Dear Breakfast - Chiado — Restaurant in Lisbon

(Avocado Toast review)

A lovely breakfast spot made famous and frequented by the many bloggers and instagram enthusiasts.

Unfortunately, while it is a lovely place, with a limited but promising menu, the food wasn’t quite as good as I’d been promised. Although the plating is beautiful, the execution of the food itself is only fine.

I believe toast is when a slice of bread has gone through a process of being toasted, a fact missed by Dear Breakfast. So the avocado toast* is actually just an avocado spread on bread and then beautified for photos. A single egg balanced on the edge of one of two huge slices of bread, which looks more like a salad with bread underneath and much less the avocado toast with a poached egg as stated on the menu.

I’m sure the coffee and pastries are great, (I don’t drink coffee) but I was promised a great place for breakfast and came for the avo toast, unfortunately it just was not possible here. Under seasoned, over presented and a complete shame. The avocado tasted like nothing and my piddly little egg was lost in the mess of undressed salad, varying thicknesses of radish and random pomegranate and black sesame seeds. The salt and pepper I asked for didn’t help lift it, avocado spread left a terrible taste in the mouth.

I took maybe two or three bites, (it took a whole minute just to cut through the bread each time), and just couldn’t get the bitter meh taste of whatever they put in the avocado spread out of my mouth, very unpleasant. The waitress took the food away, which was still almost completely in tact, barely touched and said nothing!! As a chef, if a customer returns an entire plate I would at the very least expect it to be questioned as to why? Let alone if it was so terrible expect it to be comped. The staff didn’t seem to care in the slightest obviously, or maybe this just happens so frequently they are used to it? But I paid in full and vowed never to return. Dreadful experience.

Dear Chef - beautifying the plate mustn’t dilute and overpower the actual menu item. The photo might be lovely but as a chef it’s the flavour that is important and why people return.

(The beet hummus smear was nice, but again...

We visited here as it was highly recommended by a friend of my sister. Coming from Malaysia, we were excited to try this popular spot despite the long walk from our accommodation. The cafe was bustling, as expected, and we were guided by a waitress to a 2-seater table upstairs for the 3 of us.

While we understood the space was limited, we noticed a 4-seater table being cleared downstairs. Politely, we asked if we could move there since it felt quite stuffy upstairs. However, the waitress declined with a firm "I don’t have" and a noticeable attitude that left us feeling unwelcome, we don’t really know why. Perhaps this is a cultural difference, but the interaction dampened our enthusiasm. We decided to stay and ordered the FULL BREAKFAST, which we found quite average overall. The berry smoothie and white jasmine tea were highlights, but the experience didn’t live up to the expectations set by the recommendation. While we appreciate how busy the cafe was, the service and atmosphere left us a bit disappointed. We hope others have a better experience here. We’ve met many great locals during our trip so far in Lisbon, the waitress might have...

i see why this is a popular spot in lisbon! there’s 2 floors and the top floor window seats are highly coveted. i came around 11 and there was no line (yay!) and i got a table right away. i think i ordered the shakshuka (some turkish egg dish) and to be so supremely honest…. the dish was so mediocre and not filling at all! it was 2 eggs with some mayo-y sauce and seasonings… but like… once i finished the eggs, am i supposed to just drink the sauce??? and the slice of “toast” they gave me was the thinnest saddest looking HALF a bagel i’ve ever seen! i had an iced latte and that was good… but it doesn’t come sweetened so you have to add your own sugar and brown sugar doesn’t dissolve in cold drinks? so anyway i’m kinda confused and disappointed with the food. and maybe that’s my fault for ordering the wrong things. i’d love to go back and give dear breakfast another shot — perhaps try a more popular dish — but i don’t have much time left in lisbon! anyway. moral of the story is perhaps don’t order the shakshuka if you like a filling...