Settle in

Buy local, and buy like a local!

Envie de Lisbonne explains!

Moving to Portugal is an enriching and sunny experience. You can look forward to a very pleasant life until you realize that something is missing. Yes, expatriation has a consequence in everyday life... French cuisine has disappeared! Now it's up to Portuguese cuisine to rival that of France.

We explain how to buy local and, by extension, how to buy like a local!

Discover cooking in padarias and tascas

When on vacation in Portugal, we tend to favor restaurants recommended by guidebooks. This gives you a good overview of Portuguese gastronomy. But if you want to discover traditional and popular dishes, we recommend you follow the locals. Here, eating out is a well-established habit that begins with breakfast. Torradas (toasted bread with butter), brioche croissant, natural orange juice and a strong cup of coffee are all part of the morning routine in the "padarias", a kind of bakery where you can sit down and eat.

At lunchtime, many Portuguese eat in "tascas", small neighborhood restaurants with menus costing less than 10 euros. Several dishes of the day are offered, accompanied by soup or dessert, a drink, bread and coffee. This will give you ideas and introduce you to dishes that you can quickly integrate into your eating habits: carne de porco à portuguesa, arroz de pato, polvo à lagareiro or bacalhau à bras. We won't give you the translations of the dishes, but we suggest you come and discover them for yourself!

365 cod recipes! Bacalhau really is an institution!

No, it's not a legend: bacalhau (cod in Portuguese) is a true local tradition. You can buy it dried in any supermarket or market, and it's one of the staples of the Portuguese diet. Forget any bad memories of the school canteen where you had to eat a tasteless brandade. The variety of preparations and the quality of the products will make you "addicted" to this dish. Legend has it that there are 365 cod recipes in Portugal, one for every day!

Get inspired by Portugal's top chefs

Le Portugal a la cote depuis quelques années. La bonne conséquence de ce phénomène se trouve dans une reconnaissance des guides gastronomiques de plus en plus forte des tables des chefs locaux. 28 restaurants sont étoilés Michelin. Nous vous laissons faire votre choix dans la liste que vous retrouvez en cliquant ici.

And let's not forget the more modest restaurants that revisit Maman's cooking... Our favorite is aptly named: Mãe, cozinha com amor (Maman, cooking with love) in Lisbon's Estefânia district, where you can eat traditional dishes prepared with a very contemporary eye. We love it here!

Everyone in the kitchen!

Now it's up to you to get cooking like a local. And eating local couldn't be easier. Markets - often covered - are omnipresent, whether in big cities like Lisbon or Porto, or in the country's smaller towns. You'll find vegetables and fruit that you're not used to eating. Take cabbages and melons, for example, which come in many varieties ... but it's hard to find the green cabbage and Charentais melon so popular with the French, for example.

Les marchés ont toujours des boulangers, des bouchers, des poissonniers, des primeurs, des fromagers. En dehors des marchés, l’offre est également très présente en ville et les supermarchés savent s’approvisionner de manière assez qualitative.

I miss my France: what can I do?

Of course, you can carry a suitcase with your favorite products when you visit France. But don't panic, many entrepreneurs have set up businesses across the country and offer local cheeses, charcuterie and pastries. Supermarkets belonging to French chains also know how to source everyday products from France.

Envie de Lisbonne will help you settle in Portugal and find your bearings so you can enjoy your new life to the full!