Nagoya (Linda-a-velha)

name: nagoya
type place: japanese restaurant, an all you can eat type place

location R. 25 de Abril 16, 2795 Linda-a-velha

www.nagoya.com.pt
open every day

price idea: less than 20 € lunch buffet 10,90 € dinner all you can eat from menu served at the table 14,90

Who copied who, nagoya samurai or the other way around

same formula almost the same dishes 4 locations

We like samurai better cause the shrimps are bigger, the teppan yaki tastier, the tempura served more dramatic, the grilled chicken crispier and free fruit for desert and it will only cost you 2 euros more at samurai. This is not a bad restaurant chain, and we tried their place next to the casino in Parque das Naçoes (expo) and this one in Linda-a-velha but we prefer Samurai in Belem

The further locations of Nagoya are in Laranjeiras e Telheiras.

mmm: **

Bar das colunas, lisboa (middle between baixa and expo)

name: Bar das colunas

type place: very typical portuguese restaurant

location: R. Zófimo Pedroso1950 Lisboa

tel: 218 683 175

price idea: about 15 €

The restaurant is located between the center of lisbon and the expo area. Close enough to everything but outside of the busy centre with room to park the car.

The name bar das colunas might put you on the wrong leg, it is not a bar but a restaurant. Go here if you want a typical portuguese meal. After the always changing petiscos that they put on your table to tempt your tastebuts you have quite extensive choise of main dishes. Go for one of the daily specials or choose from the wide variety of meat or fish fresh from the grill. Or try the chicken. On thursday and sunday the serve the typical "cozido a portuguesa" a typical portuguese stew that you just have to try. We recommend a visit to the colunas. Very good quality for a very reasonable price. We tried this restaurant already several times but i forgot everytime to put it on the list and it is worth it !

mmm: ****

Quinta do farta pão (alcabideche)

name: quinta do farta pão
type place: very nice portuguese restaurant
location: Estrada da Malveira da Serra, 2755-162 Alcabideche (easy to find A5 direction cascais till the end of the motorway folow direction Malveira for 3-4 km ant the restaurant is on your left hand side
tel 214870568
price idea: about 25€
The restaurant is very nicely located in a green valley not so far from Guincho. The restaurant has cabrito (goat) and cozido a portuguesa (stew) as there specialities. The goat was very good we tried 2 different ways and they were both delicious.
Also all other dishes seem to be very well prepared. One of my friends had the beef with creamy mushroom sauce and he was very pleased as well.
Nice place high feel good factor. Go there for a long meal with friends or family. The prices are a little higher but good price quality ratio.
We will visit again: Aparantly the following restaurants belong to the same owner: Mar do guindho, Mestre Zé and O Faroleiro. We have to check this out.
mmm: ****

La rúcula (expo, lisboa)

name: la rúcula
type place: italian restaurant.
location: Rossio dos olivais, Parque das Nações (entre vasco da gama shopping e o teijo ao lado do porto de recreio
tel: 218 922 747
price idea: +/- 25 €
Well if you read the previous posts you know i am not a heavy fan of italian food but i was pleasantly surpised. The restaurant is nicely located with great views over the marina and the river and has a large menu with antipasti, pizzas, pastas, steaks enough to choose from. We had a bruchetta, rucola salad and a carpacio, all were good. The pizzas and pastas that followed were good too. My friends loved the pana cotta... and i tried it yes it was devine but i resisted to keep those extra calories away. If it has to be italian than i prefer to eat it here.
they have a nice internet site where you can have a preview of the place...
http://www.larucula.com.pt/
mmm: ***

Samurai (Lisboa, Bélem)

name: samurai
type place: japanese restaurant.
An all you can eat type place and again better than the ones we already visited and described: R. da Junqueira 460, 1300 Lisboa, Portugal‎ - 213 631 936‎
open every day price idea: less than 20 € Difference between this chain (exist 5 restaurants spread over lisbon) and the other japanese all you can eat places is that the food is not on a buffet or passes by on a conveyer belt but it is served at the table. You get a menu (with pictures) of all the dishes you have an believe me you will find something you like or you are just plain difficult. From sushi and sashimi to springrolls, dim sum, salad, grilled meat and chicken to various teppan yakis (food cooked on hot plate) and tempura (fried vegetables, shrimp. The sushi an sashimi are fresly made and the hot dishes are served hot. A little cheaper for lunch than for dinner but always a good deal. We like it a lot and been there several times. We prefer this restaurant over the food on a belt place (hong sha long) but also better than the buffet place (hokkaido) that we visited and talked about before. mmm: ***

Azenhas do Mar, Azenhas do Mar (perto da Praia das Maçãs SIntra)

name: Azenhas do Mar
type place: nice portuguese restaurant.
location: Azenhas do mar, close to Praia das Maçãs, Sintra (but near the sea long way from Sintra village)
tel: 219280739 open every day 12-22
price idea: 25-50 €
Waaoow this restaurant is really good, the outside looks nothing special but the inside is very nice and that view is priceless. Very nice fish and shelfish but also meat and vegetarian options.
I really liked this place. Tried for the first time carabinheiros, a very red large shrimp, rare expensive but delicious not like the farmed scampi stuff. If you want to make the trip and visit this nice little village and feel like a royal meal try it it is worth the effort and the money.
mmm: ****

