A food tour of Lisbon with a guide who has been dead for 100 years

LisbonThe history of Portugal could be written speaking only of Terreiro do Paço. The land facing the Tagus River, where the royal palace stood for 200 years until the earthquake of 1755 destroyed both the residence and its library with more than 70,000 books. Now, in Terreiro do Paço stands the imposing Praça do Comércio. A well-chosen name, since the Portuguese knew how to trade and goods from China, Japan, India, Brazil, and Africa passed through this space in that era when the ships Portuguese women went further than anyone else.

The Nobel Prize winner for literature in 1998, José Saramago, liked to walk around there thinking about all the things that this square had experienced, whether they were revolutions, processions or the arrival of the famous rhinoceros Ganda, a gift that Sultan Muzaffar II, who ruled Gujarat, an area in western India, gave to Manuel I of Portugal in 1515. Precisely the king who had built the palace in Terreiro do Paço, abandoning the Sant Jordi Castle. Saramago passed through the square on his way to one of his favorite restaurants, the Café Martinho da Arcada, a business founded as early as 1778. Saramago liked it in part because it had been Fernando Pessoa's great refuge, where he would often dine alone, while mulling over his incredible inner world. The history of Portugal could also be written speaking only of Martinho da Arcada, which, as its name makes clear, is located in one of the porches built when the square was redesigned following the plans of the Marquis of Pombal, a statesman who wanted to make Lisbon a modern capital.

Martinho da Arcada is one of the oldest restaurants in a city, Lisbon, which has suffered greatly from the impact of mass tourism and the phenomenon expadoNeighborhoods like Alfama top the list of European neighborhoods that have lost the most residents. In downtown Lisbon, fewer and fewer clothes are hanging in the windows and more and more signs are in English. But the Portuguese defend their century-old restaurants, like Martinho da Arcada, which was originally a place that sold liquor and ice, which is why it was initially known as the snow house When it opened, it was attended by two princes and the Marquis of Pombal himself. The owner at the time was Julião Pereira de Castro, who quickly decided to do business with the royal family and rented the premises to an Italian, Domenico Mignani, who began serving food and an exotic drink that was already popular at the time: coffee. Mignani renamed the business the Italian Coffee House., The first of several name changes for a restaurant that has also been known as Café do Comércio, Café da Neve, or, significantly, Café dos Jacobinos, when republican ideas were already in fashion. In fact, the square has shades of pink. When the Portuguese republicans triumphed, they painted the walls yellow, the color of the monarchy, with a new shade of pink to highlight the change of era. Walls speak if you know how to listen. And so do restaurant tables.

It wasn't until 1829 that Julião Pereira de Castro's grandson, in Martinho, would christen the establishment with its current name. The restaurant gained fame during the 1930s, when Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Man Ray, and Joséphine Baker passed through. Its tables were also used for meetings of some of the colonels who planned the Carnation Revolution. But a key moment came in 1991, when, realizing that the establishment was going through a rough patch, writer Luis Machado invented a series of gatherings where he invited the best writers, film directors, and journalists of the time. These gatherings gave new life to a place that has hosted politicians, Hollywood actors, and, of course, the great queen of fado Amália Rodrigues, who in 1991 chatted with Machado for five hours about his life. And at the end, he sang a little. At that time, Manolo Vázquez Montalbán dined there, as did a host of foreign writers invited by Machado. The restaurant began to organize literary prizes, hosted Christmas dinners for the media, and held book launches. Over time, Martinho da Arcada has dedicated tables to some of his most loyal customers, such as Saramago, Eduardo Lourenco, Julio Pomar, Manoel de Oliveira, and Ruy de Carvalho. But the most famous table is that of Fernando Pessoa, in a small corner.

The current owners are António de Sousa and his family, who understood that they didn't need to change much. In fact, many people come attracted by Pessoa, so it's already good for them to find the restaurant more or less the way the poet frequented it. These are the people who have boarded tram 28, as Pessoa did. Those who long to have a bite at the table where he wrote much of his work. Book of DisquietThe table where he made the last coffee of his life on November 27, 1935, accompanied by Almada Negreiros, two days before he died. He shyly accepted everything. He tried the house specialties, such as Steak à Martinho, a tenderloin with cream sauce, coffee, and sliced chips. Or cod to Martinho, which consists of a piece of Icelandic cod fried and seasoned with olive oil, onion, and fries. Lisbon, let's remember, is the city where you can find 200 different ways to eat cod. Martinho also excels when it comes to making it. to the Lagareiro or à Bràs, two of the most classic recipes. The furniture has been preserved as it was, with marble tables with iron legs, wooden benches, and a pile of black and white photographs. Just as it was when a Pessoa came, who is also remembered at the famous En Brasileira café, from 1905, founded by Adriano Telles, a former Portuguese emigrant in Brazil. He came so often that in 1988 a bronze statue sculpted by Lagoa Henriques was installed on the café's terrace.

