Franguinho Real
Home comforts of chicken and chips
- Arroios/Anjos (Linha Verde)
- €€
- Rua de Arroios 115, 1150-053
Considering just how darn popular Nandos is in the UK, it remains remarkably suspicious to us that more grilled chicken and chips, let alone that peri-peri fire, aren't seen around Lisbon. Sure, the Portuguese love their bacalhau and bitoque, but neither has the nostalgic value of chicken and chips for us.
Franguinho Real, however absolutely slaps when it comes to banging grilled chicken and chips.
Slotting in with just a few other tables of a Thursday evening, the decor has the homely feel like all the best Italian restaurants, where you just feel like you're in someone's house. We took on a plate each of the headline act and threw in a mixed salad as a token gesture.
After just one visit Franguinho Real is now a top contender for my favourite easy dining restaurants in the Arroios area. The chicken was crispy and succulent, the batata equally crispy and the salad did help offset what was a generous amount of olive oil on the bird. Washed down with a bottle of red wine, we sat in the cosy comfort of simple food done well and was so smug about this we even went one further and shared one of Portugal's many artery-clogging sobremesas. This time sharing a hearty slice of something which might be related to a creme caramel or brûlée in more refined hands.
As we whiled away the time, the proprietor came over and gave us a couple of free glasses of port on the house and asked if we were Brazilian. Upon informing him we were actually British, he complimented us on our Portuguese language skills, which are objectively terrible. But then grandparents are always nice.
Don’t forget to order: Um dose Franguinho à guia (the chicken, chips included) – €13