Sem Dúvida
Uma festival gastronómica Português!
There is no lost irony to this food blog that one of the tragedies of modern dining is the lost art of discovery. From Instagram reels, Tripadvisor whines and fake Google reviews, it is rare that we ever get to experience the satisfaction of unearthing a truly hidden gem. Now obviously Sem Dúvida, isn't exactly hidden, slapped bang in the middle of Campo Pequeno, but certainly the army of Gen Zers who constitute Lisbon's main social media food gurus certainly aren't across it yet.
This is an excellent restaurant, serving high quality, large portions of classic Portuguese dishes, all served with the traditional attentiveness that is so typical of all Portuguese restaurants. As we settled into our table next to the shell fish tank, the couverts of Alentejo jamon, olives and octopus salad arrived at our table as we watched a massive crab walking all over another crab. Suitably salivated by the artistic performance of the arthropod, we rejected none of the plates.
The jamon so delicate yet punching a deep pig flavour from the fat, the octopus cooked to perfection to give just a slight resistance before yielding to the bite, turned through fried onions and salsa verde, it delivered an exceptional freshness to the greased piglet.
For our mains a shrimp açorda with garlic and coriander, and a shrimp and monkfish rice, were both wheeled out on a trolley and then served from their cooking pots at the side of the table by the waiter. Despite the service techniques from the mid twentieth century, the cooking was absolutely of this modern life.
For the uninitiated, açorda is a bread sauce style stew adored by our new host nation, which they stuff full of seafood or meat and really push the limits of garlic acceptability. Despite sounding like a heavy gut botherer, Sem Dúvida supplied a very light, yet creamy stew and although there was enough garlic in there to destroy Dracula and any future offspring he might have sired, it somehow did not overpower the dish.
Over in the other bowl, glorious chunks of monkfish protruded through the grains like boulders from a landslide. With the rice clearly cooked in a seafood broth, the elevation of the fish flavours could have convinced us to jump in the fish tank next to us to see out the end of days, or oxygen.
With too much food in our stomachs, a bottle of superb Bairrada region white wine and two first-class tawny ports, smoked as if whiskey. The whole feast was still under €100. To call Sem Dúvida a hidden gem isn't correct. To call it one of the best value and representations of Portuguese gastronomy is correct.
Don’t forget to order: The açorda really was a superstar dish.
