There were two things that I had to get while I was here in Portugal: ginja sour cherry liqueur and piri-piri chicken. Fortunately, there were three well-known places serving those within a few minutes walk of each other. Between the two rival ginja bars, I liked A Ginjinha better than Ginjinha Sem Rival as the former was less commercialized. But I haven't had enough of this stuff to be able to taste the difference.
After that, I hopped over to Bonjardim (Travessa de Santo Antão 11, 21-342-4389), which surprised me in many ways. The chicken is just listed as spit-roasted chicken, and you have to ask for the piri-piri sauce, which came in that little bottle on the right. It was potent and certainly light years beyond Nando's, but the meat was also disappointingly powdery. The skin also had so much salt encrusted on it that I had to discard most of it, which is a shame since that's where the fat was.
It didn't come with sides, so I ordered that creamed spinach, which interestingly they told me to put oil and vinegar on as if it were a salad. I think the only thing that I honestly liked was the chicken broth, which was as grey as dishwater but was savory and refreshing with its rice and shredded meat in it. At least the prices were dirt cheap and the service was friendly.
1 comment:
My son and I just returned from a trip around Portugal and Spain and found Bonjardim to be one of the highlights of our tour. Sounds like you had an off night experience. Let me preface this by saying I am a foodie, have eaten a Michelin restaurants and am very discerning overall when it comes to food. Our meal at Bonjardim, including the Chicken, green salad, Fries, Rice and creamed spinach was delicious. The chicken was exceedingly moist and flavorful, skin was crispy in some parts and more moist in others but tasted delicious and added a lot of flavor. I can honestly say I have not had better chicken. The Peri Peri sauce adds a great kick to the chicken and I pored some on the already flavorful rice and it tasted heavenly. Really enjoyed the food. Go back and I'm sure you will too. For visitors to Lisbon, make a point of visiting this charming place and enjoying the sublime chicken, sides and extremely cordial waitstaff.
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