Where: Rua das Portas de Santo Antão 150, 1150-269 Lisbon
🍴When: Wednesday
Photo by Solar dos Presuntos
O Jacinto
Restaurante O Jacinto has been open since 1971. To put things into perspective, that is three years before Portugal went from being under dictatorship and switched to a democratic system! This slightly upscale establishment is quite classic when it comes to its decor and, in an indirect way, this hints of the quality of its traditional dishes. Their menu includes celebrated Portuguese recipes such as açorda (savory bread pudding typical from the Alentejo region), arroz de cabidela (braised chicken rice with its own blood) and, amongst many others, also Iberian black pork cooked in several ways. On Mondays, cozido à portuguesa is the star and many loyal customers who have been coming to O Jacinto for years (if not decades) indulge in the diversity of meats, fresh and smoked, veggies and other sides. From the outside, this restaurant in the neighborhood of Telheiras looks like a regular house. In a way, this announces how the food you get to enjoy here is just like home, like a Portuguese grandma would cook not only to nourish you physically, but also to delight you with the powerful flavors of our traditional cuisine.
📍Where: Av. Ventura Terra 2, 1600-781 Lisbon
🍴When: Monday
Photo by O Jacinto
Varanda de Lisboa
Served exclusively during lunch time on Thursdays, Varanda de Lisboa’s cozido is quite a treat. Not only does it pack all the flavor and comforting feel one has come to expect from this dish, Varanda de Lisboa is a panoramic restaurant inside Hotel Mundial, which means that you get to activate your taste buds while marveling at a spectacular view of the city of Lisbon too. Here, the cozido is served as apart of their Menu Sugestão do Dia by Chef Vitor Sobral, that is, their suggested daily menu by a celebrity chef Vitor Sobral, also known for famous Lisbon restaurants such as Tasca da Esquina (Rua Domingos Sequeira 41C) and Taberna da Esquina (Av. da República 47 E F), and Lota da Esquina in Cascais (Largo Mte. Henrique Anjos 182). For a little over 20 euros, at Varanda de Lisboa you can enjoy a combo featuring an appetizer, a delicious serving of cozido, a dessert and a glass of high quality Portuguese wine by Adega Mãe.
📍Where: Hotel Mundial, Praça Martim Moniz 2, 1100-341 Lisbon
🍴When: Thursday
Photo by Expresso
Adega Da Tia Matilde
Adega Da Tia Matilde (which translates as Aunty Matilde’s Cellar) started as a humble tasca back in the 1020s, but as it gained popularity it stepped up as a restaurant, now with more room to welcome diners and satisfy their hunger with comfort dishes such as cozido. Here the Portuguese speciality is served in very generous portions every Tuesday. Tia Matilde’s owner, Emílio Andrade, was highlighted with the career award by Guia Boa Cama Boa Mesa, a guide about all things food and leisure in Portugal, published by the acclaimed national newspaper Expresso. Andrade and his team have certainly been contributing to enriching Lisbon’s dining scene since 1926, and their spectacular cozido, which many come to Tia Matilde every so often to eat, is a testament to that. Adega Da Tia Matilde’s cozido à portuguesa is consistently highlighted as one of the best in Lisbon, as per popular opinion.
📍Where: Rua da Beneficência 77, 1600-017 Lisbon
🍴When: Tuesday
Photo by NIT
XXL by Olivier
Olivier is a renowned chef and restaurateur (self appointed as a “chefpreneur”) known for his Lisbon addresses such as K.O.B. (Rua do Salitre 169), Guilty (Rua Barata Salgueiro 28 A), Japanese inspired Yakuza (Rua Júlio César Machado 7), one of Lisbon’s best rooftop restaurants, SEEN (Hotel Tivoli, Av. da Liberdade 185), and Clássico Beach Club (Praia da Trafaria, Av. Afonso de Albuquerque S/N) in the seaside town of Costa da Caparica. Here at XXL, right by the Portuguese Parliament in the neighborhood of Santos, Olivier has gathered quite a following of customers who visit particularly during lunch hours and who just can’t seem to get enough of his cozido. Cozido à portuguesa à moda do Olivier is sold for a little less than 30 euros, in a lunch combo which also features simple appetizers such as bread and spreads, as well as a drink of choice. If you wish to sample a delectable cozido while, quite likely, come across a Portuguese politician, XXL by Olivier is the place you should go to.
📍Where: Calçada da Estrela 57, 1200-661 Lisbon
🍴When: Friday
https://restaurantesolivier.com/xxl
Photo by Magg
Espaço Açores
The name of this restaurant translates as Azores Space, and its menu is entirely dedicated to the wonderful cuisine of the Portuguese archipelago in the Atlantic. Amongst many fish and seafood focused dishes, cozido das Furnas stands out. Originally, cozido das Furnas would be the one literally cooked in Furnas, which is a parish in the municipality of Povoação, in the Azorean island of São Miguel. Here, the volcanic heat makes it possible to cook cozido underground, by literally burying pots full of the usual ingredients, which slowly and naturally cook during a few more hours than what it would normally take versus cooked in a conventional kitchen. Espaço Açores serves cozido das Furnas but, in this case, as you could easily imagine, it is cooked in a traditional manner, at the establishment itself. So, what makes it Azorean? The ingredients featured, namely the grassfed beef from the islands, as well as the prized smoked meats, which aren’t typically used in the mainland, but which are very appreciated by Portuguese gourmands, particularly the strongly flavored blood sausage from Pico island.
📍Where: Largo da Boa-Hora à Ajuda 19, 1300-098 Lisbon
🍴When: Friday and Saturday
Photo by Evasões
Bairro do Avillez
Bairro do Avillez, one of chef José Avillez’s restaurants in Chiado district, might be a little geared towards the touristic crowd but, as an establishment that prides itself in promoting Portuguese food culture, it couldn’t leave cozido à portuguesa out of its menu. Bairro do Avillez serves cozido for lunch during the weekend, both on Saturday and Sunday. They offer two types of servings, for adults and, for a little cheaper, for kids, featuring the highest quality ingredients. We’re talking about good cuts of beef, sausages made of Iberian black pork, and carefully selected Portuguese vegetables. The rice served with the cozido is arroz de farinheira, a flavor bomb thanks to the addition of this enchido made with pork fat, flour and seasonings to the usual grains. Bairro do Avillez is a very pleasant place to eat out at but, if you’re at home and feeling lazy yet mighty hungry, you can also get it for home delivery.
📍Where: Rua Nova da Trindade 18, 1200-303 Lisbon
🍴When: Saturday and Sunday
Photo by grupo Avillez in Notícias ao Minuto
Tasquinha do Lagarto
Tasquinha do Lagarto is one of the best traditional cuisine restaurants in the neighborhood of Campolide, which we believe is a very well worth it area of Lisbon for food lovers. With a decor clearly matching the owner’s football fandom preferences, this is the usual hangout of followers of Lisbon’s Sporting Football Club, but also of fans of well executed traditional Portuguese dishes. Two of the things that make Tasquinha do Lagarto’s cozido à portuguesa stand out are the variety and quality of smoked meats (aka enchidos) featured on each serving, and the fact that the meats and vegetables aren’t served with a boring side of plain rice, but rice cooked in the broth of this Portuguese boiled meats dinner, thus being much more flavor packed than the usual. Good food, generous portions, a fun (and often loud) atmosphere make Tasquinha do Lagarto a beautiful spot to enjoy food and a very local vibe indeed.
📍Where: Rua de Campolide 258, Lisbon
🍴When: Wednesday
www.instagram.com/tasquinhadolagarto
Photo by Lifecooler
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