Bacalhau de Molho

Fantastic food. Amazing fado singers and musicians - Raquel Tavares sings regularly there!!! She is the new Amalia Rodrigues .Visit their web site and learn more.
If in Lisbon, this is a must!It's in Fama - the old part of Lisbon, a few metres upwards from the seaside

Bacalhau de Molho is located basement of Casa de Linhares in the Alfama district of Lisbon. The basement is more like a series of elegantly decorated caves. The room where we ate was like a large cave with several long wooden tables and a central fireplace. Courses of appetizers were brought out one by one including olives, cheeses, cold cuts, breads and dried fruits. The featured dish was bacalhau with spinach and potatoes. Bacalhau is the national dish of Portugal. It is salt cured cod that can be prepared a million ways, but usually involves olive oil and garlic. Many of the dishes I had in Portugal were similar tasting with the salt, olive oil and garlic used in preparing fish, potatoes and green vegetables, but that is not a combination I would soon grow tired of. Dessert was a nice and light orange meringue. Ruby port was served at the end, but alas this was Lisbon, not Porto, so it wasn't quite the good stuff.

During all of this eating and drinking, Fado singers were parading in and out and performing for us. Each singer would sing two or three songs and then a new singer was introduced. There were five different singers in all, which made for a nice variety. Some sang the typical dramatic ballads, some were seductive, and some even sang upbeat happy songs. Out of the five, only one was a man. It certainly felt authentic to me and not at all like a cheesy show put on only for tourists. I would highly recommend it for something different.