The Pink Street – Lisbon – Travels With Dan

What remains of Lisbon’s red light district is the famous Pink Street of Lisbon. Lined with bars and restaurants now it still has a gritty and exciting vibe to it. Located just a block away from Lisbon’s Time Out Market be sure to venture over and enjoy some of the fantastic cheap eats and bars. It’s quite a contrast from the expensive and touristy Time Out Market and you will be glad you walked over.

I ate at two different restaurants in this area and I’m highlighting them below. Both I highly recommend. I also stopped in for some great Portuguese wine at a few of the bars along the way.

My first stop for food along the Pink Street was here at Sol e Pesca. This little restaurant was once a fishing tackle and bait shop. It is still decorated with fishing rods and nets and the various tools of the Portuguese fishermen.

The main attraction at Sol e Pesca however is the cuisine. The dishes are created using the Portuguese canned fish. Yes, I know what you are thinking. Canned? Yes, canned…

The Portuguese for hundreds of years have used canning as a way to preserve their catch and make the seafood travel better for future consumption. They take great pride in the canned fishes.

At Pesca you order from a variety of dishes off their menu and they open the cans and prepare the fish with their own gourmet touch. On this evening I had a marinated octopus soup, sardines on cornbread croutons and the house red wine. Everything was delicious! I even bought a can of octopus to bring back home to Arizona so I could replicate the dish.

I highly recommend Pesca.

Canned fish

Sardines on cornbread croutons

Octopus salad

My next stop just off of the Pink Street was Restaurante O Gaiteiro. I didn’t have reservations but I was able to get a table at this compact and cozy eatery. Packed with locals and some tourists that researched great Lisbon eats you are treated to great service, great food and wine, and a small tab.

I ordered grilled sardines, an octopus soup and a Portuguese sausage with egg and french fries. I washed it all down with the house white wine. Oh, I probably had a glass of the house red too!

The meal was excellent.