Chiado

Chiado Restaurant Review:

Elegantly European, this cozy restaurant on a busy, multicultural street serves what has often rightly been called the best Portuguese cuisine outside of Lisbon. Owner Albino Silva has fresh fish flown in daily from the Azores, and he presents fresh-baked Portuguese bread, oil and olives while you peruse the menu. The fish shines, from simple, grilled, marinated sardines to grouper carpaccio, served with white asparagus and citrus preserves. Meats, all-organic or vegetable-fed, may include beef tenderloin with tawny port sauce or roasted pheasant kissed with Madeira wine. Silva makes sure all dishes are artful and authentic, whether it is tiger shrimp, grilled and spiced with piri piri, or octopus with a roasted sweet pepper salsa. Be sure to leave room for Portuguese finales, such as pears poached in Madeira or natas do ceu (crème layered on almond liqueur-soaked ladyfingers, topped with egg nectar). The wine list showcases Portugal’s treasures. The adjacent tapas and wine bar is a good place to hang out before or after dinner.