Mesa do Bairro

• Campo Pequeno (Linha Amarela)
• €€€
• R. Reis Gomes 10, 1000-291

There is a direct correlation between the longer we live in Lisbon and the lack of frequency with which we go into the city centre. No doubt plenty of people who encounter an English language food blog of the city are keen to know more about what and where they should go around Santos, Bairro Alto and Baixa-Chiado. With 6.5 million visitors in 2023, we don't see how we can compete with Lisbon's Tripadvisor page. So we don't! What this does mean though, is we're able to explore more traditional Portuguese neighbourhoods like Campo Pequeno and as a result, we've found Mesa do Bairro, which might be our favourite restaurant in Lisbon.

Campo Pequeno is already home to one of our favourite Alentejo food joints, and also one of the best Chinese in the city, but Mesa do Bairro really is the reason you should get out of tourist town and come enjoy fantastic Portuguese food on one of the best rooftop terraces in town.

Conscious I don't want to drone on for too long, the list of our order goes; couvert of bread, tapenade, herb butter and cheese, ovos verdes (more on this in a second), crocante de sapateira (crab croquettes), grilled octopus with tomato and spinach rice, roasted leitão (suckling pig) with french fries, mixed salad and black pepper sauce, creme brûlée, one and a half bottles of Alentejo dry white wine, two espressos and a litre of still water. We avoid specifying prices as we don't want to set any expectations when people go to eat, but although this is €€€ on our rating, we feasted for one of the more affordable rates at this score.

Now for the detail where it really matters. First the two main courses were truly divine. The grilled octopus serving up two tentacles, charred and tender, delivering the delicate flavour of the cephalopod on a hearty bed of risotto style rice laced with the freshness of tomato and spinach. Similarly of high standard was the perfectly roasted leitão, three generous hunks of juicy piglet meat with crackling worthy of worship, practically daring you to slather them in the addictively spicy black pepper sauce. Also worthy of a noble mention were the olive tapenade as part of the pre-meal couvert, and the unctuous vanilla creme of the brûlée.

The noble egg is so well utilised all over the world. Adored by children and bodybuilders a like, it's universality means you're rarely given to encounter it an unfamiliar form. Yet the ovos verdes starter is unlike anything we have had before. Traditional to Lisbon, green eggs , sees the yolk removed, and mixed with softened bread and parsley. The magic of the chef at Mesa do Bairro, somehow managed to inject this concoction back into the egg for the whole thing to be presented deep fried as if boiled just to the point of hard. We could eat these forever.

And just as that was blowing our mind, the other starter of crab croquette, also blew us away with a fresh dressed crab filling served in a typical hollowed out puri pastry typical of Indian food. The sensation of crab was so strong, it was not unreasonable to think he may have been caught out of the sea in the minutes before he was served to us.

Many a tourist arrive in Lisbon believing they'll be spoilt for choice from rooftop locations and this really isn't the case for the way the city is built. Although this is changing, especially in the Alcantara area, you'll soon find yourself surrounded by large numbers of people who have all also googled 'roof top bar Lisbon'. As we sat out in the July heat, overlooking the sleepy parks of Campo Pequeno of a Sunday lunch, we realised that Mesa do Bairro, is actually the perfect terraced dining experience. It's so good we almost didn't want to share it. But we have, so do please go.

Drinks: One and a half bottles of Alentejo dry white wine, two espressos and a litre of still water.

Don’t forget to order: Ovos verdes and crocante de sapateira to consider yourself truly initiated into Lisbon food culture.