Lisbon
There are good hotels to stay at in Lisbon and there are restaurants in plenty, but to try the cookery of some of the town eating-houses a gourmet requires to have his taste educated up to, or down to, the Portuguese standard.
At the Braganza, a little club of bachelor Britons have been in the habit of dining together and ordering their dinner in advance, and this is a fair sample of what the steady-going but very comfortable hostelry can do when it chooses:—
| Potages. | |
| Madeira Riche. | Queues de Bœuf. Crème Clamart. Petits Soufflés Desir. |
| Johannisberger (Claus). | Saumon Sauce Genèvoise. Selle de Présalé à la Montpensier. Poularde à l'Ambassadrice. |
| Château Giscours. | Pain de foies gras en Bellevue. Punch au Kirsch. Asperges Sauce Mousseuse. |
| George Goulet, 1892 Vintage. | Pintades Truffées. Salade Japonaise. Timbales à la Lyon d'Or. |
| Porto 1815. | Glaces à la Américaine. Petits fours. Dessert. |
| Liqueurs. | Café. |
A good table-d'hôte breakfast and dinner are served daily at 11 A.M. and 7 P.M. and the price is moderate, being about 800 réis and 1.200 respectively. (It is well to remember that the exchange varies considerably, and it is therefore difficult to give the equivalents in sterling for the prices quoted, but 5500 to 6000 réis may be roughly taken at £1 sterling.) The proprietor is M. Sasetti, who is ably supported by his manager and by a head waiter named Celestino, a most useful person in every way.
Wines, spirits, and liqueurs of foreign origin are expensive at the Braganza, as they are everywhere else, owing to the high custom tariff; but the local wines, amongst which may be cited Collares, Cadafaes, Collares Branco, Serradayres white and red, etc., are all good and cheap table wines.
The next restaurant as regards comfort, cleanliness, and cuisine is the Café Tavares, situated in the Rua Largo de S. Roque. It is essentially a café restaurant, and is open from breakfast time in the morning till 3 or 4 the following morning. Tavares is the principal rendezvous of the young bloods, both Portuguese and foreign, particularly so after the theatres and opera are over and suppers are in demand. The revel goes on from twelve o'clock until any hour of the morning, more especially as regards the cabinets particuliers, which are best entered from the back entrance situated in the Rua das Gaveas. A very good table-d'hôte lunch and dinner are served daily at the very moderate cost of 600 and 800 reis. The proprietor and manager is Snr. Caldeira, who is most attentive and obliging to his guests.
If any visitor to Lisbon is anxious to try the Portuguese cooking, he cannot do better than pay a visit to the Leão d'Ouro, situated in the Rua de Principe, adjoining the Central Railway Station. This formerly was, and to a great extent still is, the rendezvous of actors, authors, and professional men. The food is good and very cheap, served à la carte. Portuguese food may be called "highly seasoned," but for all that there are many good dishes, one speciality of the house being Sopa de Camarao, a bisque of prawns, which in no way is to be despised. With regard to wines at this restaurant it is advisable to drink those of the country.
Estoril
Estoril is a very picturesque and beautiful spot about three-quarters of an hour from Lisbon by rail. Here there has been lately established a high-class hotel with cuisine à la Française and good wines. The hotel is owned and managed by M. Estrade, who has had a long experience in this class of business.