Tag Archives: portugal

Cervejaria Luzmar, Cascais

I went travelling from 18 Nov – 18 Dec. I’m now blogging about some of the places I went to… posts are not written in chronological order.

One of the best meals we had on this trip was at Cervejaria Luzmar, situated in sunny Cascais – a short distance away from Lisboa, Portugal.

It was indeed a fantastic meal.

This place was red, neat and so inviting. It also did not have the annoying waiters standing outside shoving menus in our faces (the reason we did not step into the other restaurants nearby).

We felt welcome from the moment we stepped in. The service was flawless, delivered with smiles and finesse. The menu was extensive and delicious… it was so hard to pick what to order! In the end, we settled for one platter of grilled fish and squid and vegetables to share, and some shellfish soup.

We were served baskets of bread, cheese and olives before our meal came. (Here is where we learned the Europe Bread Lesson the hard way: if you eat the bread, you pay.)

The waiter taught us how to eat this unique cheese – slice it into wedges, spread it on bread with salt and pepper, and eat. Oh my word, I am not the type to eat blocks of cheese in one sitting – but I really couldn’t resist this. I ate my entire pudding of cheese with much delight. Tender, beautiful and nicely complemented by the salt and pepper.

They were SO generous with the bread… (ok, I am not resentful about the price of this meal, I am not!) The bread was good. We ate most of the three baskets they served us – both the fresh and toasted varieties were perfect.

While waiting for our food to arrive, I looked behind me and took in the sight of the fresh seafood with a big smile on my face. Yum!

The shellfish soup tasted of the sea, and of love. That is all I can say.

We eagerly tucked into our grilled and salted fish and squid, and softly cooked vegetables. It is impossible to describe the meal in terms of taste – it seemed to be sweet, salty, sour and bitter all at once, coating the tongue like a well-made carpet. The seafood was impeccable, mostly because it was so fresh and salted just enough to bring out its freshness. Also, I didn’t see the chefs, but I think they are happy people… such is the food that happy people produce.

In short, this meal emptied our lunch pockets and filled our hearts. We were all quite surprised when we saw the bill. 112 Euros for one main platter, one bowl of soup – and the extras we did not know we would be charged so much for.

We stumbled into the sunshine after lunch, and eventually forgot about the bill (well, until now) as we continued to discover the joys of Portugal…

Cervejaria Luzmar – Avenida Marginal, 48, Cascais 2750-427 – Phone: +351 21 484 5704

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Bom dia!

This post comes to you from Lisboa (Lisbon) in Portugal. With limited internet access and no chance to upload photos, I have now written so many blog posts in my head and don’t know where to begin! Also, I’m typing on the blasted itouch thing again (free wi-fi today). I’m such a fan of real computers.

Anyway! Since my last post, I’ve also visited Casablanca and Tanger in Morocco and Sevilla (Seville) in Spain. Casablanca and Tanger left much to be desired… it was a real relief to arrive back on Spanish soil and tuck into some tender venison stew and artichoke with jamon for lunch… Sevilla also wrapped its sweet orangey arms around my heart and continues to sing to me from afar.

But more about all of that later. I am in Portugal. Lisboa is beautiful. I am in love with the graffiti art, romantic monuments, swirly pavements, dreamy skies. Fantastic. We also had some very tasty seafood for dinner last night… crabs, prawns, clams, fish galore! It amused me greatly that we were offered beer at the door before we could even sit down too. Everyone was also watching soccer on the gigantic screen while peeling prawns and licking crab juices off their fingers.

Of course we ate more seafood today. Grilled fish, sardines, octopus rice, squid. Ohhh so good. It’s so fresh and they are cooked and dressed well and simply so the flavours just burst through like rays of sunshine topped with tiny sprays of ocean saltiness. And the cheese here is something different too. It looks like a pudding and goes so nicely on top of toasted bread with a quick shake of salt and pepper.

There is simply too much to write about in one go. I’m also looking forward to sharing some pictures soon…

Meanwhile, the tour is coming to an end and sad as it is I shall be celebrating one important thing: NO MORE mass emptying of bladders with everyone from our tour group. It’s torturous dehydrating oneself to avoid using the tour bus loo and running out with everyone to pee every time the tour guide lets us out of the bus. I’m pretty sure that is very unhealthy.