As Vicentinas

Beware of the entrance, you can easily pass by it (I think). But this historical looking sign should offer you no doubt you are in the right place.

Vicentinas, also known as Santa Isabel teahouse, initiated in the 50's as a sewing saloon in an old banana warehouse that was ceded to the Vicentian Group so they could help the needed.

In that place there were as well fashion shows to display the garments and it was offered tea and scones to the guests. This trend started to have some success and that was the beginning of the tea house. Scones overruled fashion, the spontaneous pleasure was better than the long lasting one.

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It is impossible not to notice the religious motive that is going on. Jesus figures here and there. This looks like a selective place. Most of the people are elder, and probably religious, I fit neither of them and I can't help feeling a bit dislocated.

There was a table FULL of cakes and I was drooling. Try not to look at it while passing by, because a bit further there is once again one of those inside/outside esplanades. You can see the sky covered by the tree branches and through one of the windows you can see a sewing room.

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I asked a cold tea first, the best ever, it was something fruity but not too red fruity or else I wouldn't have liked it. The other one was black tea and lemon. They were 1.50€.

The scones that came were amazing and I had to ask for more, 1.90€ for two (because the second one doesn't need to bring butter so it is 10 cents cheaper). I started to have the feeling I should be eating like english royalty.

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Monday to friday from 11:30h to 19h. Saturdays from 15:30h to 19h. Closes sundays.

Orpheu Caffé

The wallpaper hits you in the face the moment you go in: it fits like a glove. We decided to sit one a big table near the entrance with enough space for working. Lana del Rey was playing on repeat for the four hours we were there, I wanted to kill myself.

Orpheu was a vanguard magazine in which participated a lot of personalities from the beginnings of the XX century that are part of the portuguese cultural history. 

The space is amazing and so is the service: when we asked if they could cut the toasts in three parts they actually brought three plates each with the two toast parts in it.

The esplanade seemed cool but we ended up staying inside (sockets!). Reminded me of Royale Café in a way, an open air isolated area, an inside/outside, I love this kind of paradox spaces.

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The drinks come in large sizer (yes!). I never shared a drink before but they made it possible. We split a lemonade with groselha (redcurrant juice) and a mazagran. If you start with the sweet groselha/lemonade, then the mazagran will be kind of a disappointment, because the sweetness is already taking over your mouth and it will taste too watery and plain. Later my friend asked for an orange juice with rooibos (I think that was it). Kind of weird I must say.

As for the food, the first toast was so good it disappeared quickly form everyones' plates and I didn't photograph it. It had tuna paste, tomato and cucumber (5.50€). The other one had eggplant, goat cheese and marmelade, slightly stuffy and less good but still yummy. It was around 6.90€.

They also have a lunch menu for 8€ (soup + mini dish + café) and a summer menu for 6.5€ (soup + salad). Well, not to mention cakes, scones, pastries, brownies, all looking at us with their baky eyes.

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Tuesdays to saturdays from 11h to midnight and sunday from 11h to 20h. Closes on mondays.

Vertigo

The ceiling was one thing that I think characterized the place. It is a stained glass with an intricate pattern filled with flowers, some animals and an inca touch. One of three different light sources that prevail, giving it a more ostentatious aura.

There is also natural light coming from the windows and an orange hue coming from the lamps, it ends up being a mix of different light sources and color. Giving it a gloomy but imposing feel.

The mysterious snail stairs to the basement make me wonder if they have concerts, or if they are hiding some sort of goblin down there. Further investigation is needed. Maybe they have concerts with goblins.

There was also a checkers game nearby but it was incomplete, games don't survive in coffee places for long.

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I had the usual and my friend asked for açaí. Açaí is the new trend in fruit, it comes from Brazil and it is said to be super nutritive. It arrives to us as a pulp already (that is why it has such a high price). It looks like chocolate ice-cream but tastes like red fruit yogurt with porridge, go figure, it is really good.

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Monday to thursday from 11h to 22h. Fridays and saturdays from 11h to midnight. Sundays from 12h to 19h.

Pois, Café

"Pois..." is though to translate but it is one of the most commonly used portuguese words. It is better understood through examples I guess:

- And do you have money to do all that?
- Pois... Esse é o problema (Well... That is the problem).

It is kind of a confirmation/agreement/acknowledgement of what others said:

- But you can't make an omelet without eggs!
- Pois!!! Foi o que eu disse! (Exactly!!! That was what I said!)


Pois, Café has austrian owners, austrian stuff, and a portuguese soul. Arriving to Lisbon they were faced with this portuguese filler word, and that was the sure name for the place. So "pois" is crucial. If you find this word is missing in your language, we can start aiming for an universal mix.

