Goethe Café (closed?)

This place is in the Goethe Institute but it is more specifically located on an open air garden inside the building. The meal place is an adorably colorful kiosky thing. There are a lot of tables to sit in, including some near a projection screen.

In there is a fountain, a hammock (not suitable for big swings I guess), and some very interesting mosaic artwork on which this girl took part.

This is probably the only place in Portugal where they celebrate Oktoberfest by the way, and the only one with Paulaner beer.

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Today's vegetarian dish was leek-à-brás (like our traditional dish with codfish but a vegetarian version instead: leek, eggs and chips) that costed around 6€. And I also asked for a lemon-verbena, mint and orange cold tea (1.5€). Approved. My friend asked for a chicken salad (5.80€) and next to us some other dishes were served like stuffed potatoes and the traditional sausages.

One thing I enjoyed a lot was that the girl in the kiosk trusted me to go to the bank to take some money. You cannot pay by card and she just let me go although it was the first time she saw my face. Isn't it nice to know you can still trust people?

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From tuesday to friday from 9h to 21h and saturdays from 9h to 17h.

Banana Café Kiosk

The rehabilitation of the Liberdade avenue kiosks is one of the things that made me happier these last days. I walk this path a lot of times to go to the center, down from Marquês. You can take a peek at all this fancy places and drool a bit seeing people eating all sorts of good looking food (20€ brunch in Ad Lib).

Now I have yet another reason to do this by foot. I like to see the kiosks full of life. Little by little Lisbon is healing its wounds, baby steps, we are getting there.

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Banana Café repeats itself, one near Marquês and another one near the Restauradores, I went to this last one. They have HUGE toasts that you can even split by three people and they are 3.50€ (but not the best in the world). The cold tea is 1.80€ (it was pretty nice). The salads and pies are also good.

Each kiosk has its personality. My idea initially was to go to Time Out Kiosk and hear some jazz by the Hot Club students, but due to facebook divulgation, it was completely full. Anyway, getting some sun and fresh air in either one is priceless.

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Open everyday from 10h to 2h.

Miradouro do Adamastor (Adamastor's Viewpoint)

This is actually called Miradouro de S. Catarina (Saint Catarina's Viewpoint), but it got the nickname of Adamastor due to the statue that is place in the little garden that here lies. This is undoubtedly the most unusual sightseeing place. It may not have a weird owner, but the people that come here are so diverse they make any artist feel totally ordinary. At night, it gets completely crowded.

It is impossible to leave without a funny story, whether some crazy guy comes to tell us all his life, or a bunch of welsh people decide to have a bachelor party semi naked and taking beer baths, while the husband-to-be talks with us smiling, apologizing the fact the we had to see him drunk into super mario dungarees:

We're not from England! We are Welsh, and we couldn't care less about them and football. Kinda like Portugal and Spain. You know soccer? We are all soccer players!

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The best thing here for me is the sangria, so refreshing, the prices are amazing: 1€ (small, 22cl), 1.5€ (medium, 33cl) and 2€ (big, 50cl), same for beer. They also have tasty salty pastry for around 1€ each, which means with 2.5€ you get a nice little lunch while contemplating a wonderful view. The toast is 4€ and can be shared by two not-so-hungry people.

When I went there last time someone decided to give a red heart to the monster, it was an initiative called Aqui Bate um Coração (A heart beats here).

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Open everyday from 10h to 4h.

Miradouro de Monte Agudo (2)

You can find the first post about this place here.

I noticed some differences after coming here a second time: the music was not so zen, now it was a Keith Jarrett half hour composition, and they had new chairs. But other than that, the rest remained. All the stuff, the weird people and the dogs, lots of dogs.

The owner kept his usual je ne sais quoi, appearing not to notice the clients. But that doesn't bother me really, it looks genuine, it gives some soul to the place. He even dared to make a weird face when I asked a coffee with milk after my capilé drink. He was right! I drank half a liter of each, I felt like puking afterwards. How could I guess the galão was GIANT. Next time I will take his advice.

The prices are amazing for the quantities. The capilé is not as good as the one in the Lisbon Kiosks, but it was cheaper. I also photographed the menu for extra information. Please use google translator as my fingers are hurting from translating all this stuff today.

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And of course we cannot finish the visit without gazing the landscape from the viewpoint. It is not my total favorite view, but is damn good already.

Some side notes: Parking the car near this place is quite hard, so consider yourself warned and come by public transportation, also, they have a bathroom on the left side of the kiosk, ask for it if you also are drinking a litter of liquid like me.

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Open everyday from 11:30h to sunset, as the menu says. Or everyday except monday from midday to 20h as the facebook says. Trust what you want!

Miradouro de Monte Agudo

There is a little hidden place in Lisbon which looks like a private place for nearby locals. This little gem is different from other sightseeing places in terms of environment, food, and personality of the booth owner, a very suis generis person.

This is clearly a more underground kiosk, I love to drink Capilé (yellow syrup mixed with water, same base as coke, but with lemon and maidenhair fern essence) and Groselha (red currant syrup with water). Both for 1.30€.

The music comes from the owner's computer, mantra like music or the old classics, it depends. And to complete the zen arrangement, you can lay down with your head on a pillow and look at the tree branches with sky and sun piercing between them.
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Open from 11:30h to sunset, everyday (if I am not mistaken).