The proximity of the sea allows Lisbon to offer a unique variety of fish and shellfish - normally accompanied by excellent Portuguese wines, in some cases vinho verde, which is characteristic of the North of Portugal.
Grilled sardines are the order of the day during the Summer months. Bacalhau (salted cod) is eaten all the year round - the Portuguese have adopted as their national dish a fish that does not exist in their own coastal waters.
The cheeses and sweets make irresistible desserts. The Lisboetas are tireless drinkers of coffee served in small cups (bica), all day long and in all types of cafés - including some that are worth an unhurried visit.

Tascas
It's a true Portuguese institution: the tasca. In these taverns, you can eat home-style meals. You can drink ginginhas or "scuppers" of cool red wine. Meaningful glances are exchanged, sorrows drowned. You pass by, you stay. There are many in Lisbon. Many tascas…
The tasca. It's a typically Portuguese establishment. Small spaces, roughly decorated, genuine, with their own personalities. Here you find people of all kinds. Heads of families, between work and home, drinking a "cool blonde," (slang for a glass of draught beer), solitary old men mulling the past over a "cup of three" (a glass of red wine), groups of younger folks drinking ginginhas. The tascas are usually places where you can encounter some of the tastiest Portuguese cuisine.
Between posh restaurants and the tascas of Lisbon there are those who prefer the latter, because they feel the food is more flavourful, more authentic, more genuine. "It's home style food" they say.

Traditional sweets
Lisbon is a city where eating is most definitely a pleasure. Slow meals, intense, full of flavours and conversation. Meals with good company, and full of pleasure. And Lisbon's sweets carry in them multiple secrets, many of which were locked up for centuries in the silence of the convents. The convent-based sweets are of fundamental importance in Lisbon's diet, as there were, in the middle of the last century, three dozen convents for women only in Lisbon.
Pastéis de Belém
Typical confectionery dating from the 11th century, they are made of custard cream and puff pastry. The smell of the custard tarts coming from the Antiga Confeitaria de Belém is quite irresistible to anyone passing by.