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They have some of the best toasts in Lisbon in terms of flavor and creativity. I love the Romy (bacon, leek, honey curry sauce, arugola, purple cabbage, carrot and pepper) and I ask for it all the time because there is no better! However it has become more expensive with time (6.90€). It is justifiable though.

This is an awesome place for erasmus, and also to study or work (sometimes can become noisy though). Imagine this: feeling the summer breeze and working while eating an apfelstrudel. And speaking of those, I met a weird german character named Malte who taught me to say it correctly, here is some precious knowledge for you.

I took a little excert from Lifecooler website because I found it interesting so I will translate it:

The tables are inspired in the cities that give them name. This way, we have Buenos Aires, a corner with sofas and little tables, a feel-at-home vibe; Marrakech, a high couch between three walls with a breakfast-in-bed table in the middle - perfect for tea; Vienna, crafted wood and the only one with the chairs all of the same type, good for meals. The remaining ones are Sydney, Moscow and Fiji.

I specially love Marrakech, we have to eat in a less conventional way and that brings a fun factor to it: crossed legs, table on the knees. I had a wonderful dinner here before Filho da Mãe concert. I recommend you to check this guy.

Pois is part of the Bookcrossing community and all the books can be replaced with you own.

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Go to their website for weekly menu.
Pois is open from 11h to 22h everyday except monday.

Espaço Tintin

First thing coming in we notice a "one step higher" space with three or four tables and a wall decorated with a whole lot different colored post-its praising the place and the Tintin character. To the left there are two mini sofas paired with a moroccan table next to a very small corridor with bar like chairs. Near the counter there is some bigger tables and down the stairs is the Tintin store with merchandizing.

There is also a top floor. This space opens at 20h and it's kind of a loungy mezzanine where you can smoke sheesha for 5€ (or so they said but seems too cheap). Cocktails are also around 5€.

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The food here was inspiring. I use this word when it makes me want to repeat it at home. One of the times I've been here I ate the italian toast with cheese, ham, tomato and olives (3.60€), which is small for a guy I can say. And the other time I had a wrap with fresh cheese (portuguese thing, don't know how to translate it), walnuts, lettuce and arugola (3.50€). This initiated me in the wrap world.
My friend also asked for an ice-cream cup with 2 scoops (2.10€).

For drinking I wasn't always lucky, the lemonade (1.30€) was weird and it had no sugar, so I added but I was so eager to drink it that it ended up not melting and I just drank a kind of acid watery thing.

As for the cold tea it was wonderful and I didn't even know I liked cold tea. The galão (1.40€), well, it is hard to go wrong on this.

An amazing thing for hard workers is that there are sockets everywhere, good internet access and amazing schedule. Maybe it gets a little far for most people but at least it is near the metro. But, I must say, I never was a fan of the Tintin comics or movies. I always preferred this little fellows instead.

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Open mondays to thursdays from 8:30h to midnight, fridays from 8:30h to 2h, saturdays from 9:30 to 2h and sundays from 9:30h to midnight.

Poison d'Amour

Here lies the picture which portrays the cheapest choices in this trés trés chic teahouse. It was all I could manage to do before being spotted and forbidden of taking pictures by the owners. What are they afraid of? Aren't these breads beautiful? And they were all super tasty. I don't get it.

Little side note: don't try to combine a buttery with a chocolaty, the difference feels a bit aggressive to taste. The brioche was exquisite and the pain au chocolat was also good, but I would rather have chosen another thing.

In the picture I was able to spot several prices, so here they are anticlockwise starting with the loney pain au chocolat (1.90€), pães de deus (no price in sight), tarte groseilles and another which I can't spot the flavor (3.80€), brioche parisienne and brioche sucre (1.60€), croissants (1.60€), flan tart (2€ and something) and finally the pain aux raisins (2.20€).

Butter or jam costs and extra 0.60€, ham and cheese also have an extra cost but I did not ask for them this time.

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Everytime there was no waiter around I took the chance to take a sneaky picture. We also asked for a croissant later (we were quite hungry). After we finished we took some time to explore the rest of the place. There is another vitrine with sweets but these are no lower than 3€ each and they look like the ones served in fancy dinners that have five layers and look like an art piece that we are ashamed to destroy.

Glass doors let the light in from the backyard. I go outside and take more pictures as a revenge, but this is a very lame way of being hardcore. The garden is surrounded by a clumsy green, enough to bring the stress volume down but in desperate need of a gardener.

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Open from tuesday to friday from 8h to 20h and weekends from 9h to 20h.