Casa do Victor, (Alcabideche near Cascais Shopping)

name: casa do victor
type place: tipical portuguese restaurant.
location: largo 5 de outubro, 2, Alcabideche (2km from cascais shopping)
tel: 214690305 closes on wednesday
price idea: less than 20 €
It was a restaurant we went to once when we arrived in lisbon it was good but we forgot about it. Not feeling like a fastfood meal from the cascais shopping food court we decided to go here again and it was a pleasant surprise. The menu has a very large variaty of dishes from cheap to slightly more expensive (but very good price quality ratio i think) . More old fashioned way of serving but good service besides the premature arrival of the main dish while we just started our soup. I liked it anyway and for the coca~cola zero lovers they have it in a bottle :)
I had a nice grilled fish after the fishsoup and my partner enjoyed dobrada a typical portuguese transmontana dish with cow stomach and beans.
This is the only restaurant i can recomend when you are in the cascais shopping area and you do not feel like spending your money in the fastfood chains...
here we paid only slightly more and received cola zero from a bottle....
mmm: ***

XL, (Lisboa, Assembleia da Republica)

name: XL

type place: famous portuguese restaurant.

location: Calçada da Estrela 57 - Lisboa1200-661 LISBOA

tel: 213956118 open every day but only for dinner

price idea: less than 40 €

Went to this restaurant with high expectations. Supposed to be one of the better lisbon restaurants. And yes it is stylish nicely decorated with i do not know why an american feel to it and the food is good. Extensive not overpriced winelist but... yes there is a but the food is only good not really special... An extraordenary good cheese buttery sheep cheese (queijo de ovelha amanteigado) from the alentejo, really delicious. The starters we ordered arrive very quickly...waited longer for a mac donalds already :)

The tartaro de salmao (salmon tartare) was delicious, the foie gras ok the potato skins disappointing. Would like to give the chef a recepy that is a milion times better. The main dishes were ok, the sauce of the steak xl (bife xl) is good but served with thin fries (i hate them too greasy nothing better than traditional cut double fried fries) not a slice of tomato, leaf of salad or vegetable... for over 20 euros that is not ok. Deserts again were ok but not spectacular. Not a bad restaurant but i was disappointed... for the same money i prefer to go to bica do sapato.

mmm: **

O Delgadinho, Setubal

name: O delgadinho  rodizio de peixe 
location: Av Bento Jesus Caraça 136, 2910 Setubal
Tel: 91 6118908
Closed on monday !

info: A regular portuguese restaurant nothing fancy but what hits your plate is GOOD.  Fresh grilled fish keeps coming, if you like it you accept or wait for the next plate.  With this fresh fish you get boiled patatoes, salad and açorda.  The fishes they grill is the catch of the season.  This time we had Dourada, Lulas, carapau, salmon, besugo... if you want the names in english good luck try on the internet :) but it was all very fresh tasty and for a very reasonable price. 12.5 euro per person including wine and desert.  We liked it if you in the area try it !
mmm: ***

Indian Cottage, Paço de Arços

name: indian cottage
indian restaurant (with italian specialities :))
location:  R. Adriano J. Silvo 2, 2770 Paço de Arcos

tel 214426392
info: It was difficult to find and it had another name on the building but on the menus it said indian cottage. Confusing and the message that they do indian and italian specialities is not really something that convinces me to visit the restaurant, but it was late and we were hungry.  Decoration of the restaurant was poor but it looked indian including a traditional indian (it looked liked the boss with the tipical indian hat (you remember the british series "some like it hot" yes that hat).  The food was ok to good but overpriced and then i got charged for a 2 people portion of mixed grill where i did not specify that.  I felt bad walking out.  I will not go back. There is at least one nice indian alternative in carcavelos, o Khim Badahur Gurung :) that moved to another location 100 meters from the previous and that we will visit again soon. Indian cottage for me is disqualified !
mmm: disqualified

Caruso, Lisboa (marques de pombal)

name: Caruso
italian (huge) restaurant
location: Rua Artilharia Um, Páteo Bagatella, Loja O, Lisboa (in the triangle Amoreiras Marques de pombal, Rato

telefphone 21 383 04 55.

Daily 1130-1530, 1930-2300

info: This restaurant has 3 rooms (1 smoking) and must have room for over 300 people. It also has a very big outside terace where it must be very nice to have dinner when the weather is good. Inside it is very noisy because it is so busy and everything is stone nothing to absorb the noice. Food: well i was very disappointed to receive a escalope milanaise with boiled vegetables and patotoes but apparantly wikipedia says that the way i like it and always seen it (served with pasta, tomato sauce and parmesan) is not the original way... so stupid me i did not know we are dealing with real italians :) Still i did not like it at all. One of my friends liked the orrichietti with lamb meat, the pizzas did seem ok. I have seen osso bucco (picture) served more stylish and tastefull but my friends liked it. A traditional filet mignon with mushrooms is not to be recomended. It was not good. Mixed feelings. I was going to give a very bad note but if you stick to pasta, pizza and osso bucco maybe it deserves another visit on the terrace.

We made the other visit and no... this is not the place where i will choose to go again.

mmm: *