Pensão Amor

I have a curious relationship with this space. First time I heard about it, it opened along with two other cool bars in what I considered to be a sudden cultural movement in Lisbon: the pink street, named as so due to its manly pink color.

This fostered a very interesting mesh of people, on the one hand, the squalid people that hang out in the sleazy bars that dominated that area before, on the other hand, the high classes that eat tapas and caviar, that began do be attracted to this filthy street due to is new fancy places. And there was harmony, go figure!

Then, when I returned from my first trip to Budapest, Pensão Amor seemed like a wannabe Ruin Pub with selective clientele and boosted prices. And I became more disappointed, because my expectations came high. 

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Nevertheless, I still can enjoy this place. There is a cabaret feel, kitschy stuff and furniture decorating the place. In the big room there is some space to dance and a bar with night and day prices (so watch out and don't be fooled!). On the wall a big deer head is staring at us. It is lightened by a spotlight so it comes as an important piece of the room. There is also a more kinky room near the erotic literature and accessories shops, with leopard print, psychedelic ceiling, a strip pole and mirrors.

It is not the same as the ruin pubs, but it sure is over crowded on fridays and saturdays.

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Open from monday to wednesday from midday to 2h and thursdays and fridays from midday to 4h.

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.

O 28

This is a nice corner bar in the Mercês area. It has a peculiar geographical situation which makes the place itself also a bit different as it adapts cleverly to the wall that supports it. Also, the logo itself, cut on an iron board, has the same adaptation quality.

When you come in you enter a small breezy area with some chairs and the drinks counter. There isn't much space but a small amount of people can fit here and a bigger group can fit downstairs. This last room I can classify as DIY meets moroccan meets surrealism. The chairs and chandeliers have a more clear oriental style, and it is also noticeable the unconventional materials (I love this sort of things) like the luminous buckets full of empty glass bottles giving a weird but cool light effect, which also contributes for the surrealism part, along with the paintings hanging on the wall.

We asked for two caipirinhas for 5.50€ each, but I don't know why, I hate this drink.

Casual Lounge

I just added "lounges" category to my vines, although I am not quite sure of how to apply it, according to the dictionary:

lounge |lounj|
verb
lie, sit, or stand in a relaxed or lazy way : several students were lounging about reading papers.
noun
1. a public room, as in a hotel, theater, or club, in which to sit and relax.
• a spacious area in an airport with seats for waiting passengers : the departure lounge.
• short for cocktail lounge.
2. a couch or sofa, esp. a backless one having a headrest at one end.

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Musicwise, this place's selections ranged through the oldies, from Cindy's Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Depeche Mode's Just Can't Get Enough and Footloose from Kenny Loggins, that don't seem to fit in the ambient sound category. At least for me it is impossible to hear this songs without a taping foot or some arms swinging to the sides.

Casual Lounge has amazing schedules and free internet. It is a great place to plunge deep into college work while having a cocktail. The only problem is its prices (even more expensive after 20h). I usually have a Martini Rosso for 3€. It is one of the cheapest, as the other drinks are around 5 or 6€ each. I got the Martini vice from a Sumer festival and every time I drink it I can't avoid thinking about this. I thought this series of advertisements was genius, from the times I still watched tv.

Toasts are reasonable sized and its prices range form 2 to 4 euros. Other great possibilities are the combined menus of buttered scones and tea for 2€. Of course I also ask the famous galão in this place, it costs me a bit to see 2€ fly away but... It's coffee.

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The lounge also suffers from Starbucks syndrome: sometimes there is a couple in a humongous sofa. And when there is a couple around, no one stays less than 2 meters away.

Either ways, the lounge concept applies perfectly here in terms of atmosphere. The dimmed lights reflect in the mirror wall to add dimension and illuminate with less waste of electricity taking profit of the interior architecture.

The people are nice but not the most communicative, some times they didn't even know what was on the menu, but I rather have that than faces of despise.

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Mondays to Saturdays from 16h to 2h, Sundays from 16h to midnight.