2025 Lisbon Foodie Tour

This was not my first visit to Lisbon, nor my first Lisbon Foodie Tour, but how can you not do a foodie tour in Lisbon. There is so much great food and history that one, nor even tour, would ever by enough.

This time I booked The 10 Tastings of Lisbon: Bairro Alto, Chiado & Baixa tour via WithLocals.com. Our guide for the afternoon was the amazing and lovely Sonia.

Lisbon is a city on a number of hills and steps, so if this is an issue for you, this tour with Sonia should be a good one. It starts at the tour’s highest point and is either downhill or on the flat for the rest of the tour.

I would also recommend that you don’t eat beforehand, there is a lot of food on this tour, so you want to make sure you have a good appetite.

The 10 Tastings of Lisbon: Bairro Alto, Chiado & Baixa

I decided to walk from my hotel to the starting point, by the fountain in Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara, climbing up a few sets of stairs. Thanks Google Maps for making sure I did not get lost. Lisbon is a warren of streets, lanes and stairs.

I would include Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara as a place to visit even if you are not doing this tour as it provides great views of Lisbon.

BTW, I am glad walked as there were a number of parades and protest marches in progress on the day I was there. Traffic was a nightmare.

Igreja de São Roque

The first stop our Lisbon foodie tour was Igreja de São Roque, the Church of Saint Roch. Whilst it is pretty nondescript on the outside, inside is a completely different matter.

The Church of Saint Roch was the first Jesuit Church in Portugal…

Cervejaria O Trevo

After the Church it was time to start the foodie part of the tour. Our first stop was Cervejaria O Trevo.

This place was pretty busy, thankfully Sonia knows the people who run the place and was able to secure us a table without too much trouble.

You need to try to the Bifana. A simple pork sandwich “Succulent steak marinated in garlic and spices, served on fresh bread”. They even had some peri peri oil to give it a bit more kick. For €3 it is pretty good.

And to wash it down a glass of Portuguese beer, in my case I tried a Sarges.

The late great Anthony Bourdain visited O Trevo when he was in Lisbon, so it is now on nearly every foodie’s wish list when they visit Lisbon.

Manteigaria

After enjoying the Bifana it was time to skip to the what must be on everyone’s Lisbon wish list, Pastel de Nata. Two doors down from O Trevo is an outlet of Manteigaria, who are apparently one of the best Pastel de Nata bakeries in Portugal.

They bake the Pastel de Nata onsite so they are fresh.. The bakers are working constantly to keep up with the demand, and there were more locals than tourists which is always a good sign.

The wait, all of a minute, was unbearable…

And yes, they tasted even better than they look!

Exploring Lisbon

After the stops at O Trevo and Manteigaria we needed a bit of a walk to make room for the next stop. A great opportunity to explore more of Lisbon.

Yellow Tram

More Wandering

Livraria Bertrand – The World’s Oldest Continually Operating Bookshop

And Even More Wandering…

Ale-Hop

I was not expecting to see a cow poking its head out of a window…

Sofia the Fearless Woman

Ok the next stop was unexpected, Sofia the Fearless Woman. A piece of guerilla art by Superlinox, Portugal’s Banksy, though I am not sure that the two of them would like to be compared, very different styles. All of his installations are monochromatic sculptures.

And yes that is a dust buster in her hand. Sofia hangs out near Santa Justa Lift.

Santa Justa Lift

One of the major tourist attractions in Lisbon is the Santa Justa Lift. The lift takes you up 45m from Baixa up to Largo do Carmo (Carmo Square). It was built around the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries. I have not had a chance to ride in this yet, you need to be up pretty early to beat the queues.

More Wandering….

Ginjinha de Óbidos

All of this wandering makes a person thirsty, thankfully our next stop was to try Ginjinha. Ginjinha is a sour cherry liqueur made with sour cherries, brandy and sugar. The stall that we visited served tasting shots in normal glasses as well as edible chocolate cups. He even had Chili version of the stuff.

This wasn’t my first time trying this stuff, seems that it is a part of all foodie tours in Lisbon. The difference between this time and my previous tasting was that we weren’t hanging out in the street the same way. The place below is where I tasted Ginjinha on my last trip to Lisbon.

Casa do Alentejo

Our last stop on our tour with Sonja was Casa do Alentejo where we had a more substantial bite to eat.

Casa do Alentejo has been around for a bit over 100 years and looked to be popular with the locals.

We had an assortment of cheeses, olives, a jug of wine (nothing too special, drinkable), cod fish with chickpeas, cod fish croquetas and, my favourite, chorizo. The chorizo was cooked at the table…

This was a bit of fun..

Casa do Alentejo is definitely worth a visit. It is near Praco do Rossio, so pretty central when it comes to Lisbon.

Lisbon Foodie Tour with Sonja

I really enjoyed this tour, Sonja knows her history and the food of Portugal. All up we walked about 3kms over 2.5 hours and, as we started on high, it was either all downhill or flat.

My next visit to Lisbon is already in the works and, hopefully if she is available, we will be booking another tour with Sonja.