In Lisbon, however, you can find restaurants even older than Martinho da Arcada, such as Restaurante Tavares, founded in 1784 and currently undergoing renovations, although it will reopen maintaining the baroque decor it had 200 years ago. When Tavares opened its doors thanks to entrepreneur Vicente Caldeia, Martinho was barely a drinks business. So Tavares boasts that they are the restaurant with the longest tradition, with French-influenced dishes. As in Martinho da Arcada, here too the tables bear the names of their most beloved clients, such as the writer Eça de Queiroz, who imagined a dinner in his book The Maias, What happens at Tavares? Or the Armenian-born businessman and philanthropist Calouste Gulbenkian, the creator of one of Lisbon's most beautiful museums. Or famous people who have passed through, such as Ernest Hemingway and the singer Madonna, who has a home in the Portuguese capital. The most typical dishes at Tavares would be the soup known as green broth, made with chopped cabbage, potatoes and a drizzle of olive oil, or cod baked in Tavares, Made with potatoes and small onions and a delicious sauce composed of olive oil, mayonnaise, and cream. They also make Alentejo-style pork or partridge.

Pessoa apparently didn't go to Tavares, probably because it was too expensive. But Pessoa and his entire cast of characters were sharp-snouted. And luckily, we can follow a route of places he frequented, since many haven't closed. It passes by A Licorista, just below Rossio Square. Licorista was a tavern founded in 1920, where Pessoa also stopped by to sample their liqueurs and have a cheap meal. Next door, the owners acquired O Bacalhoeiro, thus connecting the two businesses. Here you can eat the Minhota cod either to Lagareiro Under drawings of old three-masted ships, portraits of bleached customers, and waiters laughing and arguing about football. Dishes you can also enjoy next to Avenida da Liberdade, at the As Velhas restaurant., They don't even know when they were founded, although they believe it was in the late 19th century. A place created by two sisters from northern Portugal, who brought dishes from that area to a wooden restaurant with tables close together, which was bought by a boxer, Manuel Gonçalves, in the 1980s. Pessoa also ate there. However, he couldn't go to the restaurant O Policia, created in 1938 by a retired police officer who would give it to his children. Here you have to order the cooked in Portuguese, one of the most important dishes in the local cuisine. Many bullfighters passed through O Policía, as it was close to a bullring, as is clear from the walls of the establishment, located in a more modern part of the city. Amália Rodrigues also came, as did the great Eusebio, the Mozambican-born footballer who would shine in the 1960s with Benfica.

Lisbon is full of restaurants steeped in history. But it also has some of the oldest pastry shops in Europe, such as the elegant and centrally located French-inspired Confeitaria Nacional from 1829, which hasn't changed hands in 200 years, always run by the Castanheiro family, or the equally French-inspired Pastelaria Bernard from 1868 in Bairro Alto, the first place Pessoa tried them. And of course, the famous Antigua Confeitaria de Belém from 1837, near the Jerónimos Monastery, known for making the famous Belém custard pastries that are now reproduced around the world. However, the originals emerged from the monastery and from there they jumped to this pastry shop where you can eat them while reading the verses of The Lusiades by Luís de Camões, the great epic that explains the birth of the Portuguese empire.

And the experience wouldn't be complete without a trip to A Ginjinha to try the sweet drink that bears the same name as this small establishment from 1840. This cherry liqueur is one of the few things that unites conservative and progressive enemies, whether from Benfica or Sporting. A drink created by a Galician in the late 19th century that has become very popular, although its birthplace is this small establishment on Largo de Santo Domingo, near Rossio Square, where people drink it standing in the street. Nearby are other centuries-old establishments where you can taste Ginjinha, as well as the beloved Tendinha do Rossio, an ideal place for snacks, cheap dishes, and a vermouth dating back to 1840. A place that Pessoa also frequented, of course. Since he didn't always have money, he came to a place that is still affordable today. The most expensive tapa recently cost five euros, coated codFried. An informal place, filled with shouts and laughter, with a few tables, where tourists look at a plastic menu with names in English next to a man with a drinking problem who's been frequenting this place for years, and a postman who stops by for a few minutes to rest. A lively place that inspired fado. Tendinha Candle sung by Hermínia Silva right in the years when Pessoa was still around. The poet didn't have bad taste. Perhaps he was lonely, but he and his heteronyms left us, without him being aware of it, a magnificent gastronomic route that we can fortunately still follow.