Ó-Chá (closed)

I've been researching some teahouses to go to. A friend of mine told me about matcha tea and now I am obsessing with it. This thing. Still faithful to coffee though, I am not a tea person, I usually murder it by drinking it cold with sugar or by doing it on the microwave and adding sweetener and milk.

~

We asked for a smoked salmon and herb cheese toast for 4.80€ and a brie, honey and rosemary one for 4.50€. They also have 7€ menus for those tired of toasts (but really, how can one get tired of that?).

While I was waiting I took the time to look around. Clearly an oriental thematic, except the mad hatter painting, that was solely there due to the "tea party" subject I guess. I love the mad hatter but I prefer it a little bit more darkish and weird.

Well, but then came the toasts, and once again I did the stupid mistake of trying the sweet one first (scrumptious!) and so the salmon's taste became very week as my tongue was already vitiated.

I was also trying to spare money by not drinking anything, but they suggested me a cold tea of ginger, honey and lemongrass (2.50€). It was really good, milkish look and with foam! That was a first.

Ó-Chá is really discrete from the outside, but once inside, it is another world, and that honey toast it worth the go. Take a look at their website because they also sell tea!

Facebook / Website
Monday to saturday from 12h to 20:30. Closed on sundays.

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.

~

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.

~

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.

Facebook / Website
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.

~

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.

Facebook
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.

~

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.

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

Café Saudade

The word "saudade" is such a portuguese thing. It has a melancholic vibe and refers to the deep feeling of missing something or someone. I use it a lot when I am away from Lisbon, it is not only the people but the city itself, it has some kind of mesmerizing power only understood when you explore it deeply.

~

I asked for this super big super sweet lemonade (1.60€). It was amazing. It was painful (I have loads of aphtae) but I survived. A hot chocolate was also our demand (the girls), and the boys shared some tea (how awkward does that sound?). There is no rule that says that men can't share a teapot.

We didn't stay long in Saudade but it was long enough to explore the place. It has an exhibition space, rooms with stuff for sale, and a kitchen situated in the middle of everything. They usually have some events but the facebook should have information about that, since their blog is a bit pointless.

Facebook
Monday to wednesday from 8:30h to 20h. Thursday to saturday form 08:30 to midnight and sunday from 08:30h to 20h.