The Traveling Blogcrastinator: Foodies’ Delight

Friday, October 31, 2025

Happy Halloween to those who celebrate. It is definitely celebrated here in Portugal, though not as universally and enthusiastically as at home.

Today is our first full day in lovely Lisbon, and it helps that we slept in a real bed last night. With a clearer head, I went to finish off the final stage of yesterday’s geocache. It was easy, but at the end a homeless man appeared out of nowhere just in time to see us return the cache to its hiding place. Oops.

I was still there a few minutes later when the homeless man returned and made a beeline to the cache to retrieve it. I tried to discourage him, but I really didn’t have the ability to communicate with him about anything that specific. I suspect he will be back in a few hours to get the cache. When he finds that it does not contain drugs or money he will probably throw it on the ground and the cache owner will have to obtain a new cache container and find a new hiding place.

Next on my agenda was getting a manicure. People coming and going from the salon were doing a lot of hugging and cheek-kissing with the owner and the staff. It seemed like a warm and happy place.

Next, it was time to go to a church in the Alfama neighborhood to meet our guide, Gisela, from Culinary Backstreets, for a food tour. It turned out that we were the only two people on the food tour.

We started the tour with a visit to a nondescript little tasca (pronounced tash-ka). It means a small, no-frills neighborhood tavern or bar selling food.

Gisela and Ken discussing the role of the tasca in a neighborhood’s life

Arroz malandro (naughty rice) is a Portuguese comfort food. Gisela served us two types: arroz polvo (octopus rice) and frango assado (roast chicken). I have never been willing to try octopus because the thought of it makes me gag. I decided to be brave and try it this time. I ate one small piece. It wasn’t rubbery as I expected - but I only wanted one piece. Now I can say I have tasted it.

Octopus rice, roast chicken with rice

Plus, salad and wine in traditional pottery carafes

On the way to our next stop we tried castanha de ovo. It was a very sweet custard dessert shaped like an egg. Traditionally, this treat was made in a convent. Next, we tried a wonderful donut called bola de Berlim.

At a school started by a labor union in a poor neighborhood we took a break at a coffee shop. We were schooled by Gisela in how to order coffee. Uma bica means a shot of espresso. It will be served in a tiny cup. Pingado means “with milk.” Bica garoto means “with foamy milk.” Meia de lette means half-milk and is similar to a flat white. Galão is comparable to a latte.

At another tasca we tried tremoço, or lupini beans.

I was very surprised to learn that they come from the lupine flower. Wild lupine grows abundantly in our part of Alaska.

Lupines
Photo by schnuddel, at Getty Images

The important thing to know is these beans are poisonous, unless cooked first. I really liked the vinho verde (green wine) we had with the beans. It was very light.

And while we were eating the tremoços, a dish of Portuguese clams arrived (amêijoas à bulhão pato) arrived. Very garlicky. We sopped up the sauce with the ubiquitous rustic bread.

We had some small shrimp, too - gambas à guilho (garlic shrimp). Scenes from the 2nd tasca:

After our “dinner” we stopped at a neighborhood bakery for queijada, a type of traditional cake made with cheese. We couldn’t eat any more, so we took it with us in a bag. We ate it the next day and it was nice, though very sweet. The cheese was quite mild. We also drank some fresh-squeezed orange juice at the bakery. The Portuguese grow a lot of oranges, and they are rightfully very proud of them.

Saving the best for last, Gisela finally took us to a small , beautiful reastaurant called Garum. (Garum is a fermented fish sauce that was used by many of the ancient Mediterranean cultures.) We met the chef/owner, Phillip, who had spent several years working in Japanese restaurants in Portugal. Phillip has developed his own versions of garum, using sardines and other local fish. He placed a drop of a clear liquid on the back of each of our hands and we licked it off. It was light, but rich and complex. Just amazing. Then we were served shots of a gorgeous fish soup. You can’t tell from the photo how captivating this soup was.

Then came a drop of a tea-colored garum, followed by a nigiri sardine. Phillip blasted the sardines with a blow torch at the table, and then put a little bit of chunky sea salt on the fish. Oh, my!!!

The small bottle in the background contains garum.

On our way out , Phillip showed us his prep room in the back. It was spotlessly clean, of course, and full of various kinds of fish that he was drying.

This tour lasted for 6 hours! It was phenomenal! Thank you, Gisela, for a memorable tour.❤