The Bifana Showdown: Solar da Madalena vs O Trevio
When we visited in October 2022, we took a food walking tour and the standout item was a little pork sandwich called a “bifana”. Over the last year and a half, we’ve talked about a bifana so many times.
Today is the day, driving up from Lagos to Lisbon. We started the day with some yoga on the rooftop which was lovely and then made breakfast sandwiches with the remaining meat, cheese, and eggs from yesterday. I stopped in at our favorite bakery Paderia Central for coffee and bread. Such a typical looking spot but ended up being a go-to each morning.
Naturally our little breakfast sammies were lovely. I drizzled mine with a little honey for extra yum.
The drive up to Lisbon is about 3 hours and it was fine, until we got to the city. So much traffic and the roads are so confusing. The little Fiat 500 we have is manual of course and we got stuck on a few hills that would have had me crying. Thankfully Chris did the city driving. I was way too anxious when I drove.
The first bifana restaurant, Solar da Madalena, was a stop on our food tour. At the time, neither of us wrote down the spot. I had emailed the tour company twice to finally find out the name of the place. In the meantime, I found another spot, O Trevo, that was recommended by Anthony Bourdain. So begins the showdown.
Solar da Madalena remodeled, so initially, I wasn’t event sure if we had traveled all this way to the wrong place. But it was correct and the bifana arrived in all its glory. It’s very plain, just these chunks of boiled pork on top of the softest bread ever. Then you can add the hot piri piri oil and some sweet mustard (not quite honey mustard, but heading in that direction). The sandwich was as good as I remember.
Then the trek over to O Trevo, supposedly a 12 minute walk but much further when I’m stopping to look in stores. I’m rarely a shopper but I do love some travel shopping.
O Trevo was much more as I had remembered Solar da Madalena to look last year in its aesthetic. It was crowded so people definitely knew about it. This bifana was offered with cheese, so we got one and split it and got a Gin and Tonic.
Well, this second one doesn’t even compare. The bread wasn’t as soft, the meat was sliced rather than chunky, the flavor was lacking and it was very little meat.
The bifana winner is hands down Solar da Madalena.
On the way back to the car, we walked along the water and found a little stand selling cocktails in a pineapple or watermelon with fresh juice made right in front of you. I couldn’t resist. It was delicious but also quite a heavy drink to walk the streets with.
As we left the city by car, we accidentally left during rush hour and took a wrong turn so what should have been a 30 minute drive became over an hour. Exhausting and frustrating. I’m not sure I would recommend driving overall. I think the Ubers would have been a similar cost wise and there were definitely benefits to driving but unsure if the pros outweigh the cons.
