Day Six: Lunch at Pigmeu

Late start on Tuesday, walked up to the castle for some nice lookout points but the line was SO long we decided to just wander the streets instead.

Planned a 1pm lunch at a place called Pigmeu which I read was the best place for pork lovers (aka me). Tried to take a scenic tram over to the restaurant but the streets were so crowded and the tram was taking forever so we hopped off just in time. The tram literally broke down causing a huge traffic jam. Jumped in an Uber and called the restaurant to say we would be late. The call was definitely unnecessary! There was no one else in the place when we arrived!

There were two men running the place, they brought us a menu in Portuguese and instead of ordering from the menu, Chris spoke with the owner and we got ourselves a little big tasting menu! The concept of Pigmeu is that they get a whole pata negro (black pig) and butcher/use the entire animal. I told the man not to tell me what I’m eating before I’ve eaten it so that I wouldn’t have a thought in my head about what freaky part of the pig I’m having! We ordered wine as well and the other man came over with a selection and description of the wines available.

Starting with the most delicious bread and we were so excited because it was WARM! So much cold bread in this country. This bread was warm and fluffy and came with pickled carrots and what he called “pig butter” which is essentially just rendered fat with a little garlic, salt, and pepper. We ate SO much pig butter.

First course brought out to us was pork croquettes with mustard on the bottom and those little pork empanadas with some picked veggies. The croquettes were a dream (plus it seems mustard is my thing now) and the empanadas with good with the kimchi style veggies. The empanadas had pig heart meat inside which I never would have noticed if I wasn’t told.

Next things get interesting:

First (on the left) was a dish with pork, cauliflower, pickles, and a crouton type bread in this delicious sauce. The pork pieces looked like bacon except there was no fat, the meat was very lean. As I ate more and more, I wondered what it could be. Well, it turns out this was the testicle of the pig. It was good 🤷🏻‍♀️🐷!

On the right, a dish with pieces of pork and red onions and cilantro in a very onion-y sauce. I tried a bite and recognized this flavor as the liver. I have only had liver a few times in my life but something about the texture is not for me.

As a palate cleanser, we had some mussels in a pork broth that were delicious and especially the broth which we mopped up with our third helping of bread.

Finally the main course-a pig steak! This pork chop was my favorite and I particularly enjoyed the grilled squash with it. Chris did not eat the fat which was great for me! I ate a small piece of fat, pork, squash, and sauce with each perfect bite.

This meal was filling!!! We had to cancel our dinner plans because we were both stuffed. We walked around for an hour before we had to go back to the hotel and lay down with our pork filler bellies.

But….

We loved Pigmeu so much, we returned the next day specifically to try their version of a bifana and whatever else we had not yet eaten!

The dish below is eggplant! In a pork sauce of course with breadcrumbs and cheese. I think this one needed some salt but when I added some pig butter it was devine!

The next dish was “head cheese” which I don’t quite understand but I guess it’s like, slices of the pigs head? There was a gelatinous quality to this and a tough spot which Chris said was the ear cartilage. They served this as a carpaccio which I think made it tolerable for me. But I’m a texture gal and this had too many textures and raw onions for me.

Finally the bifana! Chris spoke about it nonstop since we left the day before. We had eaten barely anything in between leaving Pigmeu Tuesday at 3pm and returning Wednesday at noon!

The bifana was so different there. It came on a fermented sweet potato bread with thicker pieces of pork (rather than the pulled pork we had previously). It was topped with mustard (no hot sauce) and came over a gravy.

I appreciated this fancy version of the bifana, but I think we both liked the cheap pulled pork version better.

Overall, loved Pigmeu and would definitely recommend going there to anyone visiting Lisbon. It’s located in a cute little area of Lisbon, the food was an experience, and the service was wonderful.