Solar da Madalena — Restaurant in Lisbon

My memory of places is intimately associated with it's food. It's been decades since my last trip to Portugal and I was looking forward to revisit one of my favorites then, bifana. I was therefore elated when our local guide suggested one of her favorite places for it.

This popular Portuguese street food of thinly sliced marinated pork slow cooked until tender and sandwiched between a bun that is often crispy on the outside and soft within.

Solar de Madalena is an unassuming family owned and run restaurant that seems to be popular both with locals and tourists. The menu is understandably limited as the vast majority of patrons seem to come only for bifana and the vegetable soup, worthy reasons I assure you.

Don't forget to eat your bifana with the piri piri (go easy with this one, it's got some kick!) and the sweet mustard condiments to add variation, although the bifana from SDM is...

This is our first trip to Portugal, and we had the good fortune of staying right across the street from this place. We went in for breakfast on our second morning, and ordered a couple of the bifana sandwiches. This was our first time ever trying it, so we have no basis for comparison, but they were absolutely delicious! We also ordered a few glasses of the tasty, fresh squeezed orange juice, as well as the pastais de natas, all excellent. Service was friendly and quick, and the establishment was very clean and inviting. They also had a gluten free, dairy free option for my wife. We would definitely...

Solar served good bifanas too! No queue and there's even indoor seating. Prices were very reasonable too. I bought this as a snack but it is quite filling. I chose one with pork and cheese. The spicy level is quite low (at least for me). But the spicy sauce does create a very different type of sandwich which gave a twist. However, the sauce and cheese did not sufficiently masked the pork. There was a pretty strong porky taste that may not be pleasant for some people. This is the only bifana I tried so I do not have a point of comparison. But I will recommend to try this because it is a big thing...