Clube Ferroviário

One year ago I watched Real Combo Lisbonense play music here, it was an amazing concert. This is, I think, a more nighty space, but it can be pretty nice in the evening. The sits outside are old plane seats, there is some beautiful light piercing through the nets, blankets for cold nights, a foosball table and a projection screen (rooftop cinema anyone?)

But if you don't have a car and you live in the suburbs, this may look a bit boring to access. If you want to eat something cheap, this may seem overpriced. And if you want to get drunk, well, don't come here and go to Bairro Alto. This is the problem: the price. We are no kings, we had to share a toast and still we paid 3€ for HALF. Note: a salty muffin is the same price as half sandwich.

Stating the obvious: whoever comes has some money. When we asked the size of the sandwiches the woman open the palm of her hands and described a not very convincing diameter. We told her we wanted to share, she said that they were not that big but if we were hungry we could ask another one.

Hello?! That is why we are sharing one in the first place! Not because I am fat or something.

Then there was the pão polar (polar bread) problem. They can't cut it in half, so we had to ask for another bread. For what I paid, it was disappointing, it had chicken, tomato, lettuce and mayonnaise and it came with a mixed lettuce salad with pineapple. I hope that polar bread would have made this a magnificent and exotic sandwich.

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I was hard on food but I really like Clube Ferroviário, I understand that its pricey menu includes the view and all the managing costs that they have to spend to maintain the place. So if you have money what makes sense is to go there and have some savories of different kinds.

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Open from monday to thursday from 16h to 2h, thursday and fridays and saturdays from 16h to 4h and sundays from 12h to midnight.

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.

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.

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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.

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

Encontros de Alternativas em Sintra (Alternative Encounters in Sintra)

In the municipal library garden there was a little three day festival called "Encontros de Alternativas em Sintra". I came for the concerts. There were little booths with artisan stuff and food, alternative clothes, a little in the Andanças Festival spirit.

I enjoyed it a lot, here goes my favorite song Desnorte for a future listen. I also love this instrument, the Adufe, there is a bar with that name, I should talk about it someday.

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Arte e Manha (closed) (now: Sagrada Família)

 

It is not the most obvious place, but it is one of the most multifunctional ones. Food, events and workshops, something new everyday announced in the calendar.

On the first floor you can enjoy some calmer music while you eat, or you can pay 5€ and go downstairs for the bigger concerts. Beware that the drinks are not cheap, my martini was 3.5€. This basement is a little bit Bacalhoeiro style (another cool place you should definitely go). I came to see this concert.

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The space is open from wednesday to monday from 11h to 6h, and tuesday from midday to 15h.
The kitchen is open for lunch from midday to 16h and for dinner from 19h to 3h.
Snack-bar works form 8h to 4h.

Café da Gulbenkian

 

Gulbenkian library is a place where a lot of students take refuge to work. It has everything needed for a perfect study session: individual space, plugs for everyone, books for consultation, café, restaurant, esplanade where people can relax and smoke a cigarette, and it is situated in the middle of a big garden where you can lay belly up and take a nap.

The most boring thing is that they know we are dependent of the library, so they rise the prices for the meals. A small coffee with milk is 1.5€ and a smallish little cup with a dessert was 3€. The sweet dessert was good but the price takes away a little bit of the enjoyment. If it would cost 50 cent that would taste amazing. For 3€ I expect royal quality.

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The galão story made me remind of a new product: powdered galão from Nescafé. My problem with it is that you do it by adding milk to the package content. But if normal powdered coffee with milk is already galão, where does this differ? Aare making us look stupid by saying: join coffee to milk and you will have coffee with milk! The powdered cappuccino, for example, is done with water.

And they call it the original galão! What do they mean original? Should I invent the original ham and cheese toast?

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Gulbenkian esplanade is pretty nice but you ought to be careful with the sneaky crumb stealing birds as they can fly and inch short to your scalp.

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Open from tuesday to sunday, from 10h to 17:45.

Ler Devagar

I have a deep fondness for Ler Devagar (Read Slowly). This junction of a bookstore/library and a café/bar/restaurant proves that there are certain barriers that exist for no reason and that prohibition only makes breaking rules more tempting. There is a belief that food doesn't go with books. But library goers are smart enough to appreciate and respect the book as an object. Who doesn't like to read while sipping a coffee? There is nothing wrong with placing a coffee plate over a Dostoevsky, Calvino or Boris Vian.

This bookstore offers trust and people feel it, that is what makes it so good. If by accident we ruin a book (accidents do happen) then we know the price to pay.

The beauty of this place is to submerge in the old books. It is virtually impossible to reach some, as the highest shelves are way beyond human reach. If you are brave enough you can try to ask for the library stairs, but the temperament of the owners is unpredictable. Sometimes they are darlings, others not.

The good part of this indiference by the owners is that we can sit quietly without asking anything and they wont bother, each one on its own, which I kind of like.

The price is a though bone to chew on, it is one of the most expensive places maybe in terms of coffee, but the space is so amazing (and they know it). I already have my prefered place near the window and the cheeses. And there go 3€ for a galão, and more 3.5€ in a tiny weenie sandwich.

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This old printing factory was considered one of the prettiest libraries in the world. On the top floor you can still see the rusty printing machines, and this is also an exhibition place.

There is also what I like to call the Moustache Chilling Room. Maybe to dark to read inside but it is relaxing for sure. On the ceiling there is a rope that when pulled triggers a mechanic hand that hits a drum or plate and makes a small sultry sound. There is no point here, but the silliness of it all is pleasant and addictive.

Under the big stairs there is another surprise: a space reserved for small children to play (yes, in a library).

There is also a small exhibition/conference room, with a big piano that anyone can play (at least we did). The funny thing is that some people join sometimes, if you are a good piano player, and it may end up in some very interesting moments.

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Open tuesdays to thursdays from midday to midnight, fridays and saturdays from midday to 2h and sundays from 11h to 22h.

Geraldine

I found Geraldine through a magazine article. It's a cultural space which activities range from clothes sales and workshops to collective diners and free movie evenings. This is not a place you can simply pop in and have a drink. It works as an office by day and only turns into an event place when the owners feel like it.

Ringing a bell and climbing a flight of stairs to enter a stranger's house has some erasmus feeling to it, it is quite odd actually, the feeling that we should be there but at the same time we are invading someone's privacy. There are some closed doors, not because of lack of trust, but they simply have nothing to offer for the guests. A kitchen is a kitchen, there is nothing very exciting about it.

The living room was full of interesting objects: a caged Donald duck, a phone with no numbers, some artworks and old gadgets. It was movie evening and an old rare burlesque was projected in a panel. We had first line sits.

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A Virgin in Hollywood tells the story of a young journalist that lacks experience, and so, as a way to get more mature, she is told to go to Hollywood and to write about her trip and discoveries. During this travel, she grows up both intelectual and sexually, becoming more confident about herself.

The actors act a bit in a forced and fake way, the dialogues seem too fantasizing, the emotions exaggerated and the movie cuts too obvious, this gives it a clumsy feeling that makes everything hilarious. It ends with the main character finishing her story and blinking an eye straight to the movie viewer, pure gold.

The familiarity of this experience was what I most appreciated. People would ring the bell and join the crowd that was already in the living room, saying hello to everyone. We were around 20 in the end, and everyone was there for the same reason. I have nothing but respect for this free initiatives.

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Open wherever there is an event announced! So stay tuned.