Restaurante Pastanaga — Restaurant in Lisbon

I booked a table at Pastanaga for a party of four as a holiday treat. I ate there on a previous trip to Lisbon and was expecting another lovely meal. From the moment we arrived, we were shown great care and attention by the host and the serving staff. Eating outside, we were almost immediately presented with an amuse bouche and offered a cocktail menu to start our meal. Not everyone wanted a cocktail so I can only comment on the whisky (bourbon) sour, garnished with orange peel and a brown sugar cube which got better and better as the flavours intermingled, and the pina colada which was the nicest I've ever tasted. We shared starters of shrimp in garlic and satay chicken, both of which were fresh, full of flavour, and served with enough sauce to make full use of the basket of bite-size breads we ordered with them. The staff in Pastanaga are warm and friendly. Every request was handled immediately and, following our starters, we chose our main courses before they presented us with a choice of wines to taste, both red and white, based on what we selected for our main meal. All of this was done in an unfussy way with information about each wine and a small taste from each bottle to make sure we were happy with our selection. We had picked the cod papillote, the duck rice, and two orders of the three poultry pie. Each dish was perfectly cooked, beautifully flavoured, and devoured entirely. Lastly, we had the baked apple with cinnamon, sugar, and balsamic, the chocolate souffle with prune, and the mango mousse (everyone's favourite). The meal unwound over a leisurely two and a half hours. Our host popped over regularly to ensure we were happy, and told us not to rush to leave after paying the bill. My guest all fully enjoyed the food, the ambiance, and the attentive service while dining al fresco. In terms of value for money, the cost of the meal compares very favourably with a similar evening out back home. Well worth seeking out, and a meal I would happily eat when...

Amazing food with great wine and a slower pace of service. Our group of 8 made a same-day reservation for 7:30pm on a Tuesday. I'm glad we did, since we saw two people get turned away when they walked in without a reservation. The sommelier mentioned that they don't do timebound reservations, so people can sit and chat for as long as they want. Seating-wise, they cobbled together a bunch of outdoor tables to create seating for 8. It took us a while to order, after which the sommelier came out to help our friends choose wine. The sommelier was phenomenal--he brought out 4 red wines for our friends to taste before committing to a bottle, and 2 green wines before our friend committed to a glass. Our appetizers came out about 20-25 minutes after ordering. It then took another 40 minutes for the entrees to arrive, which was quite long. The chef came out twice to talk about the food and check how we were doing, which was very sweet.

We got to order a lot of food, all of which was delicious: Mini eggplants, 12.5 Euros Shrimps with garlic, 18.5 Euros Fish moqueca, 14 Euros Cod fish papillote, 14.50 Euros Poultry pie, 28 Euros Stewed rabbit, 27 Euros. As a pescatarian, I found this gamey (unsurprisingly), but other friends found this delicious Duck rice, 26 Euros. Our friend who had been here before loved the duck rice, and it delivered A bottle of 2017 Pegos Claros Grande Escolha, 56 Euros. So many of our group enjoyed this wine!

Card accepted. I...

I will start by saying I'm sorry I dont have pictures of the food. When the food is amazing, you forget to take pictures, i guess.

For starters, the restaurant is based in a really charming street, not crowded neither quiet: perfection! You can seat inside or outside (try at esplanada!)

We were in a crowd of 4 to spend 2 days in Lisbon, anxious to taste great food, and I must say that I'm writing this Review in our second and last day. In a row. We decided no to taste any other restaurant for dinner, Just because we were absolutely amazed by ALL dishes, no joke!

We have tried the cod fish in cream sauce, poultry pie, duck rice, moqueca and salmon. Half of the menu, almost hahahaha. Each one was going bigger than the other, seriously.

For me as a person from Brazil, and Pernambuco, I have to say that Ana's memory of her moqueca (read her menu!!) is spot on and she gave me a plane ticket to hometown through her food.

Not to make this a book or seem that I'm being paid to write It (which im not, just to be 100% clear haha), everything from Pastanaga is Just incredibly outstanding great.

All crew and service was perfect and Ana (the chefowner) and Sergey (known as Manoel) have big hearts, amazing stories to Tell, and are Just simply warm-hearted and Sweet!

The best experience with heart food that I had in Europe so far (15 days already).

Thanks for everything, Hope that I can come back as soon...